Astonishing street photos by nanny found in an auction

MichaelM7

MichaelM7

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Hii folks,

when I came across this site, I was nearly blown away :

http://www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

The guy who operates the site bought a mystery box full of partly undeveloped films during an auction. Seems that he has found an unknown treasure: the box contained more than 100,000 negatives of street photos made by an all-time nanny during her lifetime from 1926 to 2009. The photos are of astounding quality and some shots are worthy comparing with HCB and the other great street shooters.
You must have a look!

Regards,

Michael
 
I agree, a treasure trove. However this is no longer news. She´s been mentioned in several threads on this very forum over the last year or so.
 
I find the shots very interesting from the point of view of a window into an era - without an agenda - seen in the form of vignettes of ordinary people's lives. That said, I think the comparisons to HCB and co is a bit premature. Personally I do not see a great photographer so much as a great collection of social and historical significance if that makes sense. Some of the photos are super, but if these are amongst the best of tens of thousands of negatives, then I would be surprised if the images move beyond being regarded as mostly 'functional documentary work.' Great photographers seem to be able to add something extra, well above and beyond the matter they photograph; its about approach, style, perspective... its about them. These don't seem to have much depth in that extra layer to my eyes, but maybe I am missing something!
 
I'm sure if you had an in depth look into the masters you'd find many of their pictures to be completely mediocre. Maybe I'm wrong but I bet there were plenty of bad HCB pictures, we're just not privy to see them.
 
I'm pretty sure there was a book released on HCB which showed his contacts and his selection processes. Scrapbook, I believe it was called.

But I agree. For instance, Winogrand was a fantastic photographer, but considering just how many images he shot, the photographs included in his various books would only be a small fraction of his complete portfolio. There would be a reason why we only see a selection of his photographs, and not only because of the exorbitant amount of images there would be if they printed them all!
 
Last edited:
Turtle: As some friends I knew from the world of publishing would say: behind every great writer stands a pretty good editor. Same goes for photographers.


- Barrett
 
Mister E said:
Even more interesting is that most of the film was undeveloped and she had never even seen the results of her own work.
Click to expand...

And that when it got developed, decades later, the work still looks so good. Amazing. Quite a tribute to the stability of old cadmium laced emulsions.

Marty
 
Turtle said:
I find the shots very interesting from the point of view of a window into an era - without an agenda - seen in the form of vignettes of ordinary people's lives. That said, I think the comparisons to HCB and co is a bit premature. Personally I do not see a great photographer so much as a great collection of social and historical significance if that makes sense. Some of the photos are super, but if these are amongst the best of tens of thousands of negatives, then I would be surprised if the images move beyond being regarded as mostly 'functional documentary work.' Great photographers seem to be able to add something extra, well above and beyond the matter they photograph; its about approach, style, perspective... its about them. These don't seem to have much depth in that extra layer to my eyes, but maybe I am missing something!
Click to expand...

I think one has to take into consideration a few things here. Firstly, if I understand correctly the guy who bought the undeveloped film is gradually processing the rolls and posting the good ones as he finds them. It's not a tight edit as far as I understand. If the book ever gets done I assume it'll be a tighter edit with more of a distinctive style.

Secondly, let's keep in mind when these pictures were taken. This was before the time when everyone was running around with a camera wanting to be a street photographer. This kind of photography, coming from an amateur at that time is quite extraordinary. She seems to have had an awareness of the peculiarities of her time that is not as obvious as one might think nowadays.

That being said, I don't think she's quite on the same level as HCB. But to be fair, HCB was born into a rich family and had the means to travel and concentrate all his time on photography. This woman here was photographing as a hobby while working her ass off 7 days a week.
 
from what I've seen so far

from what I've seen so far

just the handful on the guy's blog, is that they are not only technically better, but much more interesting than anything HBC did. I wonder if HBC and Diane Arbus knew of her and paid her to keep quiet as they copped her styles ...

And, even more interesting, is that she was taking these for herself, not encumbered by editors or pressures put on her by others to produce.


Jamie123 said:
I think one has to take into consideration a few things here. Firstly, if I understand correctly the guy who bought the undeveloped film is gradually processing the rolls and posting the good ones as he finds them. It's not a tight edit as far as I understand. If the book ever gets done I assume it'll be a tighter edit with more of a distinctive style.

Secondly, let's keep in mind when these pictures were taken. This was before the time when everyone was running around with a camera wanting to be a street photographer. This kind of photography, coming from an amateur at that time is quite extraordinary. She seems to have had an awareness of the peculiarities of her time that is not as obvious as one might think nowadays.

That being said, I don't think she's quite on the same level as HCB. But to be fair, HCB was born into a rich family and had the means to travel and concentrate all his time on photography. This woman here was photographing as a hobby while working her ass off 7 days a week.
Click to expand...
 
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