Center of the image

For my second observation I would like to focus on how Walker Evans posed people in his images. According to Baldwin Lee, Evans would get a group of people together and put the single person who he was really interested in, in the center of the image. lee explained how since the person was in a group they became more relaxed over time as Evans would walk around the people to get images from different angles. Essentially, the center person of interest would not realize that they were the subject of what Evans was interesting in.





This concept of placing the main subject in the center of a group is illustrateted in the image "Sharecropper's Family, Hale, Alabama." In the lecture presented by Lee he explained that the girl is the subject of interest in this photograph. He explained how her appearance represents poverty in a single shot. The girl is wearing flour bags made out of flour bags; she has scabs on her right leg, and her toes are curled. The most interesting thing about this image may be her stance. Her right arm is hanging over their bedpost just like a crutch. If Lee did not point out this specific detail I'm not sure I would have caught it, or made the comparison of a crutch.

I think the analogy of the crutch represents the relationship between he family and the head plantation owner. The plantation owner is needed for the family to be able to support themselves and survive; similarly, a crutch needed for a person to get through their day and as a support to move around.

For this image I also found a really interesting article composed of an interview with the 4 year old boy when he is grown up and reflecting on the experiences his family had when Evans lived with them. Charles Burroughs was very angry at Evans and expressed that he did not like Evans snooping around the house and at "work" when the real work was the families hard labor. He also says that he found it rude and inconsiderate that the family did not recieve a book or that Evans never talked to the family again. I found this also interesting because when a question was asked at the lecture asking if Evans ever went back to visit the families Lee explained that Evans refused to go meet with the family ever. I find this interesting and makes me wonder why he did not want to go back. Did he find his work unethical? Was he ashamed that he showed these families at their worst?

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Lee speak on Friday and looking at all of the images presented in the Foster Gallery.

Article: http://money.cnn.com/magazine/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/09/19/8272885/index.htm

Michelle Manthey