Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Mystique And Talent Of Photographer, Vivian Maier

Last week, my longtime blogging buddy, Katherine at Shoot Me Now, mentioned something in her comment response to me about a documentary that featured the mysterious life and remarkable talent of photographer, Vivian Maier . And ironically enough, I had read about this documentary several years ago but never saw it. In fact, I still haven't see it but plan to. Yet at that time, I did do some investigation of Vivian's work and was immediately in awe of her photographs. Vivian had an amazing gift for knowing exactly when to snap the camera and capture the perfect moment. She also had an uncanny ability to get close to people from all walks of life. And what really blows me away was that she had no formal training as a photographer. She was self-taught.

Vivian Dorothy Maier was an American street photographer. Maier worked for about forty years as a nanny, mostly in Chicago's North Shore, pursuing photography during her spare time. She took more than 150,000 photographs during her lifetime, primarily of the people and architecture of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, although she also traveled and photographed worldwide. During her lifetime, Maier's photographs were unknown and unpublished, and she never printed many of her negatives. At the age of 83, Vivian died in April of 2009 and was forgotten, that is, until Chicago collector, John Maloof, acquired a box of her pictures at an auction and set out to take her work to the world.

John, along with Charlie Siskel, a television and film producer, put forth an impressive amount of time and energy investigating the life of Vivian Maier, producing the documentary, Finding Vivian Maier, which wasn't easy because she was extremely private. Many of her friends admitted to knowing hardly anything about Vivian because she was very closed-off and secretive. In fact, her friends never saw any of her photographs or knew of Vivian's phenomenal talent.

Please take a moment to watch this video clip about Vivian Maier, which will give you a brief overview of why she remains an intriguing mystery...

Vivian Maier's cameras...

*photo credit

I would like to share with you some of Vivian Maier's work.

Personally, her photographs invoke so many different feelings and emotions within me. Vivian's photographs go right to my heart and solar plexus. There was something so nakedly uncensored about the images she captured. I find them humorous, touching, raw, and beautifully haunting...