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01-02-2011, 12:06 PM   #1
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More regarding Vivian Maier street photographer

Here are 2 links on the works of Vivian Maier street photographer. Reminds me of Weegee and Margaret Bourke White. Not to be missed!

Welcome to Vivian Maier Photography | Vivian Maier Photo Collection

Vivian Maier - Her Discovered Work



01-02-2011, 01:33 PM   #2
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It's been great pleasure to run through her photos. Thanks for the links.
01-02-2011, 01:47 PM   #3
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Thanks for these links! A lot of amazing images.
01-03-2011, 08:11 AM   #4
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Too eccentric and dark (like brutal stills from a film noir) for me.

Some get rich by creating an illusion, but that is marketing!

01-03-2011, 09:16 AM   #5
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Interesting!
01-03-2011, 10:50 AM   #6
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A great body of work, and a model for street-shooters everywhere. Note that there's a different dynamic when using a TLR (or any top-down VF camera) vs using a cam that you stick up to your face -- less aggressive / intrusive, a lower viewpoint, tracking a subject requires counter-intuitive moves, etc. And framing square vs rectangular scenes is different, as is (usually) needing to work more slowly. Try the experience!
01-03-2011, 01:46 PM   #7
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Some quality shots in there. Interesting story too.

Reminds me of Yanming, great TLR shooter, but a current one.

01-03-2011, 05:17 PM   #8
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See: "Post Your Photos" - "Attempted street photography", today, Jan. 3, 2011.

IMO that 17 year old kid's photos are way better than those of Vivian Maier!
01-03-2011, 06:05 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sparkle Quote
See: "Post Your Photos" - "Attempted street photography", today, Jan. 3, 2011.

IMO that 17 year old kid's photos are way better than those of Vivian Maier!
Each to their own, but I strongly disagree. I think it's also worth noting Maier never edited her own work - we're seeing images someone else has chosen to show online.
01-03-2011, 11:46 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by CWyatt Quote
Each to their own, but I strongly disagree.
+1

IMO the shots on the thread Sparkle mentioned are mostly "just" candid street portraits to me. They are well excecuted and nice to look at but the images especially in the second Vivian Maier link have so much more in them. Of course the blogger has picked these shots to show us and there's most likely a lot of not as compelling shots in her body of work. But the shots posted are to me the kind of "decisive moment" shots I wish I could one day take.

Although I must admit I've noticed that pictures taken decades ago are often more interesting to me than more recent ones.
01-04-2011, 12:46 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by CWyatt Quote
I think it's also worth noting Maier never edited her own work
The net is loaded with people who never edit their own work...

(Yes, I know what you meant.)

QuoteOriginally posted by ovim Quote
Although I must admit I've noticed that pictures taken decades ago are often more interesting to me than more recent ones.
Then you must visit Shorpy. You'll be glad you did.
01-04-2011, 02:56 AM   #12
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I think they are good shots
01-09-2011, 01:33 PM - 1 Like   #13
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Just checked it on TOP and followed the links from there. Fantastic stuff!

But what really surprised me was when I started noticing how waist-level perspective produced by her Rolleiflex TLR contributed to the results. We are all so used to SLR or rangefinder eye-level perspective that we mostly forgot that something else could be done too.

I've had an opportunity to use my friend's Rolleiflex TLR a few times and do some 120 film processing and printing, but I totally forgot about it (no surprise, considering that was almost 20 years ago). But when I think about it now, what I vividly remember is that shooting with TLR was in fact very different than shooting with an SLR or a rangefinder. Not technically, but psychologically. Here is what I mean:

Our posture and SLR camera operation must be, I realize now, threatening to an unsuspecting subject. Imagine you are a subject: you look at the stranger staring at you (a photographer!) and one second later he replaces his face with a black box littered with buttons, his eyes with a large one staring right at you, and with both arms holding his newly acquired mechanical face. Wow! So noticeable, intrusive, threatening, and a very good reason for a subject to completely change behavior, cover his/her face, run away from us, or even attack us! I always felt like a predator on the streets, trying to be as fast as I could and catch my prey before it runs away from me. And that's exactly the reason why I don't like and gave up on street photography. I don't like being a predator.

Now I remember the feeling when using TLR. I am there, and I am looking down. Before and after taking a shot I look the same. No no rush, no sudden movements, no hiding behind the camera, no threatening body postures. TLRs are silent. Someone may give me a glance probably just wondering for a moment about what I might be doing, but no one gets really interested in what I am really doing. Click. Click. I am still there, people passing by. Click. Click. No need to hide, no feeling like I am stealing something. Click. I am doing my own stuff, they are going with their business. Click. Click. I am not a predator. I am just there. Wow, that's different!

In many of published Vivian's photographs I can recognize that characteristic TLR waist-level perspective and relative lack of intense reaction to her presence by her subjects. They just glance. Or not even that. I can imagine she was just there, the way a traffic sign is, a bench, garbage bin, fire hydrant, or a parked car. And she was clicking. And clicking. And clicking some more. And life went by, undisturbed, unaltered by her presence.

Although it is obvious she was not too shy to carefully invade someone's space in order to capture a great moment, or grab attention of her subjects, I am amazed by the number and quality of her "waist-level I am not here" styled photographs.

Which eventually made me think: we need to be able to do this too! But most current DSLRs (and all from Pentax!) are in fact preventing us from taking TLR perspective photographs with relative absence of photographer-to-subject interaction. But we don't need TLRs to do that. Apart from getting Sony A55 or similar, how about Pentax K-mount EVIL with a flip screen, or perhaps K-3 or K-z(?) with a flip screen? I never saw any good reason why DSLRs should have live view, far from needing a flip screen, but I think I do now.
01-09-2011, 02:09 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
Note that there's a different dynamic when using a TLR (or any top-down VF camera) vs using a cam that you stick up to your face -- less aggressive / intrusive, a lower viewpoint, tracking a subject requires counter-intuitive moves, etc.
I somehow missed your post and saw it only after writing mine, but yeah, I totally agree!
01-10-2011, 04:23 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Ivan Glisin Quote
And that's exactly the reason why I don't like and gave up on street photography. I don't like being a predator.
Well said! Me, too.
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