Reddit reviews Vivian Maier: Street Photographer
We found 6 Reddit comments about Vivian Maier: Street Photographer. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Vivian Maier Street Photographer
A fascinating story and well worth watching. She was an immense talent. If you want to see her work in higher quality than possible for a video, this book is worth checking out
Her story is here, and book available here.
I love atmosphere, so I'm all about:
Would love any recommendations for similarly moody work?
I don't own the following, but would like:
General 'snapshot' street photography is a matter of chance, with a small amount of composition. Very little work and thought goes into the output. What's notable about HCB is that he frequently framed a shot based on artistic composition; and waited for something to happen. Other times he had time to compose a shot he took the time to find the geometry. Even when just out snapping, he looked for scenes where geometry was striking. If you're curious about the way he does this, he talks about it in an old movie.
Asking someone else how to make your work stand out is inherently uncreative, for the record.
One of the most important things I ever learned about photography was that buying gear isn't really useful. Having a working camera and some working lenses is necessary; but if you have something 'semi-professional' or above, there's little to no advantage in upgrading. You have an M8 (or possibly an M6 by now?) and a lens. As long as both are in functional condition; that's all you need in terms of equipment.
Instead, buy books. Here's some suggestions that you might want to consider:
You can also look at libraries for these, and keep an eye on thrift stores and used bookshops. I think you're in London, right? There's a huge gallery on Oxford street, and in Mayfair there's a Leica store where exhibitions are held a few times a year.
The key point is to look at photos; individual photos, contact sheets and whole curated books and exhibitions. Think about how the artists made something like documentary and snapshot photography into an art. Look for ideas you can use, and look for things that haven't been done that you could use to be unique. Look at studio photography. Look at erotic photography. Look at cinema and still life and landscapes and architecture and paintings and drawings and every other image created with artistic intent, that represents a moment of reality. And go from there.
I went to buy this ( http://www.amazon.com/Vivian-Maier-Street-Photographer/dp/1576875776 ) on Amazon, but they are "Temporarily out of stock.". Thanks Reddit.
For an absolute beginner shooting digital, Ken Kobre's Photojournalism and Bruce Barnbaum's The Art of Photography would be my pick, if only because those were the books I learned from in j-school.
For an intermediate film photographer who needs inspiration or thoughtful meditations on the medium more than they need inspiration, I am always going back to Vivian Maier: Street Photographer, Annie Leibovitz's A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, and the exhibition book from Francesca Woodman's exhibit at SFMOMA/the Guggenheim. But I have an abiding interest in female photographers, self-portraiture, and the female gaze, so YMMV there.