He liked doing paintings that closely followed the photos he had snapped himself or found in newspapers. He based one painting on an Associated Press photo of a demonstration in New York's Union Square on May 1, 1932. Putting a right angle viewfinder on his 35 mm. Leica camera enabled Shahn to shoot faces while appearing to focus in a different direction. That gave him candid shots without his subjects knowing they were being pictured.
Some photographers think such deception unethical.
Shahn got his first and only lessons from Walker Evans, the classic photographer. They worked together both in lower Manhattan and picturing poverty in the southeast for the New Deal's Farm Security Administration. On weekdays contributions are suggested in the same amounts. Ask questions about National News , International News and more in Abuzz, from The New York Times. Get answers and tell other readers what you know.