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What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

newyorker.com

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Re: What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

#5

Post by shishy »

The interesting part of her work is that unlike other photographers who not only took photos but had the chance to edit them, someone else discovered a bunch of negatives she left behind. So others came in later to turn them into what you see.

Anyone who has shot photos (film or digital) knows how much effort goes into the editing process.

I love her photographs and her story, I just find it fascinating to think about this detail, especially when contextualizing her with other artists.

Re: What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

#7

Post by thih9 »

shishy wrote: post #5

The interesting part of her work is that unlike other photographers who not only took photos but had the chance to edit them, someone else discovered a bunch of negatives she left behind. So others came in later to turn them into what you see. Anyone who has shot photos (film or digital) knows how much effort goes into the editing process. I love her photographs and her story, I just find it fascinating to think abou…

The fact that she did no editing makes her photos more impressive in a lot of ways.

At the same time there were other photographers with that approach, who left processing to others and/or opted for no editing; e.g.:

> He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He showcased this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. He insisted that his prints be left uncropped so as to include a few millimeters of the unexposed negative around the image area, resulting in a black frame around the developed picture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

Re: What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

#8

Post by shishy »

thih9 wrote: post #7
shishy wrote: post #5

The interesting part of her work is that unlike other photographers who not only took photos but had the chance to edit them, someone else discovered a bunch of negatives she left behind. So others came in later to turn them into what you see. Anyone who has shot photos (film or digital) knows how much effort goes into the editing process. I love her photographs and her story, I just find it fascinating to think abou…

The fact that she did no editing makes her photos more impressive in a lot of ways. At the same time there were other photographers with that approach, who left processing to others and/or opted for no editing; e.g.: > He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He showcased this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any crop…

Yep. It was a little shocking when I learned that about HCB a while ago. Totally agree.

Re: What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

#9

Post by MrMcCall »

Great article.

The article also mentions another artist who led a remarkable life:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

He wrote, over 60 years, a 15,145 page illustrated fantasy novel, as a janitor who had had a very, very difficult life. At first, I initially couldn't process that figure and automatically read it as 15,000 words, but, NO!, it's 15,145 pages. Unbelievable.

I had never before heard of either of these extraordinary artists, but my day is already better for having learned of their lives and works.

Re: What Vivian Maier saw in color (2018)

#10

Post by copypasterepeat »

drcongo wrote: post #4

Thanks for this. For anyone interested there's a fantastic documentary about her called Finding Vivian Maier - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Vivian_Maier

Agreed. It's also free to stream.

I've seen it a couple of times and I keep marveling at the sheer strangeness of how it all played out.

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