After reading this discussion topic i found myself wondering if i was ever photographed during my subway commute before. Walker Evans was a very clever man to have pulled this off. I think his approach was to photograph people when they are trying their hardest to look normal on a boring subway ride. When taking the subway people try not to stare at the person directly across from them because they do not want to make feel uncomfortable. This is a very hard task because there is nothing much to look at in a train than the people and advertisement, which there is not much of. The other option would be to close your eyes and take a quick nap.
Evans photographed people in one of the most awkward moments and its is amusing to me that most of the people had on similar expressions. I think that if the people knew that they were being photographed it would not have come out the same because they would have tried to look their very best. I find that there are similarities between the depression era’s and today’s riders. Our expressions remain the same the only thing is that we have more things to focus on such as books, newspapers, music, and games on our phones which makes the atmosphere less awkward. It would also be easier to take a picture of someone who is not paying attention today.
