My favorite aspect about these photographs is that Evans was able to capture them without the person knowing. By doing this, he was able to capture a very real and sincere facial expression without being posed. This I find very interesting because we can see the real person and their feelings. There is one photograph that shows a woman in a hat with the words “City Hall” in the background. This woman is looking down and looks very deep in thought, almost like something is worrying her. Her facial expression makes one wonder what exactly could be troubling this young lady and how different her life can be from yours or how her problems can differ so vastly from your know. These photographs would be something different compared to today because everyone on the train is using some kind of mobile device. Looking around the train today, everyone is looking down with a white flash displayed across their face coming from their mobile devices. Today’s society would also not allow for pictures of them to be taken in secret.
I definitely agree that it was impressive that Evans was able to take pictures without a person noticing. I imagine a huge scene would break out if a random person got caught taking a picture of another person in the subway. You brought up a very good point on how different the people in Evans pictures are compared to the people who takes the subway today. I imagine people from the past reading newspaper and doing crosswords puzzles and just staring at the floor. While today you see people on their phones playing their apps or people dancing in the middle of the train cart with loud music and then asking for donations. I cannot imagine people would do that in the 1900s. When I see them doing it today, I find it very normal but awkward when I see people standing next to them hoping not to get accidentally hit by them.