Forgotten Photographer: Vivian Maier

I love taking photos.  I have thousands that will never be seen beyond the preview pane in Lightroom but there are a handful that I think are good enough to share.  I have Flickr, 500px and Facebook accounts as well as an online portfolio and this blog.  Combined they are a great way to get my images seen without having to spend too much money and time.  My Flickr photos, for example, have amassed over 40,000 independent views since I opened my account:

Imagine then what is it like to be a photographer who never shared any of their images.  Despite taking hundreds of thousands of images Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was not recognised as an amazing photographer until after her death.  Working as a nanny in the 1950-60's she filled her spare time taking candid images on the streets of France, New York, Chicago and dozens of other locations.



In 1949 Vivian took an interest in photography and started shooting with a Kodak Brownie camera.  In 1951 her work as a nanny brought her back to New York and the following year she bought a Rolleiflex camera in order to improve her images.  Several years later she made the switch to colour film and started using a Leica IIIc.  The move into colour also marked a change in photographic subject.  Her images became less about people and more abstract.  Found objects such as rubbish and graffiti became her focal point.  Her poor financial state in the late 1980's meant the she struggled to pay for film processing costs.  Despite this she continued to shoot but the rolls of undeveloped film began to mount up.  Many of her possessions, including her negatives and films, were put into storage as Vivian temporarily became homeless.  In 2007 the locker containing her photographs was sold to John Maloof to cover unpaid rent bills.



Vivian was taken to hospital in 2008 after slipping on ice and injuring her head.  She was expected to make a full recovery, but instead her health began to deteriorate forcing her into a nursing home. Vivian died in the nursing home in April 2009.



Maloof was working on a book about New York and was after images showing the city through the ages.  He was not aware of the photographic importance of his purchase until he started posting some of the images on his Flickr pages.  Feedback started to pour in and the artistic world sat up and took notice.

A Chicago broadcast station was one of the first to tell the story of Vivian Maier and they have several videos about her.  The first was aired in December 2010 and can be found below.

They revisited the story in August 2012 with two more interesting pieces:

 

Various news agencies have picked up on the Maier story but the BBC World News has one of the better articles.



The story of Vivian Mayer and the Maloof Collection has recently been turned into a documentary film and is currently in the final stages of production.  A short segment of the film has been released on CBS and can be found here.  I'm personally not sure if I'm a fan of the cheesy American voice-over, but hopefully that won't be present in the final release.



For those seeking to own any of Vivian Maier's work it may be possible to buy limited edition prints from the Howard Greenberg Gallery.  As there are no prices listed then I dread to think how much the prints actually are!




For a more realistically priced purchase you can try one of the two books of her work that are currently available.  Vivian Maier Street Photographer is currently selling for around £23.  A book containing alternative images from a separate collection is Vivian Maier Out of the Shadows £30.  These images are from the Jerry Goldstein collection of 20,000 of Maier's images.  Although the print quality of this book is considered to be higher than that of the Maloof book it seems from reviews that the cheaper book contains the strongest images (and Maloof has almost 100,000 source images to chose from!).




All images are Copyright the Maloof Collection 2013.

Success in Stranger After Dark Competition

After my night and day street photography workshop I had a few decent portraits of complete strangers.  I decided to enter one of them 'Zombie Boy' into a photo competition that was organised by book publisher Thames and Hudson.  The challenge of the competition was to take a portrait of a complete stranger during the hours of darkness.  You weren't allowed to take 'sneak' shots and the subject had to give you permission to take the photo.  Each photographer was only allowed to enter one image.

The results were announced two days ago and I'm really please to say my picture came in second! :)  My prize is a copy of Cardiff After Dark and Street Photography Now, two excellent books that should be on any photographer's shelf.  

The top nine entries, of the 70+ that were entered, are shown in order below starting with the winner:

Oktoberfest by Michael May

Zombie Boy by Me!

Bride Having a Fag Break by Dimitra Kountiou

Portrait by Yorgos

Stranger after Dark by Danielle Houghton

Untitled by Andreas Paradise

Bananas by Adam

Pink in Red Light Amsterdam by Henning Welslau

Untitled by Lukasz Nowosadzki

Street Photography Workshop

Last weekend I went on a two day street photography workshop that was run by Maciej Dakowicz and David Solomons.  The first day started with some theory work in the classroom.  We learnt about different street photographers and some of the techniques they used.  Next came three important lessons about what makes a great street photograph and the session was finished off with lessons on lightning and shooting at night.  All the images in this post were taken by me during the workshop, they may not be great images but will serve me as good reminders for the different techniques that were being taught.

More of my images from the workshop can be found HERE

Street photography is a type of photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches and shops.  Street photography uses many techniques that are similar to documentary photography and there is a great deal of overlap between the two.  Documentary photography is more of a social investigation and often has motives to improve society - there is often a higher level of emotional intensity in documentary photography.  There are some great photographers, such as Dario Mitidieri, who can flit between both worlds.

On photo sites like Flickr it is very easy to find street photography groups with whom you can share your images.  One of the better groups is HSCP (Hardcore Street Photography) and many of the images we were shown during the workshop came from members of this group.  Once you start getting very good then there are more professional groups such as iN-PUBLiC who can provide access to publishers etc.

If you want to start out in street photography the basic guidelines are really very simple:

• You should shoot with one camera and one lens - preferably a fixed/prime lens between 28 and 50mm.  I brought along four different lenses to the workshop and had to lug them around all evening as they were left unused in my camera bag.  
• Use digital, especially if you are starting out, as you need fast feedback to see if you are getting the basics like exposure and shutter speed right.
• Don't use a telephoto lens, they are for nature, sport and perving and are therefore not suitable for street work!  When using my Canon 5D Mk2 all of my shots were taken using either the Canon 35mm f2 or Canon 50mm f1.8 lens.  I had a Lumix GX1 with a 20mm f1.7 lens as a small back up but I rarely needed this camera.
• Always carry spare batteries and memory cards (if it's cold keep the spare batteries in an inside pocket to keep them warm and stop them draining too quickly).
• Wear comfortable shots and anticipate changes in weather.

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when shooting in public is fear.  Unfortunately to be a good street photographer you need to overcome this fear and not be afraid to point cameras at people.  One way to practise is take your camera somewhere where they are expected ie tourist attractions and use this to be able to blend in with the tourists.

One important tip we learnt was not to look sneaky.  You may be able to get a secret snap of your subject if you shoot from behind an obstacle but someone else is bound to notice you and may challenge you.  Confidence is massively important - I found that looking like I knew what I was doing really helped, especially when asking people if I could take their portraits.

A few points to note about street photography and the law:

• It is legal to photograph people in a public space in the UK.
• If a building is on private property they may be photographed from public land i.e. the street.
• You can be asked to leave private property ie a pub by the owner if you haven't asked for permission to shoot pictures there.
• A police officer or security guard cannot make you delete a photograph, even if taken on private land.
• You do not need permission to exhibit your pictures, publish them in magazines or on the internet but a model release may be required if the image is being used for commercial purposes.

David Solomons, one of the workshop tutors, breaking the rule about looking sneaky :)

First stop for our practical street workshop was to the pub.  It seems that a mild case of alcoholism is great for building the confidence.  Whilst this was useful at getting rid of some inhibitions about taking photos I found that it made me forget all the important details like checking the full frame and making sure all of the settings were spot on.  Definitely a case of finding the ideal balance of alcohol in the blood stream :).  Whilst we were trying to capture candid shots we also had the task of trying to get posed portraits of complete strangers.  This was a good task for confidence building and, as it was Halloween, there were plenty of people out in fancy dress and thus were easy targets for getting pictures.

All the shots below were taken near Piccadilly Circus with a bit of a drift into Chinatown, Soho and along the theatre district.  I asked for permission and posed the subjects in almost every shot - the zombies and woman in front of the advertising board were taken as candid images.  Everyone I spoke to was more than happy to have their picture taken and I was never threatened or turned down.  Almost all of the pictures were taken using the 35mm lens and so I was only two or three feet away from the subjects.

The second day of the workshop started with a review of the previous day's images and tips for picking images for final selection.  I had taken about 300 shots during the previous day/night and in all there was only 2 or 3 that the tutors thought were any good - although several more that I was happy with!  The final session of the afternoon was a trip to Brick Lane for more portraits and candid shots.  Anyone wanting to practice this sort of photography should head on down there - it is full of characters and photographers and so you won't even raise an eyebrow as you work.  The following four portraits were all asked for; the difficult bit was waiting for the subject to stop hamming up for the camera and then relax for a more informal shot.  I even managed to find someone relatively famous to take a picture of :)

I was still looking for interesting street scenes and the following four are my favourite from the afternoon.  The first three are candid images, they aren't perfect but I'm really pleased with the way they came out.  The final image was posed for me by the subject, a lovely lady who put up with me leaning directly over her shoulder for a good few minutes until I got the shot I was after.

I had an amazing time during the workshop and I feel that my whole view of photography has improved as a result of the lessons and practical elements that it covered.  I have become far more critical of my own images and have been forced not just to blindly accept mediocre images any more.

The ten things I learnt from the workshop:

1. Don't be afraid of rejection if asking for a portrait or of an aggressive encounter when taking candids.  Not everyone is an ex-cage fighter psycho killer and most people are friendly if you explain honestly what you are doing.
2. When shooting at night make sure you find a good source of light (as you wont be using a flash)
3. Don't silhouette your subject unless it's a deliberate choice, if they've agreed to a portrait then move then to face the light.
4. Shoot in manual mode during the day, a setting of f11, 1/500 and ISO 400 is a good starting point.  If you need to change for a specific shot then do it using shutter/aperture priority mode and then go back to full manual.
5. If shooting at night with a modern camera then don't fear ISO 1600 or 3200  - there may be some noise when you zoom in on the image on screen later but you can still print with amazing quality.  The important aspect is shutter speed as you need to be able to work at 1/200 or faster to capture candids.
6. Busy streets are great for action but really hard to get a clean shot of the subject.  Use a shallow depth of field or better still change your position to isolate your subjects.
7. Walking through a street may get results but it is easier to find a good spot and wait for the action to come to you.  Especially true if you find somewhere with good lighting or an interesting background.
8. Don't rely on taking one picture of the 'moment'.  If you spot a scene developing then take several different pictures to work the scene - it was the thing we got told off for the most as even the great photographers may take 10+ shots to get the perfect one.
9. Before you hit the shutter release you must try to look at the whole of the frame, there's nothing worse than capturing a great moment only to realise you've clipped out a hand or foot or that something really distracting is in the corner of the shot.
10. Don't take pictures of people on their phones (we all did!), it's been done to death and you should only consider it if your subject has an interesting face, is doing something unusual or is in fabulous light.

Photography without leaving home

A current trend amongst a small group of photographers allows them to get photographs from all over the world without having to leave their homes.  Notice that I use the word 'get' rather than 'take' as this trend is use Google Street View to acquire images.

Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world.  It was launched on 25 May 2007 in several cities in the USA and has since expanded to include more cities and rural areas worldwide. 

The images are taken from nine cameras mounted on the top of specially adapted cars.  The pictures are then stitched together to create an image you can rotate and zoom in/out of.  In areas where access by car is impossible the Google team have used tricycles, or even snow mobiles.  It has been announced today (24 Oct 2012) that Google are going to use man portable back packs to allow images of popular trails in the Grand Canyon to be captured.

The current coverage of Street View is shown below:

Street View Coverage as of Oct 2012

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage planned (official)

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage planned (unofficial)

   Countries and dependencies with museum views only

   Countries and dependencies with no current or planned coverage

Much of the Street View data is processed automatically by computers.  Their software automatically detects faces and if it deems them to be recognisable blurs them out.  It also does the same for license plates.  Users who spot something they consider objectionable can contact Google and have the image altered.  Other than that there is little other filtering of the images.

So where do the photographers come in?  These individuals spend hours trawling through the published Street View images looking for hidden gems.  It could be haunting landscapes, interesting architecture, candid documentary or street photography style images.

Jon Rafman

In his series "9-eyes" (named after the camera system) Rafman has picked a wide variety of interesting shots from the Street View files.  His current project is still a work-in-progress but I've selected some of my favourites below.  You can see more of his images HERE 

Clement Valla

When the images from the Google cameras are stitched together it doesn't always go without a hitch.  Valla looks for errors in the panorama algorithm that have created unusual landscapes.  Perhaps he should get himself an iPhone before Apple has a chance to correct all it's mapping errors? :)  Looking at Valla's website it is interesting to note that he regards himself as an artist and not as a photographer.

Doug Rickard

Rickard has used Street View's images to compile a series of images that show the back streets of modern America.  Whilst it would be easy to simply grab a few shots and publish them, the real skill is to select images using the mindset of a photographer to pick ones that are well composed and tell a story.  Rickard's images are very placid and serene and there is a definite calmness to them.  He has altered the colour balances of the original images and given a more retro look.  Some of Rickard's images are shown below but more can be seen of his series HERE.

Have a go yourself!

Inspired by this article I had quick virtual drive around some of the streets on the outskirts of Detroit.  In about five minutes I found some okay shots and added some filters to get rid of the 'google' look, hopefully a weekend of street surfing will turn up something more exciting.

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