Robert Frank’s View in Butte, Montana – One Shot Story

When my wife, Darby, and I mapped out our recent road trip through the American West, it was not our intention to follow the same route that Robert Frank took in the mid-1950s when he was shooting the photographs that became The Americans. I did bring his book with us, though, both as a reference and as a talisman.

When we checked into the Hotel Finlen in Butte, Montana, I knew that Robert had stayed in town, but only after consulting with Sandra, the manager, did I confirm that we were, in fact, in the same hostelry where he took the moody photo from his window.

Sandra kindly offered to show us his room. Equipped with my Leica M3, Summicron 50mm f2 lens, and a roll of Ilford HP5+, we rode the elevator to the 9th floor.

Butte is smaller now than it was when Robert Frank passed through in May of 1956, but it is, with its large inventory of historical buildings, instantly recognizable. These days, its long history of mining and labor disputes are more of a tourist attraction than a growing industry.

And while much of the country is forever changed since that time, there’s no doubt about the outsized influence that his book — and its 83 images — has had on successive generations of photographers. And photography.

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