Full Contact sheet (will filename and dates)

I think there might be a couple pictures missing in between; when I was checking with library, I saw some spam photos and deleted them out of habit…whoops). I was surprised to find that I took so many pictures, as my impression was that it was hard to get shots in for street photography. I supposed after filtering we’ll see if my hit rates were high, or if I just took a lot of bad quality photos…

I apologize about the formatting for the contact sheet, I spent more than 30 minutes trying to get the pictures to become smaller and fit two of them side by side so you can scroll less, but the formatting on blogs just went haywire. It’ll get better for the yellow/green/red photos.

Yellow Contact Sheet

My criteria for choosing Yellow pictures was pretty loose. Firstly, I chose pictures that had clear focus, as a lot of my pictures were blurry as I didn’t get my focus right and the people were moving. I also took out photos that were ‘failed’, for example a picture of someone with their eyes closed. Then, I also took out photographs that weren’t of much visual interest, for example, just people standing with their back facing me and not telling a story.

Green Pictures

Again,  I filtered for pictures that were of not of interest or not distinctive enough out, for example one of the photos that didn’t make the cut was a chef cooking some lamb skewers. While there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the technical aspect of the photo, it just felt too common (like any tourist could go up and snap a picture), and it didn’t really emphasize a certain aspect of the subject (e.g. his expression, gestures, or the food), nor was it very complex (basically just foreground of subject and background of store), so I took it out for my green pictures.

I also took out photos that weren’t visually/emotionally impactful. I perceive my photos differently since I am the photographer, so I asked my mom to give me some input, and she told me her impressions of the pictures as a viewer and which ones didn’t stand out to her. Even though I might’ve had some interesting reason behind taking that photo, if it’s not super evident to the viewer, it also discounts my overall evaluation of the photo.

Red Photos

I chose the best out of green for the red photos. I feel like these, as well as being visually compelling, also capture an aspect of chinese culture. One would be able to look at this picture and recognize some element of Chinese culture, or be introduced to an element of Chinese Culture. This not only aligns with my vision, but the artistic style of Vivian Maier. Many of her photographs capture the cultural context of her time, as do these photographs. Although they might not show the same amount of empathy she had for her subjects, I think that it focuses on the expression and individuality of the subject a lot more than many other street photography styles.

Red Photo Evaluation + Presentation

These are some of my printed pictures are part of the presenting element of this unit. I printed out a couple more of my red pictures later on, but some of them were not moved to the “final 15” board. The ones with the frames highlighted in orange are my pictures.

I actually had trouble picking which red photos to develop (as can be seen from the other red photos above), so I admit to not knowing what made my photos successful at first. In fact, I posted my pictures on wechat in a poll format to ask my friends to vote on their favorite photos, and these were the top 4. I would say that based on these 2 selection processes, there must be something in these photos that appeal to the liking of the masses.

For the first three photos (excluding the 4 rickshaws), I think that each of them showed distinctive human expressions, which quickly established an emotional connection between the viewer and the subject. For example, the old lady smiling in the middle right (3rd row). This feels very positive and touching, in comparison, to the photo of the guy in a green jacket sleeping on his rickshaw. The photograph on the 1st or 3rd column has a less emphasis on the expression of its subject, but it makes up for it with the complexity of the background. The varied background creates texture and gives contextual clues that the scene photographed is in China. That is why a lot of people ended up liking the photograph, as opposed to the photo with the old couple holding hands in my red photo selection. Although I found the color combination of the couple’s clothes interesting, it was likely not as visually interesting a scene as the photographs.

As for the 4 rickshaws lined up, I think it caught people’s attention because of the intersection between pattern and patern-breaking. The 4 rickshaws create a general pattern, but the different positions of the people sitting in the rickshaw break the pattern, showing similarities but also individual differences in life in China.

I like this picture firstly because it shows Chinese culture. It depicts a very quintessential scene where Chinese people form a community to play games to pass the time, and is something you’ll see in almost every park you pass by. The entire foreground is crowded with people, giving one the feeling that they too are spectating this riveting poker game.

Also, the expressions on the subjects’ faces are very vivid. For example, you can clearly see the intrigued, drama-watching expression of the two men in green and blue at the top of the photo. You can also see the intent face and exaggerated actions of the man who is slamming the card on the table. His arm is captured in midair (with some motion blur), freezing the scene in a decisive moment where he is about to slam down a card that might bring him victory.

I think that analyzing photographs for features that capture the general audiences’ attention isn’t what we should limit ourselves too. I still like my other red photographs for different reasons and they all have their unique quirks, they just might no be the most suitable for an exhibition outside the HS office. Regardless, I am overall pleased at the general reception of my photos.

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

(“How to Shoot Like Vivian Maier”)

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.

Definition of Street Photography

…un-posed, un-staged photography which captures, explores or questions contemporary society and the relationships between individuals and their surroundings

The London Festival of Photography defines Street Photography 

Statement of Intent

Working title: a day in the life of the Hutongs

Message: The message of my triptych will be to capture the cultural context of life in the hutongs. The houhai hutongs are one of the most distinguishing representations of old Beijing life and culture, which are quickly vanishing amongst modernization, urbanization, and globalization in fast paced Beijing life. Thus, I want to capture the typical “common Beijing life” residents of the hutongs live, among the backdrop of a more bustling city life. Even though they might not be familiar with Beijing, I want to let them feel like they can be immersed in “hutong culture”, which as been described as various Chinese authors as a close knit community that is peaceful, harmonious, and carries the rich history of China. Through my pictures, I want my audience to better appreciate Hutong culture and feel a sense of relaxation. Hutongs are less developed than the rest of urbanized Beijing, so to me it feels like its a slice of living history from a different time. Thus, I also want the audience to feel nostalgia for a different time of the hutongs, and sadness that this culture is slowly being disappeared without acknowledgement.

I will get inspiration from artists that can balance capturing both broad and detailed aspects of society. In specific, artists that can capture the broader culture context of their time through context clues, background, signboards, etc, but can also capture the individual characteristics of people, their clothes, their expression etc. I also want an artist who can connect to the environment and people they photograph, and who captures everything about their surroundings, not just the decisive moments, but also normal moments where people go about their lives.

Mind Map

 

Mood Board