These Photos are my own response to Vivian Maiers photos from the 1960's and 70's, i wanted to capture that same kind of everyday culture in the modern world that she had captured. I think they turned out well for a basic response to her work, they have an edge to them that is reminiscent of traditional street style photography and the fact that they are black and white adds to this tradition of the street photography culture. Traditionally the photos were in balck and white because that was the cheapest film and most photographers who worked in the street used it. I also think it was because it adds more depth, there is no colour taking your attention away from what is going on in the photo, it brings your attention to the detail and lets you see the whole picture in my opinion. The black and white aspect is something i would like to keep using, so i keep within the tradional aspect of street photography, and it also reflects my influence from Vivian Maier, which has been really important and inspirational to my project. I want to also experiment with using myself in the photos to combine to means of style photography, portrairure and street style. I think i will also experiment with other models aswell to see how it will turn out.
Vivian Maier photos
"After some researching, I have only little information about Vivian. Central Camera (110 yr old camera shop in Chicago) has encountered Vivian from time to time when she would purchase film while out on the Chicago streets. From what they knew of her, they say she was a very "keep your distance from me" type of person but was also outspoken. She loved foreign films and didn't care much for American films.
Some of her photos have pictures of children and often times it was near a beach. I later found out she was a nanny for a family on the North Side whose children these most likely were. One of her obituaries states that she lived in Oak Park, a close Chicago suburb, but I later found that she lived in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Out of the more than 100,000 negatives I have in the collection, about 20-30,000 negatives were still in rolls, undeveloped from the 1960's-1970's. I have been successfully developing these rolls. I must say, it's very exciting for me. Most of her negatives that were developed in sleeves have the date and location penciled in French (she had poor penmanship)." Taken from the blog made by John Maloof, who owns her negatives. (http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/)
"After some researching, I have only little information about Vivian. Central Camera (110 yr old camera shop in Chicago) has encountered Vivian from time to time when she would purchase film while out on the Chicago streets. From what they knew of her, they say she was a very "keep your distance from me" type of person but was also outspoken. She loved foreign films and didn't care much for American films.
Some of her photos have pictures of children and often times it was near a beach. I later found out she was a nanny for a family on the North Side whose children these most likely were. One of her obituaries states that she lived in Oak Park, a close Chicago suburb, but I later found that she lived in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Out of the more than 100,000 negatives I have in the collection, about 20-30,000 negatives were still in rolls, undeveloped from the 1960's-1970's. I have been successfully developing these rolls. I must say, it's very exciting for me. Most of her negatives that were developed in sleeves have the date and location penciled in French (she had poor penmanship)." Taken from the blog made by John Maloof, who owns her negatives. (http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/)
