© Robert Frank. London, 1952. Gelatin silver print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1991.

Night Vision: Photography After Dark is currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until September 18, 2011. The 40 black-and-white photographs in the show, which are drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, span the history of night photography, which began in the late 1870s with the introduction of the gelatin dry-plate process that allowed photographers to shoot in low light situations. For more visit www.metmuseum.org.