Vivian maier

Vivian Dorothy Maier was an American street photographer. She mainly photographed on the streets of New York and Chicago. Maier was born on February 1, 1926, in New York, and passed away on April 21, 2009, in Oak Park, Illinois. Maier was a nanny for more than 40 years and produced roughly 150,000 pictures and films. But she rarely shared her work to people. Her photos became public when her stored belongings were auctioned off as payment for storage charges remained overdue in one of the Chicago storage facilities.

Style of work

Vivian Maier often capture scenes of city life — people on the streets, buildings, windows, and reflections. She focused on ordinary moments, exposing people in their everyday, spontaneous surroundings, primarily strangers unaware of the presence of a camera. Her most praised work is for having a deep sense of composition: she used multiple layers, frames, and edges, reflecting surfaces like mirrors and glass, symmetry, and light and shadow interplay to create depth and levels of visual complexity in her photos.

-> Does it look like any other Photographers work? How?

Robert Frank — Maier’s street photographs are similar with Frank’s work, as both photographed everyday life, strangers. Particularly, their photographs are similarly spontaneous, unposed ones, many times showing people outside the mainstream of society.

->Why did artists of this time choose to work this way? how was the culture of the time

At this moment, America was experiencing massive urban and social changes like industrialization, racial issues, and socioeconomic disparities. The majority of photographers tried to capture these alterations and disparities by taking real-world pictures on the streets — and Vivian Maier was one of them. She used to take pictures a lot of poor people, minorities, and elderly, representing those who were usually overlooked by society.

->Are they influenced by FILM, PAINTING, THEATRE or MUSIC

No, she does not seem to have been directly influenced by other art forms. Her style appears to come more from her own life experiences and habits of observation than from any external artistic influence.

“If you really have something to say better to be behind the camera than in front of it.”— Vivian Maier.

I think this quote shows how important Vivian Maier thought it was to observe rather than show herself. She used the camera as a tool for telling the story of the people in her photos. I agree with this because I realized the best way to find out about the moment is to watch silently. This quote inspires me to pay more attention to subtle moments and small details in everyday life. In my photos, I want to focus on storytelling through observation like Vivian Maier.

Candid street photography focuses on capturing unposed, spontaneous moments that convey genuine emotions or interactions. The key idea—made famous by Henri Cartier-Bresson—is the “decisive moment”: the exact moment when all the elements in the frame (gesture, line, light, expression) align to convey meaning. Practically, it requires anticipation, quick reflexes, and subtle blending with the surroundings so that subjects remain unaware. Photographers utilize an intermediate focal length, pre-set exposure, and constant attention to items in the background, allowing them to press the shutter at the ideal time. Reading Cartier-Bresson’s photographs and words of wisdom instruct photographers on how composition and timing work together to create photographs that are simultaneously spontaneous and staged.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, known as the “father of modern street photography,” invented the concept of the decisive moment and co-founded the Magnum Photos agency.

Framing and layering are compositional strategies that turn a single photograph into a compact narrative. Framing uses architectural elements (doorways, windows, railings) or foreground objects to “frame” the main subject, guiding the viewer’s eye; layering arranges elements at different distances—foreground, middle ground, background—so the image reads as multiple visual planes rather than a flat scene. Photographers like Alex Webb exploit strong layers, color contrast, and intersecting lines to create images where separate actions or stories coexist within one frame. To practice, look for scenes with clear foreground elements (e.g., a fence or stair), position the subject in the mid-plane, and wait for secondary figures or gestures to enter the background—this interplay produces complexity and encourages viewers to explore the picture.

Alex Webb is known for his richly layered, vibrant color street photographs that capture complex human interactions and cultural contrasts.

Reflections and light play offer immediate ways to add ambiguity, symbolism, and visual complexity to street photographs. Reflections in shop windows, puddles, or glass surfaces can produce double images that juxtapose subject and environment or create layered narratives; puddle shots often benefit from a very low shooting angle so the reflection fills the frame. Light and shadow act as compositional tools—harsh side light creates contrast and silhouette, while soft, diffuse light can emphasize mood. Technical tips: get low for puddle reflections, watch for polarizing reflections you may want to reduce, and use spot-metering or exposure compensation when shooting through bright glass so your subject isn’t underexposed. Vivian Maier’s street work and modern how-to guides both show how reflections can turn ordinary streets into poetic, multi-layered scenes.

Vivian Maier was a private nanny whose massive body of street photography—mostly unknown during her life—was discovered after her death, revealing intimate views of everyday urban life.

Composition 1 – Central Framing, High Angle, and Reflections

In these photos, we experimented with placing the subject in the center of the frame, combined with a high-angle perspective and the use of reflections.
This combination allowed us to create a visual hierarchy where the viewer’s attention was immediately drawn to the individual while still observing the surrounding space from above.
The high angle helped convey a sense of observation and distance, making the subject appear smaller within the urban environment, while the reflections added another layer of depth — as if the scene were being viewed through both reality and its mirrored version.
This technique helped us explore the theme of perspective and how positioning and reflection can transform an ordinary scene into something more thought-provoking.

Composition 2 – Same Angle, Different Focus

Here, we maintained the same shooting angle while adjusting the focus point to observe how depth and meaning shift in a single setting.
By blurring the foreground in one shot and focusing sharply on it in another, we were able to guide the viewer’s attention differently — either toward the subject’s movement or the environment surrounding them.
This experiment revealed how even minor technical changes in focus could completely transform the emotional tone of a photograph.

Composition 3 – Multiple Layers through Structures and Human Density

In this series, we placed the subject beside complex architectural structures such as stairs, railings, and clustered people, to create multiple visual layers.
The overlapping lines of the stairs and the density of the crowd formed natural layers that added rhythm and visual tension to the photo.
By capturing both human movement and spatial geometry, the image conveyed a sense of urban rhythm — how people exist as part of structured, layered environments.

The title of my project is “Connected Aspects”

I have developed my own individual approach to this title by combining three different types of industrial structures, photographing them from varying positions, angles, and methods, and then merging them all into one overall image.

The artists that have inspired my work most are Bernd and Hilla Becher. They have influenced how I’ve worked on my project by their systematic recording of industrial buildings. I was struck by their use of black-and-white photography and their attention to architectural forms without including people.

I tried in my photos to photograph metal buildings from various angles and overlay them to focus on form, texture, and repetition. I also wanted to emphasize the strength and geometry of man-made objects by separating them against a reduced context like the Bechers.

In order to develop my ideas for this project I experimented with cropping, reversing, and arranging the images so that they visually connect as if they are part of one continuous structure.

After experimenting, I have brought together the best parts of my project to create my final series of images by unifying the background into a clear sky. This developed a firm negative space which solidifies the metal textures and makes them more visible.

To create my final series of images I merged the three buildings, rearranged their orientations, and highlighted their hard, industrial look.

I chose to work like this because I wanted to translate separate objects into a new wholeness and highlight texture and form.

Overall, I think the strengths of the project are the strong emphasis on structure, texture, and unity, because three independent objects are edited together to create one smooth visual connection. Another strength is that while each photo alone may seem meaningless, together as a series of three they gain real significance.

The areas that I will need to work on in future projects are refining my editing techniques, such as removing unnecessary elements that distract from the seamless connection. This will make the final outcome look more professional and intentional.

Theme is to emphasize the properties of material of the subjects in photographs.

• shallow depth
• reflection
• Highlight transparency
• curves
• colors

• Perspective
• Balance
• Tone
• Difference in brightness

• Geometric shapes
• lines (horizontal&vertical&diagonal)

• Layering
• contrast
• Contrast of Shape  (cylinder and grid pattern)
• Negative space

• Texture
• Oblique angle
• lines
• Some colors

• Similar tone
• deep depth
• different Material

• Off-center
• Texture
• shadow
• contrast of colors

• Centered subject
• emphasize
• Background with vertical line (leading lines)
• Consistent background

• Shallow depth
• close-up shot
• Rough texture
• Color contrast

• Low angle(dynamic)
• Cropping
• Negative Space

Metallic Lines

I want to show how the metallic aspects and straight lines in buildings can be so trendy and cool. I am interested in the shine and shape of these buildings, and I want others to be able to see them as well.

I want my audience to admire the beauty of clean lines in architecture and also think about the feeling that metallic materials can create. Since they can are cold and heavy, I want the audience to understand how well such characteristics work with sharp and modern buildings.

I will be motivated by looking for photographs with bold lines, reflections, and metallic surfaces. I especially would love to observe how light changes a photo’s mood when it reflects on steel or glass.

I personally feel that lines and materials in architecture are not only technical elements but also a tool to express mood and culture. Through my focus on metallic forms, I desire to show the different emotions that people can feel from buildings.

The Pictorialism Movement was about making photography more than just a tool for recording. The movement tried to render photography an art, similar to painting. Photographers preferred photographs which looks like paintings. They used soft focus, special printing techniques, and lighting to create sentimental and artistic photographs.

On the other hand, the Straight Photography Movement did not use painterly printing methods. Instead, it was focused on the real potential of the camera and was purely photographic in its expression. The goal was to take sharp and clear photographs. Straight photographers believed that photographs should never be decorated but must portray reality as it is.

> Straight photography became popular because since it was mostly the desire of most photographers to show that photography is an art in itself and not an imitation of the art of painting. Photographers preferred this type of photography because it delivered truth without altering it and unveiled beauty in the simplest of things. As technology of camera and printing developed, images could be captured vividly, so straight photography was best way in showing industrialized and urbanized landscapes at that time.

Edward Weston
Edward Weston co-founded Group f/64 in San Francisco in 1932 with Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and others, who leads the Straight Photography movement. Weston believed that “the camera should be a tool to record life,” with a philosophy that was realistic in the sense that it recorded the natural form without distortion in sharp detail.
His work Pepper No. 30 is a example of photography which uses a high-resolution lens to present the texture and shape of the subject without distortion.

Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind began photographing social documentary subjects but moved toward abstraction during the 1940s. His photography focuses on texture and form through close-ups of cracks in walls and surfaces that have been worn down, using a visual language similar to abstract expressionist painters.
Jerome, Arizona 21 is one of his work which emphasizes abstract forms and textures by zooming in on peeling paint on a wall.

Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky captures immense contemporary landscapes at high definition in digital prints. His paintings abstracts reality through digital technology; for instance, Rhein II abstractly organizes the course of the river, rendering it with a hint of abstraction.

Uta Barth
Uta Barth explores visual sight by using blurred backgrounds, cropped frames, and moving natural light to create abstract forms. Her artwork translates everyday situations into abstract forms that reinterpret the viewer’s visual experience.

straight photographer: Edward Weston and Aron Siskind

pictorialism photorapher: Aron Sisking, Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth

Chimney by Albert Renger-Patzsch

Elements of photography (line, shape, and tone):

One of the most dramatic things in this photograph is the line. The high chimney in the center goes straight up, and together with the round buildings which around it, they create strong vertical lines. These lines push the eyes upwards and give a solid feeling of height and strength.

The second is shape. All the buildings possess a clear shape. They are displayed in a repeat pattern, which makes the space structured and ordered.

The last one is tone. The picture is consist of one tone, mono. There are only black and white, and other colors are not available, but light and dark are exist. The darkness of the buildings is contrasted with the open sky, providing a solid and cool industrial mood.

Title:

If I name the photo, I would like to title as Straight Industry.

I think it gives a very modern and strong feeling for the photo. The word Straight connects to the visual element (the tall, vertical chimney and lines) and the word Industry highlights the subject matter of the picture which are factories, machinery, and industrial power.