Venice, April 2011:
Sunday 24 July 2011
Thursday 7 July 2011
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY...
Looking at Vivian's photographs yesterday inspired me to dig out some I took myself in Paris last year (using 120mm noir film)... It also encouraged me to rush to the photo lab to get a couple of black and white films developed I took whilst in Venice earlier this year: I will post up the results when I get them back!
An accordion busker on the Paris Metro. February 2010
DISCOVERED: VIVIAN MAIER...
Yesterday I stumbled across a wonderful photography exhibition in Kings Cross that showcased the work of street photographer, Vivian Maier.
The story related to the discovery of this photographer is fascinating: just like I had stumbled across the exhibition, someone (a man by the name of John Maloof) only a few years previously had stumbled across Vivians work, after a box containing undeveloped film rolls and thousands upon thousands of negatives were bought by Maloof in a thrift auction house in Maier’s home town of Chicago. It is said that she took hundreds and thousands of pictures in her life time but sadly never shared them with anybody. Around 90% of her archive has now been reconstructed and brought to the public eye through exhibitions such as this one (entitled ‘Vivian Maier: A Life Uncovered’)
As well as the story of their discovery I also found the images in themselves to be intriguing and reminded me greatly of the work of pioneering French street photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Like them, she captured emotions and moods… she captured details such as a couple holding hands or the damaged heel on an old woman’s shoe, which would often be missed by a general passer-by. She mostly focused on the poor as towards the end of her life Vivian herself was living in poverty and even ended up homeless so felt as if she could relate to the faces which were staring back at her through her lens.
‘Vivian Maier: A Life Uncovered’is currently running up until July 24th at the German Gymnasium, (London NW1) as part of the London Street Photography Festival.
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