Vivian Maier (1926–2009)

Un buen fotógrafo callejero debe poseer muchos talentos: ojo para los detalles, la luz y la composición; sincronización impecable; una perspectiva populista o humanitaria; y una habilidad incansable para disparar, disparar, disparar, disparar constantemente y nunca perder un momento. Ya es bastante difícil encontrar estas cualidades en fotógrafos capacitados con el beneficio de la educación y los mentores y una comunidad de compañeros artistas y aficionados que apoyan y recompensan sus esfuerzos. Es increíblemente raro encontrarlo en alguien sin formación formal y sin red de compañeros.

Sin embargo, Vivian Maier es todas estas cosas, una niñera profesional, que desde la década de 1950 hasta la década de 1990 tomó más de 100.000 fotografías en todo el mundo, desde Francia hasta la ciudad de Nueva York, Chicago y docenas de otros países, y sin embargo no mostró los resultados a nadie. Las fotos son asombrosas tanto por la amplitud del trabajo como por la alta calidad de las imágenes humorísticas, conmovedoras, bellas y crudas de todas las facetas de la vida urbana en la época dorada de la posguerra en Estados Unidos.

No fue hasta que el historiador local John Maloof compró una caja de negativos de Maier en una casa de subastas de Chicago y comenzó a coleccionar y defender su maravilloso trabajo hace solo unos años que alguno de ellos vio la luz. Presentado aquí por primera vez en forma impresa, Vivian Maier: Fotógrafa callejera recopila lo mejor de su increíble e invisible cuerpo de trabajo.… (mais)

There were two other books about this woman and her photography in which I had more interest but this was the only book for borrowing that my library offers.

I was a young girl during the time she took her photographs in Chicago and NYC and at times we were both in both places. I was too young to remember my time in Chicago and but I remember NYC well. Even though it was highly unlikely to find photos of people I would recognize included in this book, I unsuccessfully looked for them.

I wish that there was more to this book. Maier was a talented photographer and many of the images she captured were striking, important, artistic. I wanted to see more of them. I am glad that her work was found and its importance was recognized.

I did find many of the photographs in this book depressing and distressing. I thought that all the photos would be candid but many of them seemed posed.

I’m glad that I read this and I’d like to read more about Maier and see all of her work, but I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I think seeing these images hanging in a museum vs. seeing them on book pages would be more gratifying for me.… (mais)

Amazing. The 100 or so photos in this collection are but a tiny fraction of the 100,000 negatives discovered so far. Was she consistently this good, or are these the one-tenth of one percent best? I don't think it matters; to have taken even 100 good photos in a lifetime is an achievement. Another GR reviewer called her the Emily Dickinson of photography, I think that is apt; as far as is known, she never showed her work to others. Her work has all the ingredients of great street photography: an eye for composition, a sense of the moment, and a recognition of some of the absurd juxtapositions that street life offers but that many of us fail to notice. I could have done with fewer of the clichéd alcoholics in a doorway, but that's a minor quibble. Very glad to have become aware of her work.… (mais)