Another thing that Davidson did to better represent his “Subway” series was to photograph at different times during the day, to capture different scenes and characters: Yeah, in the Daily News. I knew where they were so I went there, and, as I remember, I brought some rolls of color film with me and took some pictures of kids with bandages. a b Peres, Michael R; ProQuest (Firm) (2007), Focal encyclopedia of photography: Digital imaging, theory and applications, history, and science (4thed.), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-08-047784-8

Few contemporary photographers give us their observation so unembellished – so free of apparent craft or artifice – as does Bruce Davidson. In his work, formal and technical concerns remain below the surface, all but invisible of the life that is described, scarcely changed by its transmutation into art. An Ideal for Living: Photographing Class, Culture and Identity in Modern Britain Beetles+Huxley, London, July 27 – September 17. [16] Bruce Davidson: American Photographer Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, Sep 16, 2017 – Jan 7 2018 [68]

Bruce Davidson: In Color

One of Davidson’s most famous projects was Brooklyn Gangin 1959. One day, He read an article about a series of street fights in Brooklyn, and left the next day to Prospect Park to meet a group of youths called the Jokers.Over the years, several of the members of the Jokers succumbed to drugs or drug involved violence. Awoman named Kathy, staring at herself in a cigarette machine in one of his most famous photographs, shot herself with a shotgun. New York City. 1959. Brooklyn Gang. Coney Island. Kathy fixing her hair in a cigarette machine mirror. I’m just a humanist. I just photograph the human condition as I find it. It can be serious. It can also be ironic or humorous. I’m political, but not in an overt way. Of course, everything we do in life is political. Almost everything.” Color as Form: a history of color photography; International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York [75]

In transforming the grim, abusive, violent, and yet often serene reality of the subway into a language of color, I see the subway as a metaphor for the world in which we live today. From all the earth, people come into the subway. It’s a great social equalizer. As our being is exposed, we confront our mortality, contemplate our destiny, and experience both the beauty and the beast. From the moving train above ground, we see glimpses of the city, and as the trains move into the tunnels, sterile fluorescent light reaches into the stony gloom, and we, trapped inside, all hang on together. Bruce Davidson – Subway, 1980 Recognition & ExhibitionsHe decided to standout than hide; instead of concealing his camera, he prominently displayed it. Davidson started playing at being a detective, channeling the idea in the subway that he was untouchable. To conquer his fears, he employed the stalking prey tactic when photographing the subway commuters. Bruce Davidson – Subway, 1980 Bruce Davidson – Subway, 1980 Overcoming fears On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (traveled to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California) [77] This gave me a wonderful opportunity to get to know the people of the community better. I would walk around the entire Fashion District, saying hello to the store vendors and to the people who frequented the area often. At first shooting in the area I felt a bit out-of-place and awkward, but over time I started to feel very comfortable as many of the locals started to recognize me and say hello. Davidson must surely have been aware of Walker Evans's own series of subway photographs, which the older photographer began taking in 1938 but did not publish until 1966, in a volume entitled Many Are Called.

One point I thought was a great idea that Davidson did was carry around an album of photographs he took in the Subway. I feel that us as street photographers can do the same thing – carry around an album of photographs we have taken on the streets in case somebody gets upsets or asks us what we are doing. Hirsch, Robert (2017), Seizing the light: A social and aesthetic history of photography (Thirded.), Routledge, p.472, ISBN 978-1-138-94425-1 Rather than defining what type of photography he does, he explains why he photos. He sees himself as a humanist by photographing “the human condition” as he finds it – rather than just to make interesting images. Foresta, M. A. (1984). Exposed and developed: photography sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. National Museum of American Art. a b c d e f Warren, Lynne; Warren, Lynn (2005), Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 978-0-203-94338-0His best work is characterized by detailed observation revealing the complexities of distinct individuals, their beliefs, the communities where they live and the subcultures they belong to,” writes Paul Roth, Director, The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, about Bruce Davidson in the introduction to the book. "At the same time, despite the freshness of these unseen images, they are familiar. We know some of these people; they inhabit a world we remember seeing before. And we recognize a vision, a perspective, a way of looking at the world.” Bayer, Jonathan, 1936-; Photographers' Gallery (1977), Concerning photography: Some thoughts about reading photographs, Photographers' Gallery {{ citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link)