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A classic self-portrait by Vivian Maier

 

Vivian Maier (1926-2009), whose artistic works were until recently largely unknown, is now credited with being among the most significant street photographers of the 20th-century. Her main way of supporting herself was as a nanny in New York City. But clearly, her vocation was to see the people around her in a sensitive and insightful way, and document her encounters with them through the art of photography. As a perceptive observer, she captured them ‘as they were.’

My hunch is that her much-appreciated work as a caregiver for children, in the context of their families, positively reflected an inborn gift for discernment about other people as she apprehended the beauty she found within them. This may have provided her with a greater sense of tolerance and comfort with how others could appear, some of whom she photographed in states of disarray, plagued by the challenges of poverty and or illness, as well as those who seemed to be among the elite and socially inaccessible.

Vivian Maijer took thousands of photographs in the years before our new era of digital photography, and she never had a sizable proportion of her images developed into stored negatives. Traditional cameras in her era allowed light to pass through their lenses so as to impact chemically-coated light-reactive rolls of plastic film. These rolls of film then required either commercial processing, or the equivalent in private ‘dark rooms,’ where the light-sensitive film could be transformed into a stable medium. It is worth noting that, in its earlier days, photography was dismissed as being a lesser (or not even an) art. Yet, photography, as Maier’s work exemplifies, has the power to communicate great beauty, inspire goodness, and convey significant truths.

She was nevertheless unassertive with regard to what may have been seen as her ‘hobby’. She seems to have had confidence in her talent, and in the reasonable validity of her expenditures on cameras and film (a lot of film!), as well as the costs of developing the film she chose to have processed. And yet, we can only wonder why she did not seek out public recognition of her talents and work in a more encompassing way.

A compelling example of Maijer’s work

Three variables mark Vivian Maier’s accomplishments in photographic proficiency:

First, she was adept at capturing compelling and memorable images of people whose face and expression, and or posture, caught her interest.

Second, she became very proficient in producing images in black and white that have a significant light value contrast between those two reference points (light and dark). She also appears to have become adroit in manipulating the technical features of cameras such as shutter speed and aperture. For example, and taking into account the speed at which various film types absorb light, a quick shutter speed is often required when capturing people and objects in motion, to avoid a resulting blurred image. At the same time, when the shutter speed is fast, the aperture or degree to which the shutter is set to open in terms of size, not only affects how much light is let in but, interestingly, also affects how far objects in the distance remain in focus. Her attainment of these skills allowed her to be in greater control of depth of field, something important when taking photographs of people in public settings.

These first two variables involve skills that can be learned through practice. The third significant variable is picture composition, an inherited gift as much as it may be something that can be taught. Whether or not it can be learned through study, I believe that she had it naturally.

The following are some of the most significant images I have found in the available online archive of Vivian Maier’s oeuvre or life’s work.

There are, to be sure, photos of men (as below), but her most compelling images, I believe, are those involving women from a complex variety of what are now called ‘social locations,’ in New York City.

I find the following artistic self-portrait both visually compelling as well as insightful about herself.

What a remarkable ‘amateur’ photographer was Vivian Maijer!