Subway Portrait 1938 - 1941

Walker Evans made this photo, Subway Portrait, using a hidden camera, can you imagine! He was on the New York City subway. There's something so immediate about the captured gaze, the way these people are just *being* without knowing they are being looked at. It's an interesting ethical question, right? To capture someone without their knowledge and make that into art. But that's what makes this photograph so special. It is candid! It's like a painting where the artist is trying to catch a feeling or a moment in time, trying to say something about people's inner lives. I wonder what these people were thinking about. I can't help but wonder who they are and where they're going. Evans captures the quiet intimacy of strangers sharing the same space, each lost in their own thoughts, yet connected by the rhythm of the train. It's a beautiful exploration of humanity!