Vivian Maier

I'm probably coming off more critical than I am intending. The story is cool and it is interesting, I just see work that good by current photographers who are not considered artists or masters or anything, really.

tkbslc wrote in post #11519381
I'm probably coming off more critical than I am intending. The story is cool and it is interesting, I just see work that good by current photographers who are not considered artists or masters or anything, really.

I see photographers that take one or two photographs that are decent but to do a huge body of work that not only is consistent but works together is not that common. I tend to think of it like this; a good at bat or two doesn't make an MVP in baseball no more than a good photo or two make a great photographer.

And its OK if you don't dig her work. There are many good photographers that others like that I personal don't much care for but I can still respect what they've done. I personally don't much care for the work of Joel-Peter Witkin but he is a very interesting photographer with a very clear personal vision and that I do respect.

She is on par with Robert Frank and Walker Evans. See this link for more: http://www.wttw.com …cWo7ViDL_rWniVH​2LakYxNa7J

Tom K. wrote in post #11534815
She is on par with Robert Frank and Walker Evans. See this link for more: http://www.wttw.com …cWo7ViDL_rWniVH​2LakYxNa7J

Tom I'm eager to see the exhibit. Here portraits remind me a little of August Saunders and Evans and her street work a bit of W.Eugene Smith and Bernice Abbott.

tkbslc wrote in post #11506323
To me there is nothing really different between her shots and the everyday stuff you see on flickr. It has a bit of a cool nostalgia factor because they were taken a generation ago with medium format film, but really anyone could have shot these.

Well, I think you are right to a certian degree. Maybe not so impressive in 2010, but when she shot these the world was a different place.

neptunerain wrote in post #11539025
Well, I think you are right to a certian degree. Maybe not so impressive in 2010, but when she shot these the world was a different place.

Well, I just seen you posted the same thing!

neptunerain wrote in post #11539025
Well, I think you are right to a certian degree. Maybe not so impressive in 2010, but when she shot these the world was a different place.

I still say pretty impressive even today Rarely do I see anything by new photographers that remotely has any more depth than the one shot= greatness mentality. That is rarely the case in anything. Bodies of relating work, consistent vision and a defined style in my opinion can in some cases = greatness.

Vivian had great square vision and used the square frame extremely well. I remember a long time ago when I first bought my blads it took me a quit a while to start seeing square. Once I got, I loved it. Perfect format for individual portraits and a real fun challenge to attempt to give the impression of a vertical or horizontal feel to the photograph.

I don't know, I was personally quite impressed, and knowing she was doing it without a built in digital light meter, instantly adjustable iso, and instant feedback via LCD screen and histogram is even more impressive. Like many forms of media, years of evolution can lead to a higher level of apathy. Great photos are everywhere you look and that can tend to reduce their impact. To me her work is quite strong.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #11542431
I don't know, I was personally quite impressed, and knowing she was doing it without a built in digital light meter, instantly adjustable iso, and instant feedback via LCD screen and histogram is even more impressive. Like many forms of media, years of evolution can lead to a higher level of apathy. Great photos are everywhere you look and that can tend to reduce their impact. To me her work is quite strong.

Agree....

I was just reading the comments from flickr, it's fortunate that these negatives ended up in the right hands. He doesn't seem to know a lot about photography but he knew they were worth preserving and sharing. And to his credit he did want to learn more about her and photography in general. Someone should tell him that all the film in the box he showed on flickr isn't tri-x, some is plus-x. I'll never forget the pukey plum color of undeveloped plus-x.

It seems to me that he may be able to get some volunteers from the gang at APUG to make prints for exhibition. They deserve to be printed and shown in a gallery setting.

Very interesting story and photos..

IMO, "Brilliant" and "Amazing" would be a bit strong. I think the impressive part is the quality of work given the time period. There's a cool hidden-gem factor to this, but as someone mentioned, it's pretty much above-average Flickr in my book.

Thanks for sharing it, it certainly does give insight into an era I've never known.

BrandonSi wrote in post #11542857
Very interesting story and photos..

IMO, "Brilliant" and "Amazing" would be a bit strong. I think the impressive part is the quality of work given the time period. There's a cool hidden-gem factor to this, but as someone mentioned, it's pretty much above-average Flickr in my book.

Thanks for sharing it, it certainly does give insight into an era I've never known.

Are you going to check out the exhibit?

tkbslc wrote in post #11519381
I'm probably coming off more critical than I am intending. The story is cool and it is interesting, I just see work that good by current photographers who are not considered artists or masters or anything, really.

No, you're not being overly critical.
You're being objective.

My parents lived in Paris for many years before coming to Canada, and got into photography. They had boxes of pictures they took all over Paris. They had their own darkroom and everything.

Lots of pictures just like this woman's. Just snapshots. Nothing particularly noteworthy.

Lots of people get swept up in nostalgia, and gush over nothing, really.

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MP4/8 wrote in post #11544045
No, you're not being overly critical.
You're being objective.

My parents lived in Paris for many years before coming to Canada, and got into photography. They had boxes of pictures they took all over Paris. They had their own darkroom and everything.

Lots of pictures just like this woman's. Just snapshots. Nothing particularly noteworthy.

Lots of people get swept up in nostalgia, and gush over nothing, really.

.

Have ya seen the works of Bresson, Abbott and Evans? These images by Vivian are much more that just vacation pictures or just snapshots.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #11544890
Have ya seen the works of Bresson, Abbott and Evans?

I'm not discussing them.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #11544890
These images by Vivian are much more that just vacation pictures or just snapshots.

Sez you.

I sez differently.

There is zero that I find compelling in those images. I find them quite boring, TBH.

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