Truck and Hubcaps c. 1962 - 1972

Walker Evans made this photograph, "Truck and Hubcaps," using a view camera. The sepia tone gives the shot a feeling of looking back at something lost, or looking forward, like a memory. It's the hubcaps that grab me – shiny against the worn wood. Each one is like a little mirror, reflecting the light in its own way, but all together, they're like a series of eyes looking back at us. Evans is so good at showing us the beauty in the everyday, the overlooked. I mean, a beat-up truck and a fence covered in hubcaps? Most people wouldn't give it a second glance. But Evans sees something more, something poetic. It reminds me a little of Robert Frank's "The Americans," that same kind of gritty beauty, that same eye for the overlooked details of American life. It's not always pretty, but it's real, you know? And that's what makes it so powerful.