Freddie Feria: Walker Evans’ Subway Portraits

Walker Evan’s idea of taking a camera into a subway and take photos of people when they’re unaware is pretty smart. While it sounds creepy at first, he gets people true emotion of serious calm and peaceful. Their facial expressions may not say peace or calm but serious yes. Even when people started to catch on to his camera being hidden, they still didn’t change their facial expression or change their mood. I also think from looking through the pictures that riders’ today on the train look like that if they’re solo, but it’s hard to find someone without their phone to see that expression. But with a friend, they tend to talk more and show more emotion. Even the one picture with a man reading the newspaper is similar to an average person on their phone. His idea did truly show society the life of a commuter on the train.