In the spirit of Walker Evans...

rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
edited March 23, 2012 in Street and Documentary
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The Cantor Museum at Stanford has a Walker Evans exhibit running through April 8. Free. BUT photography is allowed everywhere in the museum except their special exhibits. :(: Shortly after I walked into the exhibit, a security guard approached me (DSLR on a strap) to let me know that photos are not allowed.

So I capped my lens and began to enjoy the exhibit. Partway through, I came to his Cuba series, where Mr. Evans was forbidden from taking many pictures showing the brutal regime there. So he took them surreptitiously and published them in a book. A little later, I came across "Faces, Pennsylvania Town, 1935" whereas he used a prism lens to take photos of the two unsuspecting workers depicted.

So I took that as my inspiration, changed lenses (outside that exhibit) to my 14mm and shot in the spirit of Walker Evans.

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The following is almost a self portrait, but like many of the sculptures, the head is chopped off :lol3

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Then I came across his portraits of the Burroughs family against their home. That inspired me to take an environmental portrait. So I asked the security guard if I could take her picture (outside the exhibit, of course...:dunno)

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Then I reentered the exhibit, hoping that I allayed any suspicion...

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I was hoping to sneak a shot of her admonishing another photographer not to take pictures, but, alas, it was not to be. Or in the word of Walker Evans: "I will be unable to finish this story... full of spys, plain clothes men, secret agents, and ordinary thieves."

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Comments

  • bfjrbfjr Registered Users Posts: 10,980 Major grins
    edited March 11, 2012
    Got a kick out of this :D
    Benjamin
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  • rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited March 11, 2012
    bfjr wrote: »
    Got a kick out of this :D

    Thanks!

    I wanted to demonstrate a marvelous and wonderful sense of humor and that photojournalism did not end with W. Eugene Smith... :stud
  • RyanSRyanS Registered Users Posts: 507 Major grins
    edited March 12, 2012
    Enjoyed the story and photographs. Thank you for sharing them. What was with the guy laying down on the bench? Who does that at a museum?

    Anti-photography policies at an exhibit featuring photography is the ultimate offense, in my opinion, against the spirit of photography.
    Please feel free to post any reworks you do of my images. Crop, skew, munge, edit, share.
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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,961 moderator
    edited March 12, 2012
    What delicious irony--prohibiting photography at a Walker Evans exhibit. That's just asking for it. lol3.gif I like the No Photography sign in the last shot.

    How was the show, BTW?
    My Pics
  • michswissmichswiss Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,235 Major grins
    edited March 12, 2012
    Ha! Good for you Rainbow!
  • jheftijhefti Registered Users Posts: 734 Major grins
    edited March 12, 2012
    Haha, I was just there yesterday with my son, who took a picture of the 'No Photography' sign at the entrance! (He used his phone camera.) I routinely photograph in museums, in part for the thrill of doing the forbidden. Of course, I don't use flash and do it on the sly. In addition, I only photograph works that are in the public domain, not copyrighted works. Here is a small album of shots taken at museums in the US and Europe: http://johnhefti.com/p699502724

    I had my sports kit in the back of the car, having just shot an afternoon game, but didn't think to bring a body and small lens in with me. It was a lovely exhibit though, and I was especially impressed with his print-making capabilities! I wish I could get my prints to look so good!
    http://johnhefti.com/
  • rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2012
    RyanS wrote: »
    Enjoyed the story and photographs. Thank you for sharing them. What was with the guy laying down on the bench? Who does that at a museum?

    Anti-photography policies at an exhibit featuring photography is the ultimate offense, in my opinion, against the spirit of photography.

    Thanks! Not sure what was the scoop on the person lying down, but it certainly merited a shutter click...
    Richard wrote: »
    What delicious irony--prohibiting photography at a Walker Evans exhibit. That's just asking for it. lol3.gif I like the No Photography sign in the last shot.

    How was the show, BTW?
    michswiss wrote: »
    Ha! Good for you Rainbow!

    Thanks, Richard and michswiss... It is certainly very interesting to take photos when prohibited (and not for respectful reasons like at a ceremony/service/etc...)

    The show was very interesting. Of note was how many prints were tiny. Perhaps they were contact prints off a 2 1/2" format? His artistic shots were uninteresting to me (eg -- shots of signs or just the letters on the signs and his polaroid work in this genre). But his photojournalism/photo essays were outstanding. These included his Cuba series, his NY shots, and his shots in the South, including the small towns and the sharecropper families. I was impressed enough to buy the book featuring much of this exhibit (book from a 2000 Metro Museum of Art where they must have had a similar exhibit) and pay full price for it! eek7.gif
  • rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited March 13, 2012
    jhefti wrote: »
    Haha, I was just there yesterday with my son, who took a picture of the 'No Photography' sign at the entrance! (He used his phone camera.) I routinely photograph in museums, in part for the thrill of doing the forbidden. Of course, I don't use flash and do it on the sly. In addition, I only photograph works that are in the public domain, not copyrighted works. Here is a small album of shots taken at museums in the US and Europe: http://johnhefti.com/p699502724

    I had my sports kit in the back of the car, having just shot an afternoon game, but didn't think to bring a body and small lens in with me. It was a lovely exhibit though, and I was especially impressed with his print-making capabilities! I wish I could get my prints to look so good!

    Beautiful work on your museum photos... Yeah, I wish you had pulled your camera and tried to sneak some shots. Then I could have told the guard about you and snapped a series of her busting you. Would have titled it "Con-sequential"... rolleyes1.gif
  • jheftijhefti Registered Users Posts: 734 Major grins
    edited March 14, 2012
    rainbow wrote: »
    Beautiful work on your museum photos... Yeah, I wish you had pulled your camera and tried to sneak some shots. Then I could have told the guard about you and snapped a series of her busting you. Would have titled it "Con-sequential"... rolleyes1.gif

    Haha, would have loved that! I have gotten busted a couple of times, but was just asked to keep my camera off. I've gotten pretty good at shooting from the hip!
    http://johnhefti.com/
  • RSLRSL Registered Users Posts: 839 Major grins
    edited March 14, 2012
    A couple years ago I went into a museum here in Florida with a camera about the size of a four-thirds mirrorless in my hand, strap around my wrist. I was with a friend who had a small DSLR on a strap around his neck. As soon as we got through the door a guard came up and told my friend that cameras weren't allowed in the museum. My friend went back out and put his camera in the car. In the meantime I stood there with camera in hand, talking to the guard, and he never said a thing about the camera. I then walked through the museum and made about a dozen shots. Saw the guard a few more times but he still didn't seem to see my camera -- because it wasn't around my neck or over my shoulder.

    I think that in this case, Rainbow, you should have asked the guard at the door whether or not she'd checked all the visitors for cell phones. The no camera thing in museums is becoming more and more ridiculous as cell phone cameras get better and better.
    Russ Lewis
    www.FineArtSnaps.com
  • rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2012
    RSL wrote: »
    A couple years ago I went into a museum here in Florida with a camera about the size of a four-thirds mirrorless in my hand, strap around my wrist. I was with a friend who had a small DSLR on a strap around his neck. As soon as we got through the door a guard came up and told my friend that cameras weren't allowed in the museum. My friend went back out and put his camera in the car. In the meantime I stood there with camera in hand, talking to the guard, and he never said a thing about the camera. I then walked through the museum and made about a dozen shots. Saw the guard a few more times but he still didn't seem to see my camera -- because it wasn't around my neck or over my shoulder.

    I think that in this case, Rainbow, you should have asked the guard at the door whether or not she'd checked all the visitors for cell phones. The no camera thing in museums is becoming more and more ridiculous as cell phone cameras get better and better.

    I like your story...

    I did not challenge the guard at all (and was friendly toward her) as she was just enforcing an ongoing policy of the museum (the policy was not specific toward this exhibit, but toward all the rotating ones). And even when others raised their camera and took a shot, it was a soft approach to ask them to refrain from taking photos without asking them to leave or put their cameras away.
  • rainbowrainbow Registered Users Posts: 2,765 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2012
    BTW, whoever, I do think I scored on the second shot as a stand alone photo... wave.gif
  • TonyCooperTonyCooper Registered Users Posts: 2,276 Major grins
    edited March 23, 2012
    Nice shots, nice storyline.

    I was amazed to see a dog in the museum in the last shot. I can't imagine
    letting dogs in a museum (except companion dogs), but not cameras.

    Next thing you know, they'll be letting pigeons in museums.
    Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
    http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
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