In Bridgeport's War Factories 1941

Walker Evans made this photograph in Bridgeport, probably with a large format camera, at a time when factories were gearing up for war. It's a photograph, so it lacks the kind of texture you get with paint, but look at the way Evans has captured the granular feel of the city. There's a grit to it, a kind of realism that feels very true. The light is even, almost documentary, but within that evenness, there are these amazing details. Take the woman in the center, carrying what looks like an art portfolio. What does she make of the war, of the city? Evans wasn't trying to pretty things up, and the picture isn’t overly composed or stylised. It's honest, like the photographs of August Sander, showing us the world as it is. It's about letting the subject speak for itself, about finding the beauty, or the truth, in the everyday. It's a conversation about how we see and what we choose to focus on, and that conversation continues to this day.