Walker Evans is a brave man. A lot of people would start fights over having their picture being taken. Which I guess is the reason as to why he took the pictures secretly. However, I think it is better that way. Had he stopped and asked people to take a picture of them, he would get totally different portraits. I also love the fact that he chose to photograph in New York City. This city is full of interesting characters. Throw in a setting that people travel through everyday, you will get alluring photographs that can tell a great story. The people he photographed really aren’t all that different from the people on the subway today. They all kind of, avoid eye contact with other riders on the train. They look tired and weary. Yet, everyone, whether photographed or not, has a life as intricate as ours. I think that’s the beauty of photographing people unsuspectingly. Just their facial expression, their appearance and their body language tell a story of their life. Almost like what the photographer of Humans of New York is doing. Except he includes the subject’s story with their photograph. He also gets their permission to take their picture. I think that’s a very important detail when being a photographer.

I almost pity the soldiers of the Civil War. The food rations they received probably didn’t taste as good as their wives’ home cooked meals. Hardtack seems like a very bland piece of cracker. It’s very hard to believe that hardtack is nutritious in the least. And Matt Anderson, the curator of the Minnesota Historical Society, shows us in the Youtube video shows the viewers a 150 year-old hardtack! I really wonder what they put in that hardtack to make it last so long because the bread I buy at the supermarket grows mold in a matter of weeks. I found it very fascinating that Civil War soldiers had access to coffee and drank it all throughout the entirety of the war. I thought coffee became available to Americans much later in the American history timeline. However, I’m not surprised that many of the soldiers were partial to the caffeinated beverage. Many people become addicted to coffee, myself included. It is a staple food item to start the day with and and an energy giver. I do wonder if the soldiers drank the coffee black or with cream and sugar. I like my coffee both black and light and sweet, depending on my mood. Coincidentally,the one food item I cannot live without is coffee. Specifically Starbucks’ naturally flavored caramel ground coffee. It’s so good, I swear on this stuff.