Homework 3: Walker Evans’ Subway Portraits

Walker Evans’ photography of people on the New York City subways between 1938 & 1941, was a reflection of how people expressed themselves without being biased by a photographer’s setting.  Usually people will present themselves when they notice that someone is taking a photograph of them. In Evans’ photographs, almost all images were filled with natural expression. The process of talking photographs without even looking at the viewfinder seems a bit difficult to me. His works are awesome, even though they are taken using hidden camera. Each and every photograph seems to be perfectly framed. I was wondering how did he managed to take pictures in such a good and almost perfect angle without even looking at the camera’s viewfinder.  I see some similarities between the rider’s expression during the Depression Era and today’s riders. Almost everyone riding the subway today will be engaged either with their electronic devices, a newspaper, or a book. Most of them will be facing down for the entire period of their subway ride. That makes it difficult to observe. Only those who seems to be lost in their thoughts tends to keep their face up on subways in 2018. Others seems to look in different direction, just to avoid eye contact. Those people tend to have a facial expression which is similar to the photographs taken by Walker Evan.