Vivian Maier: Street Photographer

The photographs in this book are immensely beautiful; uncannily unique, well-composed, subtle, thoughtful, and genuinely interesting to look at. These are pictures which I have little doubt will change how we think about, look at, and take photographs. Maier's work will become the standard which all other similar bodies of work will be judged by. It is odd and most unfortunate that no attempt was made to get in contact with Maier during her lifetime. Her work was discovered in 2007, and it wasn't until 2009 that she died. This left two full years to allow for even an acknowledgement to her that her work had been found. From what I've read, there is nothing indicating she had any aliments that would have inhibited her from communicating with anyone, even late in her life. The consequence of this lack of communication can be certainly found in this book. While the arrangement of the pictures is decent, it lacks the flow and subtlety that is present with the photographer arranging his own work - or even an artist close to him, who knows something about what the artist thought about the work. While it is known that Maier made narrative films and audio documentaries, it doesn't seem like she explicitly shared any insight about her photographs. This allows for sometimes questionable interpretations about her and her work which is distressing. For example, in the introduction by Maloof, he writes. "...the combination of Maier's intense privacy and lack of confidence in her own photographic prowess nearly resulted in her collection being consigned to oblivion." How in the world does he know that Maier lacked confidence in her work? "Street" photography - and I don't even really like calling it that - is something that requires a huge amount of confidence, both in your pictures and in your integrity as a photographer. There were likely very personal and fitful reasons why she never revealed her work which we will never be able to fathom, and it is meanwhile completely unfair to make statements or even educated assumptions about something we know absolutely nothing about. On the point of arrangement of the photographs: pictures with similar shapes and patterns are put together on a page. This does bring attention to the excellent composition of the images, but this detracts focus from some of the more subtle details in an individual picture. It also makes the work seem repetitive, which both her work and street photography in general is certainly not. Many photographs that dominate two pages feel lonely and distant, and would mend well together with certain other pictures in the book. On the other hand, some pictures which share pages with other images are so quirky that they deserve two pages alone. There is a section at the end of the book full of self-portraits which is well-executed. Printing quality is good with sufficient detail - though a bit dark, and I don't think the warm tone that was chosen compliments the work. Paper stock is glossy and of a good quality, and the construction of the book is solid. The cover is a neutral light gray cloth with the title, author, and publisher stamped on the spine and the initials "VM" stamped on the front cover. End-paper is a quirky orange. Printed in China, as are most photo books these days. I wish that sometime in the future Maloof will hand this wonderful collection over to a trust or company that really knows how to publish photographs, such as the MOMA, so the work gets the presentation that it deserves. I'm exceptionally glad that he was able to unify this collection (after a lot if it got sold off) - and it's obvious that he genuinely cares about this work, but these pictures should be handled by a company or trust which is more accustomed with dealing with this high level of work. The value of this book is great, but do keep in mind that it doesn't hold the level of quality that a "fine art" book would have, published a company such as Twin Palms or Steidl. It is a true pity that Maier could never share thoughts about her work. However, if you hold the mindset of letting the photographs truly speak for themselves, you'll be very pleased with this book.

Beautiful selection of her photos. I hope there’s more. I’m not a photographer, but I like her angles and what she finds interesting.

She was an amazing unknown photographer. After watching a documentary on her life, I had to get this book to add to my library. If you are a street photographer and love the old school Black and White images, you will learn by just sitting and absorbing these amazing images. 5-stars. The book is very well printed.

I was interested in this book when I read the announcement and for the price I couldn't leave it. Today it arrived and tonight I finally had the time to have a good look at the pictures. Vivian's story is explained elsewhere, so I won't repeat it. I'll just give my impressions of the book. All pictures appear to be taken with the Rolleiflex, giving square pictures. All pictures have the same size and similar toning, which gives a great consistency throughout the book. The pictures themselves show everyday scenes from a long time ago, from all parts of society. You'll find old people, young kids, homeless people, rich folk, men and women and many different scenes. From the pictures I gather that her style was very unobtrusive, just letting the stories unravel in front of her eyes (and lens) and firing the shutter at the right time. There are quite a few pictures where you see people looking at the camera, but many more where she seems to be a passive observer. What I love about this book is that the images come across as totally unpretentious, void of the "artsy" side some photographers appear to want to develop. Wonderful, if there's a second book coming out, I can't wait to pre-order it. The paper and print quality is pretty decent for the price, although some pictures had tiny dots where they shouldn't be. Probably due to the price constraint. It's printed in China, which pushes the price down too I guess. Nothing bad, again, the prints are still very nice and I have more expensive books in my collection that are worse in terms of quality. Don't let this hold you back in buying the book. Amazon has a great return policy anyway.

If you cut through some people's criticism based on how her work was found and monetized, you'll see she deserves to be recognised for her talent. The only thing I don't understand is why the images are so sepia, brown tinged. I have prints of some of the images with much better tonality. It would be nice to see an update second edition at some point.

Excelente libro

Belles qualités d’image et d’impression

Overall good quality, good photos, make me think a bit more and watch the street in a different way after reading this.

livro maravilhoso e a fotógrafa ainda mais!

きっかけはヴィヴィアン・マイアー女史の写真が世間に知ることとなった経緯を描いた 『ヴィヴィアン・マイヤーを探して』というドキュメンタリー映画を鑑賞した為でした。 街中の何気ない人々の様子をとても魅力的に切り取られており、写真に関して素人ながら愉しむことができました。 彼女の写真に写る人々もそうですが、数点ある自身を撮影した写真が妙に魅力的に感じました。 良い写真集でした。