 How's it? How's it? Every once in a while, a photographer comes along whose impact on the world of photography is absolutely seismic. Throughout the course of his career, Walker Evans not only helped to define the modern idea of documentary photography, he was also influencing photographers like Lee Freedlander and Robert Frank. Even today, his work remains absolutely relevant and if you're looking to up your Instagram game, I think Mr. Evans has got a surprise in the store that you're going to find really inspiring. Hi there, I'm Alex and thank you ever so much for joining me here today on The Photographic Eye as we explore the photography of Walker Evans. Now I think it's important to give you some context here about how striking Evans' photography would be in its period and it's helpful to have an idea of what was going on in the 1920s and 30s in photography. At the time, pictorialism was still a major influence in photography and pictorialism simply put is the idea that photography should be more like a painting, more like an art. So it's all soft focus, abstract feels and trying to get the photographs to feel almost impressionist in nature. So it was at this time that Evans started gravitating towards what's called straight photography and this is the antithesis almost of pictorialism. So it's about clarity, also sharp focus, lots of detail in the photography and again drawing inspiration from people like Ajay and also August Sander, this look would sort of define Evans' photography more or less for the rest of his career. Now when we think of the Great Depression in America, there are a few images that spring to our minds. You know most likely you have seen Dorothy Lang's migrant mother but the other images you're thinking out you know they're most likely Walker Evans' photographs whether you're aware of this or not. In the 1930s Walker Evans applied for position in a photographic court of a government department called the Farm Security Administration or more commonly known as the FSA which had been set up to sort of combat rural poverty at the time and Evans believed that being part of this would give him some freedom to create the sort of photography that he wanted to create. You know he had been a professional photographer but it felt somewhat uncomfortable with the idea. Now what's interesting to note is despite being so closely associated with the FSA out of the 75,000 images that they have in their archives only a couple of hundred are actually Walker Evans' photographs. Evans was the first photographer to sort of recognize the impact of the sign in the American landscape and in an approach that today we almost take for granted this this interplay between signage that seems to be almost everywhere and the people of which it surrounds is an absolute hallmark of the photography Evans was was producing at this time. Aside from his time with the FSA all Evans also worked with James Aji on a book which would later become known as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and it's these images along with the photographs for the FSA that have defined the visual idea of the Great Depression. With the help of Aji Evans was starting to find his feet photographing people. He was taking his time to make people feel at ease and accept him into their world and so rather than having you know hurried snapshots we end up with portraits like this portrait of Ali May Burroughs you know 27 mother of four that is a study rather than a simple picture. When you compare the two portraits of her side by side you can see how Evans has taken his time to find the subtle differences that influence the final image. Evans has also cited Paul Strand's blind picture as a big influence in his work you know he called it strong real and shockingly brutal and in these photographs you can see the lessons that he's learned from Strand's image and while the photographs that Evans is producing are not brutal they are people who are presented in a real way that commands attention. Now for quite a lot of documentaries and discussion about Walker Evans this is kind of where the story stops. Walker Evans famous FSA photographer defined the Great Depression done draw line under it. Of course it's not the case at all. Evans had started his career using large plate cameras and when he got to his retirement he was finding these really cumbersome to use and I'm not quite sure how but Perlwood decided to give him one of their instant cameras the the SX 70 and all of the film that he could possibly want to use. These days of course we have Instagram and we're used to the idea of instant photography but for Evans this was a really novel idea even the concept of working in color felt extremely alien to him you know he had said that prior to using the Polaroid that he felt that the use of color in photography was abhorrent and vulgar. Evans instantly embraced this new format and the images that he created give us both an insight into how he approached the subject and you teased out its its beauty but also how modern his photography can feel. If you look at these photographs they don't look like that they were photographed almost sort of 50 years ago they look like they could have sprung from a famous Instagram page today and I think this is a mark of of how pure Evans's eye was for a strength of composition and anybody who's looking to get inspiration about you know making a mark on Instagram I think would do really well to look at these these Polaroids of Evans's and and see how the simple the everyday the mundane can be really arresting visually. I believe that Evans would have probably enjoyed Instagram absolutely immensely. It's also interesting to see that we can get a feel for how Evans approached the subject and explored its possibilities. If you look at this example there was a series of Polaroids of a Koch stand in Florida. We can see how you know like the Burroughs portrait Walker isn't just sort of content to make one image and you know move on but he's seeking different angles and constant improvements you know here there he's moving everywhere just looking for that defining image that captures the essence of the object being photographed. As I mentioned earlier Evans wasn't always comfortable with the idea of being a professional photographer but in the 1940s he ended up working for Fortune magazine as their chief photographer which he stayed there until his retirement in the 1960s and it was here that he produced some exceptional photography that's not as well known but is still influencing modern photographers in this day and age. My favorite photograph of Walker Evans is from this period is a series of photos called the beauty of the common tool. These are beautifully simple arrangements of various tools which which ran as a photo essay in Fortune shot on large format again you know it's just this object and a study of its shape in its form and I see a great deal of similarity between these images and the modern work of a photographer called Dan Winters who while is primarily known for his portrait photography also does studies in a similar fashion of things that interest him and and I find that again and a fascinating connection between the sort of the what's gone before like you know a hundred years ago and today that it's still relevant in the modern world. Walker Evans' photography spanned a generation both culturally and in a photographic sense. From laying the groundwork will become later known as the modern documentary photography and creating a definitive record of an important period in American history and he set the scene for today's fascination for for instant photography. Walker Evans was an absolute genius at recognizing that the essential essence of the contemporary world was to be found in these often unconscious symbols that we surround ourselves of modern life. If you're interested in learning more about Walker Evans and I would certainly recommend this book which is called the hungry eye. This is a book that's so good that I've put it twice and yes go and find it it's readily available and that will give you a really good insight into the whole spectrum of Walker Evans' career. Which period of Walker Evans' photography did you enjoy the most? Please let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts and see what resonates with you guys. You know did you like his his polaroid work or are you a big fan of the FSA photography? I'm Alex and thank you once again for joining me here today on the photographic eye.