Artist Research

Background

Vivian Maier was described as an intensely private and reclusive person, and people have only pieced together her life story posthumously from a couple people who knew her (Learn Street Photography Through the Eyes of Vivian Maier). In her life, she wasn’t proffessionally trained or taught phogroaphy, or recognized as a great street photographer; Most of her film negatives were underdeveloped and auctioned off as she was not financially capable to pay for a storage unit. However, now, she is recognized as one of the ‘greats’ of street photography, with a high ‘hit rate’ as shown from her contact sheets (Learn Street Photography Through the Eyes of Vivian Maier).

Style of Work

She is widely recognized as a street photographer.

Street photography generally stands for a “genre of photography that records everyday life in a public space” (Blumberg). This is a fitting description of her photographs, showing the streets of New York, candid photos of strangers etc.

Some distinguishing features of Vivian Maier’s photography was the fact that she would “obsessively” wander the streets with a camera, capturing anything she felt curious, often children and the marginalized of society (Learn Street Photography Through the Eyes of Vivian Maier). I was initially deadset on choosing a photographer who worked in color for this project, but after researching some street photographers, I felt like the perspective Vivian Maier approached street photography was intriguing. Although there’s so much of an emphasis on the “decisive moment” in street photography, I like how she is genuinely curious about just capturing the world the way it is. Some of her pictures felt personal, and a lot of them also included cultural context (e.g. protest boards with the name Nixon on it) that captured a specific time and place for someone who wasn’t familiar with it. She would also shoot unorthodox subjects, such as items lying beside the curb or in trash cans (“About Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Photographer”). Furthermore, she never sought fame or to make money from her photographs, so she would genuinely capture things she appreciated, rather than try to appreciate things everyone else did (“Vivian Maier Photography, Bio, Ideas”). As someone who is hoping to capture culture and a specific point of time in the Hutongs, the way in which she captures culture is relatable and inspiring to me (though luckily I won’t end up with thousands of undeveloped films).

Uniquely, she was able to share a special empathy with many of her subjects (as she too was financially unstable); perhaps as a nanny, she was also able to effectively interact with children and capture special moments of play (“Vivian Maier Photography, Bio, Ideas”). Some of her pictures would also be shot from a low angle, or the angle of a child, creating a new perspective of the world (“Vivian Maier Photography, Bio, Ideas). I don’t think that I would be able to as effectively empathize with my subjects as Vivian Maier, but I think that changes the angle and perspective of my photographs could be something I consider.

Quote

“I’m sort of a spy”

said Vivian Maier, when someone asked her what she did.

I agree with the fact that you have to be a sort of ‘spy’ when you do street photography, act naturally, shoot photos with careful precision, and then slip away befor you get noticed. It may also require you to understand people’s lives in a short amount of time, and extract key information about them (in the form of a photograph). However, while conventional ‘spies’ usually lie to obtain secret or confidential information, I don’t necessarily think Maier’s work, or street photography in general entails lying about something. In fact, I view street photography as capturing the real world. Yes, with artistic liscnence, but fundamentally coming from wishing to document the world in some way. Furthermore, the “secrets” spies unconver are different from how street photography is approached. Based on so many of the pictures I’ve seen, street photography is about capturing a ‘moment’ that could be gone the next second. It’s not just about finding out a secret, it’s about having the eyes to identify the potential for a moment and then capture it in the fleeting second before it is gone.

Overall, I find the quote a short and humorous way to explain things when someone asks you why you’re holding a camera in the middle of a random street.

Context

Vivian Maier did not really work with other photographers during her time. As previously said, she was reclusive and rarely showed her photographs to others, and thus would not have swapped photography styles with someone else. However, posthumously, she has been likened to other ‘top Street Photographers’ in the way “her work explores the relationship between taker and their urban subject” (“Vivian Maier Photography, Bio, Ideas”). Certain aspects of her photography style have been thematically compared with other artists here.

Vivian Maier told others that she learned English from Theaters and plays (“About Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Photographer”). There’s no evidence, but perhaps her photographs were somewhat influenced by this background, for example in detailing the expressions of passerbys.

Final Comments

I’ve kind of already voiced my opinions while explaining the research I did. I think Vivian Maier is a compelling person, both as an individual and as an artist. I appreciate the way she documented her world in a specific time, and I hope I will be able to achieve something similar during my photography trip. Vivian Maier actually took color photographs in the latter part of her life (though these were more abstract), but she is more known for her B&W street photography. I don’t know if I want to stick to B&W again, especially since the hutongs showcase a vibrant range of colors, but I will try to keep a ‘curious’ attitude throughout the trip and not be afraid to approach my subjects.

One Photograph Analysis

 

Subject

In the picture, someone is feeding birds in the middle of a street

Is the image in black and white or colour – what difference does this make?

The black and white helps to remove the distraction of color. Sometimes this can be a tool to help people just not worry about creating a tonally harmonious scene, but in this case there is so much going on in the background and foreground that the black and white helps keep emphasis on the subject, which is what is truly important.

Shutter speed and Aperture

The shutter speed appears to be in the smaller range, as the bird’s wings are not super blurred. The depth of field is quite narrow, so I would guess that the aperture was around an F/4, or at least smaller than an F/12

Foreground/mid-ground/background

This picture is complexly layered. In the foreground, stands the person with the birds. Right behind them, is a lady, who looks like she is looking at the birds and smiling. I think the focus in this picture was seriously razor sharp. If it was slightly off, the focus could go to the lady, making the photograph too complicated and ruining the beauty of it. In the background, are a street and some shops. Although the background is blurred, the style of the buildings gives you some cultural context.

Information in the image

Although its not a wide angle lens, probably more like 35mm, Maier expertly frames the subject to give the audience a lot of information. The medium close up draws the audience to the subject, but still allows them to examine the subject – and the interesting sight of the birds flocking on someone’s arm – within the larger context.

Gestures

The subject has one hand outstretched, that the birds are roosting on. The overall action captures the audience’s attention — especially the modern audience’s attention– because it feels so out of the blue, yet the person does it so naturally. The person’s other hand is slightly outstretched in a natural way. It looks like they are going to lift their hand, but are hesitating or too focused on watching the birds.