Street Photographer – Vivian Maier

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A good street photographer must possess many talents: an eye for detail, light, and composition; impeccable timing; a populist or humanitarian outlook; and a tireless ability to constantly shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and never miss a moment. It is hard enough to find these qualities in trained photographers with the benefit of schooling and mentors and a community of fellow artists and aficionados supporting and rewarding their efforts. It is incredibly rare to find it in someone with no formal training and no network of peers.

Yet Vivian Maier is all of these things, a professional nanny, who from the 1950s until the 1990s took over 100,000 photographs worldwide—from France to New York City, to Chicago and dozens of other countries—and yet showed the results to no one. The photos are amazing both for the breadth of the work and for the high quality of the humorous, moving, beautiful, and raw images of all facets of city life in America’s post-war golden age.

Thanks for the link Michael, much appreciated. I’d posted about Vivian Maier before however now there is so much more information on the website dedicated to Vivian Maier and her amazing work.

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One thought on “Street Photographer – Vivian Maier”

  1. Thanks for this wonderful post and link – I had missed it the first time round. What a fascinating (and moving) story. Your comment on holding the twin-lens camera at waist-height set me thinking: maybe this is a more natural and a less intrusive way to make/take photographs of people: they see your face and have eye-contact if they choose. My friend had a Rollei in Singapore, still in use, and always a good talking point with strangers!

    Thanks for your posts over what at times must have been a difficult year. Always appreciated.

    Best wishes and gassho

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