Homework 2

I think that Evans’ clandestine approach to taking the subway passenger photos was very clever. Taking it in that matter was the only way he could’ve captured the real face expressions of people. According to the NPR interview with Met curator Jeff Rosehein (audio) not only did he know how to hide the camera but he manipulated the shutter as well. For this he used a special cap of release that ran from the top of the camera to his coat, down to his palm of hand where he was able to fire a shutter by squeezing a device. The fact that he captured passengers real face expressions made the photos much more interesting. You can see the two women engaging in an interesting conversation and the mom holding her son and you can see her facial expression as worried and very thoughtful. They are truly interesting photos to observe. According to the photos I can’t tell its the Great Depression era unless I’m told so. I see many similarities between the riders from then and now. The thing with NYC subway riders is the eye contact. Just like the subway now a days eye contact is the hardest thing to do with total strangers. In one photo a man seems like a priest is sitting with his hat on starring at the ceiling. Another man with a cane is staring at the floor. If you go into the subway right now you will for sure find people doing the exact same thing. There face expressions seem serious. This is expected in the subway all the time, when you are alone in the train your not gonna be smiling or laughing alone. Similarities overall are people engaging in talk, families sitting down, people starring “up” or “down” and people avoiding eye contact.