Jump to content

New Yorkers do you know Walker Evans Subway shots?


martin

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

weeks ago I visited a Walker Evans exhibition and was so much surprised by his subway shots with a 35mm contax camera.

Du you know them and would you make a series as a homage?

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I know the pictures and have the book of subway photos, Many Are Called. Highly recommended. Alas, New York is longer home, so I ride the subway only on the rare visits. But if you do not have the bok, buy it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't have MANY ARE CALLED but I do know the pictures. I don't travel the NY subway, not being a NYer, but even if I was I doubt I would shoot such a series as a hommage.... I don't think that personally I would feel comfortable using a concealed, cable-release operated camera, which is how Evans took these shots, I believe. One might also argue: it's been done; why do it again?

 

Bruce Davidson's SUBWAY is another entirely different approach to photographing in the same circumstances in 1970s/1980s.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Martin, Walker Evan's images are from a different era. The subway cars where much different. Light sources where very complementary, being incandescent lighting, the volume of riders was much lower (not that cars weren't full at rush hour) and the feel of the subway was not as stark or metallic as it is today. Many consider Walker Evans a realist, but these images are a fine example that above all, he was an artist, interpreting life as he wanted it to be seen. alun's reference to Bruce Davidson's images are the best example of the cultural, economic and artistic changes that he captured like no other. Look deeper into the images he shoot on buses and in Coney Island for a sharper view of the life of ordinary NY'ers. Bruce is tops on my list & his work in the subways and his essays of 100 St in Harlem are markers of the tectonic shifts that forever changed life in Manhattan. Only with the entourage of a movie crew could one recreate the look of subways in the 40's, 50's & early 60's. Those days are almost lost forever. There are few places, in remote sections of Brooklyn in hasidic communities where change has never come or in a few pockets of far East Harlem or the the most northern reaches of Harlem, where the economics never changed. No "trickle down" nonsense there. One can walk up 4 or 5 stories and see how things have always been, unchanged.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Evans did some great work back then, but I would strongly advise AGAINST concealing a camera under your jacket and triggering it via a release cable running down your sleeve.

 

It is not too far fetched to assume that someone may see this setup and conclude that you are a suicide bomber. If that were to happen there is a good chance that you may be shot on the spot by security personal. Shoot first and check later is often the approach that is taken, when this sort of attack is suspected.

 

Keep in mind that this is 2009, not the 1930's.

 

Seriously, this is not something you want to play around with in this day and age. You could get yourself in to a very serious and dangerous situation.

 

If you want to try this get yourself a nice silent point and shoot with a rear LCD that can be pivoted and use it in the open.

Edited by thrid
Link to post
Share on other sites

thanks a lot,

I just googled arround and found this bruce davidson, photobook

 

It's realy intressting what he has taken.

 

Your opinion against photographing in the subway is ok,

I've forgotten that you have probs with all that crime in subways.

 

We don't have one in my little town :-),

No subway and nearly no crime.

 

But what I realy like at the Evans shots is the kind of silverprints,

they showed original prints and they are realy that what I like.

 

I was surpriced he had taken a contax 35mm camera,

 

Today all has to be big and racersharp,

his prints in the exhibition are small and not racersharp but very imprssive.

For me as an darkroom printer this is allways a lesson to learn how to end with a print.

Maybe a new kind of style, darker and less contrasty?

Deeper brown against black,

warm tones and many informatios in the darks.

 

Good luck to you in NY taking photos,

I'll go back in "my" woods :-)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have always been intrigued by Walker Evans' subway work but I have only recently immersed myself in Bruce Davidson's subway shots. While crime in the subway exists, it is fairly uncommon these days (IMO). I feel no compulsion to re-create or re-visit their/his work but it certainly is inspirational. I take lots of shots in the subway but when I'm actually in a car, I only shoot when it really strikes me (and I do so out in the open).

 

I agree with what was said about the incandescent lighting and the wooden cars, not to mention the period attire. Evans and Davidson undoubtedly had warmer lighting and environs to work with. I also think that, just as they captured fleeting, singular moments that will never happen again, so can we. We might not have the softer light or "the age" working for us but there shouldn't be any reason we aren't shooting in the subway.

 

In 20 or 30 years, who's to say people won't find our shots of the subway interesting? Maybe they'll comment on how nice it must've been to work with what we had? :rolleyes:

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Martin, I don't know who this troll is that tells you that you will be shot in the subway. I doubt he's ever been in a subway & I've NEVER SEEN an iamge of his on this Forum. I have 2 kits I use with a release cable, my CL with the CV 15 and the Dlux 4 (in silent mode). I got an adapter made by a forum member that lets me keep the release in my right hand & the camera in my left. Very cool for wide angle shots above people's heads when you raise your hand. First off, there are NO GUNS on the subway. The NYC Police & the Transit cops have guns, but they are mostly on the platforms. If there is an alert (very infrequent) they may get on the subway, but by then THE WHOLE WORLD is on alert. I hate when these trolls spew their garbage. I have been taking images in the subway since 1973. Most NYC residents are just fine if you act in a way that isn't obnoxious. Here's an image I took last month in the subway with my Diigilux 2, out in the open with everyone (except the subject) looking at me. Believe me, people are very civil on the subway. How's the Oly. Never got an image from you.:D

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would like to see more of the Walker and Davidson shots, both were outstanding photographers from a bygone era. You can even sense the passage of time from the 60's until now, and it was just the other day. Times change but the Subways remain a source where photographic explorations can reveal new visual narratives . I haven't ventured much into this arena but here are a couple of shots. I asked the couple if I could take their picture and they said yes. In a sense Walker had it good, he did his work at a time when people were not so suspicious of the camera. Now, you do have to be cautious and not intrusive.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by wilfredo
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...