San Francisco

Since the late 1960s Bill Dane has been chronicling the life before our eyes, pursuing what curator and critic John Szarkowski called "the discovery of classical measure in the heart of God's own junkyard." By framing his shots to include just enough information to surprise or disorient the viewer, Dane offers a new perspective or, as he has put it, "a new reality." San Francisco (1973) is typical of the accepting distance and engaged humor with which he approaches his subjects. A sunbather seemingly attempts to block out the world, but the world goes by nonetheless (in three modes of transport) on the beach below. Movement and stasis exist on different planes and in opposite directions. The photographer's shadow at the bottom of the frame acts like a signature, a good natured sign of his complicity in the scene.