4.48

4

Dec 22, 2016

Introduction, by John Maloof
Geoff Dyer on Vivian Maier

--Photographs

Acknowledgments

5

Dec 22, 2015

Looking back....

I have watched the documentary “Finding Vivian Maier”. One of the participants suggested the mystery surrounding the woman-nanny is still more interesting after her death. Yet, through amazement, I got to the position of: now on, it will be tougher in the legal field, yet wide open for fiction and nonfiction possibilities.

The documentary film by Maloof and Charlie S. starts with Maloof acquiring the nanny’s stuff at an auction; the stuff is made of ”tons” (my expression) of
Looking back....

I have watched the documentary “Finding Vivian Maier”. One of the participants suggested the mystery surrounding the woman-nanny is still more interesting after her death. Yet, through amazement, I got to the position of: now on, it will be tougher in the legal field, yet wide open for fiction and nonfiction possibilities.

The documentary film by Maloof and Charlie S. starts with Maloof acquiring the nanny’s stuff at an auction; the stuff is made of ”tons” (my expression) of films and negatives of photos, yet to be printed.

Maloof at a certain time decides to start a search on the nanny personality and queries people who had been under her care. You’ll hear both negative and positive appraisals of Vivian, the so-called “French lady”, of whom little was known about. For birthers, records say she was born in the USA, New York; to a French mother.

Maloof’s investigation will lead him to France and to contact some of her relatives. She had an interest in photography early on; then she went to the USA and served as nanny in several families.

“Mental illness” is one of the words you’ll hear about the nanny due to her obsession on collecting newspapers; always taking with her a camera and keeping a secret sort of life.

What for, did she pack so many newspapers (stacks of papers!!)? Why filming certain macabre situations,… and the children too? Why her interests on politics …even her (reasonable) knowledge?

At times she’ll affirm: “I am a sort of spy” . But then her accent; it sounded to me somewhat German. Experts confirmed it was French.



And how about her androphobia?

Maloof faces now great challenges, and he’s been faring quite well in putting Vivian in the mainstream cultural circuits of the world. Exhibits now abound all over the USA ,and abroad . Yet, he faces all the same, the dilemma: why showing something which the author has kept secret for so many years? How legitimate is it?

A photographer from Texas (Ted Forbes) even questioned the curator capabilities of Maloof and others, assisting.

One thing is for sure: her talent as a photographer raises no doubt to any of the experts consulted.

Nevertheless: why so private a person? Why more and more reclusive, she became.

She’d been “seen” for the last time in 2000. The documentary "pictures" her death and late life conditions; appalling; a dumpster-picker? Some, who had been under her care, provided an apartment for her final years.

Photographer Joel M. saw in her “tenderness …and a caring person”. Yet her dark side still lingers on.

It seems she left “instructions” on how to handle her materials; and this is a fundamental argument for Maloof showing her photos: that means she wanted her work to be shown. Maloof even added: Cartier-Bresson hated printing.


(Egypt)

(Hong-Kong)

Her world travel photos are just stunning. All on her own: Egypt, Yemen, Thailand, India…,South America; in 1959. Then back to the USA.

She was “identified with the poor”, “had no medical insurance”. First, she worked in a factory; then chose the nanny job. She wanted to be “out” in the streets, close to nature.

A spy? Someone will tell: maybe she wanted to be “somebody else”.

Vivian Maier, the “spinster” who never married, master photographer, born February the 1st of 1926 , died on April 21st 2009.

Her work, now, starts a new life.
I’ll be following it.
Keenly.


UPDATE

I’ve recently watched a short documentary work on Vivian Maier (”The meteoric rise of Vivian Maier) and you can conclude there are at least three collectors holding negatives and prints and films of the gone-French lady. Namely: Ron Slattery and Jeffrey Goldstein, and, of course John Maloof. Some of them have been selling prints ($800 each, I’ve heard). One man, Steven Daiter, from a Chicago gallery, called Maier “an excellent student,…not an excellent master”.
















NOW ABOUT THE BOOK

This is a wonderful collection of photographs by V. Maier, preceded by a 2011 introduction by Maloof and some lines by Geoff Dyer. As for the introduction, I pretty much liked the philosophizing words of the photographer at stake:

"We have to make room for other people. It's a wheel -you get on, you go to the end, and someone else has the opportunity to go to the end, and so on, and somebody else takes their place. There's nothing new under the sun".

Dyer's 2-pages analysis: (1) points to a sort of regret on those photographers who got, only posthumously known; yet Maier, is "an extreme case"; (2) Dyer also found some analogies between her work and some known photographers such as Lisette Model, Helen Levitt, Diane Arbus, Andre Kertesz etc. But that's up to the observer, and, I reckon, it may be difficult to identify "who did it first". (3) Granted, Dyer is right, one such a nanny "limited to observation" due to the nature of her job, and yet that fact shows one promise: "the unknowable potential of all human beings". Yes, talent.

I just added some I liked.










Here, much more:http://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/co...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDewA...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSKW5...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJAY...

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/0...

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/... ...more

5

Jul 16, 2017

Was so glad to come across this book. The photos are truly remarkable and the 'unremarkability' of Vivian Maier's life makes her accomplishments even more remarkable.

5

Apr 23, 2013

The blurb for this book lets us know that the publisher put blank pages in on purpose. And I know why: so you can breathe. This book is breathless; not breathtaking, but so alive and vital, you forget that breathing is an involuntary function. And what an extraordinary story! A nanny with no known family or connection, few friends, but a good camera and an amazing eye and decent walking shoes with access to cities and city people. Thousands of photos taken and she never showed anyone. Did not The blurb for this book lets us know that the publisher put blank pages in on purpose. And I know why: so you can breathe. This book is breathless; not breathtaking, but so alive and vital, you forget that breathing is an involuntary function. And what an extraordinary story! A nanny with no known family or connection, few friends, but a good camera and an amazing eye and decent walking shoes with access to cities and city people. Thousands of photos taken and she never showed anyone. Did not develop the film. John Maloof bought the negatives at auction from Maier's storage locker that was taken for nonpayment. That Maloof bid on these, and then created a place for the photographer Vivian Maier in art and history is a story nobody could make up. Bless you, John Maloof! Maier's self-portraits are in reflection, or her shadow and, in the most revealing photo of all, self-aware. Genius to choose that photo for the last image in the book. Oh my, I want to know her story! How could she do what she did? Why? Was she content with capturing images and not ever seeing the result herself? Or sharing with others? What was she thinking when she chose her images? We see the pride of place in the face of a woman wearing one shoe, the heart-crushing posture of a man receiving a coin in his cup, the face of a boy so confident, you just know he grew up to do well with life. There are more photographs on the internet, and of course, others chose the pictures for this book, and I want, I want, I want to know which pictures Vivian would have appreciated the most, which images she would have chosen herself. But then she chose not to show these photos to anyone. What story would she tell about the day she and the children were about in the city, and she clicked the shutter? How would she feel about this new notoriety, her new position in the ranks of famous street photographers? This praise and exposure? We'll never know. I wish there had been no foreword, and absolutely not one by a person who is not a woman nor a photographer, and who is not now and never will be a nanny. It adds only an unpleasant note to an otherwise perfect production. I don't give a rat's patoot whether Maier was familiar with other photographers' work or not, and neither will any other nascent follower. But, once again, the breathlessness of this woman's work. Magnificent secret, overwhelming visual storytelling, wrenching beauty. ...more

5

Mar 13, 2018

I bought this book a few years ago, and I hadn't till that moment heard about Vivian Maier. I just loved the photos.
She is the true example of someone who photographed for the joy of it. Her fame is postume. In that matter, she is a true inspiration nowadays when everybody is running for instagram likes and facebook likes and does expensive street photography courses (don't take those, it is a waste of time and money). Just go outside, be kind, and shoot.
Her photos are alive, she is alive I bought this book a few years ago, and I hadn't till that moment heard about Vivian Maier. I just loved the photos.
She is the true example of someone who photographed for the joy of it. Her fame is postume. In that matter, she is a true inspiration nowadays when everybody is running for instagram likes and facebook likes and does expensive street photography courses (don't take those, it is a waste of time and money). Just go outside, be kind, and shoot.
Her photos are alive, she is alive through her photos. Watching her photos, I could actually feel her presence there, standing with her camera on the other side of the road and taking her shots.
I was happy to see that we have a motiv in common.
I cannot wait to put my hands on her other works (actually works that were put together).
It is a true gift for the eyes. ...more

5

Dec 15, 2014

So good that Vivian Maier's photography was discovered accidentally. Her work is incredibly powerful. No other street photographer I have read or known about lived such a private life.

5

Jul 21, 2014

Great work, mostly taken in Chicago, a selection of street photography,from the astonishly more than 150,000 or so negatives Maier, the sort of Emily Dickinson of photography, left in lockers she had rented and near her death at 83 in 2009 was no longer able to pay for. The negatives were sold for pennies and now, after she is dead, she and her work are being justly celebrated. I and many of us in the world wouldn't even be looking at these photographs were it not for having heard of her Great work, mostly taken in Chicago, a selection of street photography,from the astonishly more than 150,000 or so negatives Maier, the sort of Emily Dickinson of photography, left in lockers she had rented and near her death at 83 in 2009 was no longer able to pay for. The negatives were sold for pennies and now, after she is dead, she and her work are being justly celebrated. I and many of us in the world wouldn't even be looking at these photographs were it not for having heard of her sensational story through the documentary Finding Vivian Maier (which was nominated for all sorts of awards; highly recommended!). Maier was a nanny, without family or friends, apparently, and never shared these snaps with anyone, didn't seek fame, made no professional connections, kept no journal or anything to help us figure what her conscious links were being made to other photographers. . . she was off the grid. Someone wrote that it was like finding A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole after he died, a kind of masterpiece. That seems about right.

Maier was a kind of recluse in a time of obsession with fame, like Pynchon, yet Pynchon sends out books to the world regularly. Harper Lee became private after her one book but at least we had the book (and now another)! Salinger dropped out of sight, but we had a body of work before he escaped public scrutiny. Here I am talking about her story, right, and THAT becomes an inescapable part of reading her photographs. The photographs in this volume are culled from some five decades of work no one knew about, now being carefully preserved and curated in various ways and venues. It's an artistic sensation. And it is among the best work of its kind ever, beautifully accomplished work mainly of people on the streets; some self portraits, too, as in reflections in mirrors and windows.

Much of this book is older stuff that she took on her days off from her manys jobs in the north Chicago suburbs, taken mainly in downtown Chicago (though she was born in New York and she did travel there and to Europe sometimes). She had a good camera, comfortable shoes and she walked the city taking photographs with a remarkable sense of composition and eye for details and ironies and design. Really fine work. Great to have. And a great story out of which the photographs emerge. ...more

4

Sep 29, 2014

Vivian Maier Street Photographer by Vivian Maier, John Maloof (Editor), Allan Sekula (Contributor), Geoff Dyer (Contributor) is a sampling of photographs chosen from the mostly undeveloped collection of Miss Maier, a nanny, whose street photography was discovered after her death.

John Maloof, Chicago historian, purchased a trunk of Maier's collection, sold due to nonpayment of storage fees, and has subsequently spend several years archiving and preserving her work, Maloof chose a sample of her Vivian Maier Street Photographer by Vivian Maier, John Maloof (Editor), Allan Sekula (Contributor), Geoff Dyer (Contributor) is a sampling of photographs chosen from the mostly undeveloped collection of Miss Maier, a nanny, whose street photography was discovered after her death.

John Maloof, Chicago historian, purchased a trunk of Maier's collection, sold due to nonpayment of storage fees, and has subsequently spend several years archiving and preserving her work, Maloof chose a sample of her photos, 8 self portraits and 99 others, to include in this volume.

Maier's artistry, technique, and visual "eye" are impressive in this look at work from her time living in New York and Chicago, and are urban in nature. While some feel that art does not need context, I greatly miss the inclusion of the date and city where each photo was taken. I especially valued such details in the book Eye to Eye Photographs by Vivian Maier.

Compared to Eye to Eye, Vivian Maier: Street Photographer is far more urban and gritty. I found over twenty of the pictures to be powerful and disturbing, as they dealt with death, poverty, animal cruelty, urban decay, and disabilities, including mental. Nearly fifty I felt were very interesting or very appealing. The rest were interesting in their various aspects. Among my favorites were the varied self portraits of Maier which are delightful.

Maier's photos are riveting, breathtaking and often stunning. These pictures will cause most viewers to pause and reflect or contemplate the images she has recorded.

I rate this 4.5 stars, despite the questions of whether these would be Vivian Maier's favorites or whether she would have ever exhibited them. That said this is an impressive collection of 1950's and 1960's street photography that deserves to be viewed and shared with many.

For street photography, photography, Chicago, New York, poverty, urban living, and fans of Vivian Maier. ...more

4

Jun 13, 2015

Vivian Maier’s Street Photography is a portfolio of images from Chicago streets covering the time period from the1950s to the 1990s. Maier is an enigma, with her work only being discovered after her death. Her curator, John Maloof noted, “I have always been fond of a quote by Maier from an audio recording she made where we can hear her philosophize about the meaning of life and death: ‘We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel—you get on, you go to the end, and someone else has the Vivian Maier’s Street Photography is a portfolio of images from Chicago streets covering the time period from the1950s to the 1990s. Maier is an enigma, with her work only being discovered after her death. Her curator, John Maloof noted, “I have always been fond of a quote by Maier from an audio recording she made where we can hear her philosophize about the meaning of life and death: ‘We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel—you get on, you go to the end, and someone else has the same opportunity to go to the end, and so on, and somebody else takes their place. There’s nothing new under the sun’.”
Maier’s images of the full range of Chicagoans over this period bring home the meaning of human family to me and prompt reflection on our society and social mores. They would be an excellent springboard for theological reflection or writing. Find out more about Maeir here. http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/ or here http://www.vivianmaier.com/
...more

5

Jun 07, 2012

This woman was the Emily Dickinson of photography. The well-edited collection tells a story through compositional arrangements alone.

The one downside a friend noted was the use of blank pages in between correlated themes. She said I should ask for a refund for the empty paper! I didn't have much of a problem with that though, since they seemed to make sense in the rhythm of the presentation.

Though only including a small fraction of the alleged work this secretive and amazing lady created, it was This woman was the Emily Dickinson of photography. The well-edited collection tells a story through compositional arrangements alone.

The one downside a friend noted was the use of blank pages in between correlated themes. She said I should ask for a refund for the empty paper! I didn't have much of a problem with that though, since they seemed to make sense in the rhythm of the presentation.

Though only including a small fraction of the alleged work this secretive and amazing lady created, it was equally enchanting and mesmerizing. Her ability to capture the moment, the sublime beauty inherent in light and shadow, and to summarize a human soul in divisions of a second are nothing short of extraordinary.

Definitely worth checking out. ...more

4

Nov 17, 2013

This was the first book to recognize the increasingly famous legacy of Vivian Maier, the recluse who worked as a nanny on Chicago's North Shore and who spent her time off downtown taking pictures from 1956-1994.

Sumptuous photographs. Sumptuous because Vivian used a medium-format Rolleiflex at a time when street photographers preferred small-format 35mm cameras.

This book pairs well with two others published recently: Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows, published in 2012, which adds context. This was the first book to recognize the increasingly famous legacy of Vivian Maier, the recluse who worked as a nanny on Chicago's North Shore and who spent her time off downtown taking pictures from 1956-1994.

Sumptuous photographs. Sumptuous because Vivian used a medium-format Rolleiflex at a time when street photographers preferred small-format 35mm cameras.

This book pairs well with two others published recently: Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows, published in 2012, which adds context. Vivian Maier: A Photographer Found, published six months ago, includes an excellent twenty-seven-page essay about Maier, her work and her life.

But I like this Maier quote from the introduction, which may help explain her sense of modesty and lack of pretension:

"We have to make room for other people. It's a wheel. You get on. You go to the end. And someone else has the same opportunity to go to the end. And so on. And somebody else takes their place."

Vivian Maier intrigues me, in part, because she took her black-and-white street photographs during the period that I grew up in Chicago.

"Finding Vivian Maier," the film: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films... One subject in the film explained how Vivian could take close and intimate photos: Her twin-lens Rolleiflex required her to look down into the viewfinder, an indirect and less intrusive framing technique than aiming a single-lens-reflex camera directly at a subject.

Her eye and sense of timing drew inspiration from photography books of the '50s that she owned, including the work of Carter-Bresson.

Vivian Maier came on my radar in 2011 when the first exhibition of her work appeared at the Chicago Cultural Center, kitty-corner from Millennium Park. A good daytrip.

Three exhibitions of her work now hang in Chicago:
— through Sep 28 at the Harold Washington Library Center on State Street http://www.chipublib.org/news/vivian-...

— through July 12 at The Art Center in Highland Park, where she worked as a nanny http://www.theartcenterhp.org/exhibit...

— through summer in a gallery at the Chicago History Museum, an engaging, worthwhile exhibition with larger-than-life photographs and street sounds of the period. My favorite installation of her photographs. http://chicagohistory.org/planavisit/....

Vivian Maier, cottage industry http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/... ...more

4

Aug 06, 2018

It's been a while since I looked through a book of photography, and I have to say that I really enjoyed flipping through Maier's work. She is, of course, an enigma, but this small sample of her work is fascinating, with a sly sense of humour that pops up from time to time. I found myself lost in the period details, the clothing, and the crowd, and I wanted more at the end of it.

5

Dec 06, 2016

Few things are more mesmerising than discovering a good chunk of the past, pristinely preserved in a veritable treasure chest of undeveloped film, and seeing it directly, as the first viewer, without the weight of decades of cultural commentary and interpretation on it. This book, and Vivian Maier's work in general, is an extremely rare, exceptional treat.

And the work is really good, too. I mean, out of 100 000 total, there are bound to be 200 great shots. They're absolutely worth seeing.

4

Jul 07, 2013

Mostly a photo book. This is the woman who was a nanny and no one knew she took thousands of photos. There's a movie coming out about her, although someone said they already watched a movie about her, so maybe it's out... This book was non-circulating so I had to go sit in the art library to read it. It's sad that her work wasn't discovered while she was still alive. I have mixed feelings about random dudes making money off of her work.

5

Jan 29, 2012

I wish Maier's work had been discovered when she was still alive, so she could have enjoyed some recognition. The impromptu portraits of strangers (some of whom are totally giving her the stink eye), the scenes of old Chicago, and the self-portraits are my favorites here.

5

May 08, 2016

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Can you imagine doing a body of work and it never see the light of day until after you are gone. I've been fascinated by street photography lately and so this book was a no brainer for me. Loved every photo, some were so raw they were hard to look at. I went through it from cover to cover this morning and I'm sure I'm going to do that again many times. The one thing that would have made it perfect would have been a bit more about her life,

5

May 21, 2014

Vivian Maier was a nanny who did photography in her free time. She left behind lockers crammed with negatives, "found objects" and other items. She must have been an interesting person. The photographs in the book are fascinating. Not only is the subject matter interesting, but they are like a time machine back to a world that looks so very different from today. Her New York is gritty and not nearly as fashionable and glittery as it is today. For someone like me who is an avid amateur Vivian Maier was a nanny who did photography in her free time. She left behind lockers crammed with negatives, "found objects" and other items. She must have been an interesting person. The photographs in the book are fascinating. Not only is the subject matter interesting, but they are like a time machine back to a world that looks so very different from today. Her New York is gritty and not nearly as fashionable and glittery as it is today. For someone like me who is an avid amateur photographer, I can only aspire to photos like this. It takes guts to go up to someone you don't know and ask if you can take their picture. I've done it, but it's hard. Yet when I've done street photography, I'm really pleased with the results. This is a wonderful introduction to Vivian Maier. There is a website dedicated to her work. You can find it here @ //www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/ ...more

5

Sep 24, 2014

I've run into Maier's work only on the internet and her story as the nanny-photographer whose hidden cache of amazing work was discovered after her death has been re-told a thousand times so I won't bore everyone with this as you can read it in far better written quarters. I will say this though - I find the one quote I've read of her talking (she left tapes as well as film) fascinating:

"We have to make room for other people. It's a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then I've run into Maier's work only on the internet and her story as the nanny-photographer whose hidden cache of amazing work was discovered after her death has been re-told a thousand times so I won't bore everyone with this as you can read it in far better written quarters. I will say this though - I find the one quote I've read of her talking (she left tapes as well as film) fascinating:

"We have to make room for other people. It's a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end."

Now I have been in the mindset of Boethius' wheel for the past week which of course talks of a different kind of human impermanence, in fortune (for a primer on that particular subject consult 24 Hour Party People - the book or the film or maybe A Confederacy of Dunce's if you want to have more fun with posthumous discovery of genius in a literary sense) and as far as I'm concerned as fortune and luck would have it she has certainly won herself a bit of immortality and those of her subjects in this book particularly through her endeavour to "give opportunities for others to go to the end".

Photography is a beautiful art and this book gives us a glimpse of that. Fascinating stuff. ...more

5

Mar 12, 2013

Meg Storey (Editor, Tin House Books): It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I spent the month of January “reading” the work of Vivian Maier, a nanny who spent her free time wandering among and photographing the streets and people of 1950s and ’60s Chicago (and, before that, Europe and New York City). Maier died in 2009, poor and unknown. Shortly before her death, thousands of her prints and negatives (many undeveloped) were sold at auction because she could no longer pay her Meg Storey (Editor, Tin House Books): It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I spent the month of January “reading” the work of Vivian Maier, a nanny who spent her free time wandering among and photographing the streets and people of 1950s and ’60s Chicago (and, before that, Europe and New York City). Maier died in 2009, poor and unknown. Shortly before her death, thousands of her prints and negatives (many undeveloped) were sold at auction because she could no longer pay her storage unit fee. Luckily, the buyer recognized the caliber of Maier’s work, and there have since been several exhibits and two books published. From all accounts, it seems Maier was fiercely independent, opinionated, and private, and I suspect that had she lived to see it, she would have disdained all the attention her work is now receiving. But the great irony of Maier’s photographs being brought to light is that her work is an important reminder that we should do the things we love not out of a desire for acknowledgment or fame but out of instinct and impulse, that what drives us is often difficult to articulate, and that a picture is worth an innumerable amount of words. ...more

4

Jul 26, 2017

Amazing. The 100 or so photos in this collection are but a tiny fraction of the 100,000 negatives discovered so far. Was she consistently this good, or are these the one-tenth of one percent best? I don't think it matters; to have taken even 100 good photos in a lifetime is an achievement. Another GR reviewer called her the Emily Dickinson of photography, I think that is apt; as far as is known, she never showed her work to others. Her work has all the ingredients of great street photography: an Amazing. The 100 or so photos in this collection are but a tiny fraction of the 100,000 negatives discovered so far. Was she consistently this good, or are these the one-tenth of one percent best? I don't think it matters; to have taken even 100 good photos in a lifetime is an achievement. Another GR reviewer called her the Emily Dickinson of photography, I think that is apt; as far as is known, she never showed her work to others. Her work has all the ingredients of great street photography: an eye for composition, a sense of the moment, and a recognition of some of the absurd juxtapositions that street life offers but that many of us fail to notice. I could have done with fewer of the clichéd alcoholics in a doorway, but that's a minor quibble. Very glad to have become aware of her work. ...more

5

Sep 25, 2013

This book is, by far, my favorite book of the year. It reminded me of Dorthea Lange's pictures of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I loved looking at the different types of people. Men and Women who obviously spent their entire lives working hard in the sun, dirty children, well dressed business men and upper class ladies, trash filled cities, and moments of affection all caught on film. What I love about photography art, is that the picture is a real person, with a real story. I wish I This book is, by far, my favorite book of the year. It reminded me of Dorthea Lange's pictures of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I loved looking at the different types of people. Men and Women who obviously spent their entire lives working hard in the sun, dirty children, well dressed business men and upper class ladies, trash filled cities, and moments of affection all caught on film. What I love about photography art, is that the picture is a real person, with a real story. I wish I knew the stories of the people in these pictures. ...more

5

Dec 26, 2015

I was happy to see that this book did justice to the work of vivian maier. the paper and printing quality is excellent. the images themselves are a fascinating peak into the past. with other photographers of this time period we may be able to find out more about the images they took via interviews and the such, but with vivian the stories or motivation behind a lot of the images remains a mystery.

5

Sep 08, 2012

I was so jealous when my husband and daughter got to go to Chicago last year and see an exhibit of these found photographs. Looking through this book has eased the sting somewhat. Spectacular black and white photos of everyday life in cities that used to be. And what a great story as well, of talent found long after the artist herself ceased to be.

5

Apr 23, 2015

Vivian Maier is on of the most extraordinary phenomenon for her enthusiastic of street photographer. The book contains most of her best works and I am happy to get it (despite some random blank pages annoyed me a lot, even though they might be on purpose).
Sometimes I wish she could know how famous she is now and what her contribution to the world is. Respect!

4

Nov 23, 2011

Beautiful images from a great photographer who was unknown until recently discovered through stored negative boxes .. Alot of strong photographs in this book (first book) and I expect the next book to be even stronger