Walker Evans’ Photography evokes a deeply buried memory of a time long past and still manages to build a bridge to the modern era. Living in New York, It is nearly impossible to avoid using the subway, whether someone uses it to commute to work every day or uses it once every few years, and nearly every New Yorker shares this experience, this familiarity with it. This shared experience I feel is captured and reflected perfectly in the faces and expressions throughout Evans’ photographs. The glassy stares, the quiet contemplative looks, the attempts to not make eye contact with anyone else, is all a familiar experience. His approach to this was successful in capturing these flawlessly but I was a bit disconcerted to learn of his methods and if that were to happen today w would most certainly be called out on as a breach of privacy. As creepy as it was, his approach did bring us meaningful photographs that do deserve a place at the Transit Museum at the very least.
The thing that struck me most was something that you touched on. People from all walks of life take the subway in New York. By taking the pictures without them knowing, it gives an insight into a part of life for a large population of the city.