3 ms·

I wish I could verbalize why I like her photos so much. Perhaps it's the nostalgia they bring, but honestly it's much more. She had an eye for capturing somethi

I wish I could verbalize why I like her photos so much. Perhaps it's the nostalgia they bring, but honestly it's much more. She had an eye for capturing something interesting among the mundane. The photo of the guy in the yellow shorts/shirt/socks could have been out of a Wes Anderson film.

slantyyz 8y ago
Taste is obviously subjective, but in terms of "all the greats", Maier's style and work is my favorite. Like you, I can't quite explain why, but she definitely had an eye for great photos.
larrywright 8y ago
I feel the same way, and I think nostalgia is a big part of it. Not only did she have an eye for capturing interesting things, but she also had a high quality medium format camera to do it with. They’re a much better quality than most pictures we’ve seen of that era, outside of what appeared in magazines.
- 10729287 8y ago
  The medium format quality definititely have nothing to do with it. A lot of people were shooting Rolleiflex in those times, the talent made the difference.
10729287 8y ago
Something that should be taken into account is that THOSE pictures we see today are edited and color graded by today standards, by people who are aware of Wes Anderson and a lot of other cultural references we all share. Photography is way more than pressing the button and editing/sequencing is a big part of being a photographer. We obviously don't know all the frames contemporary photographers of Vivian Maier had trashed because they didn't fit the aesthetic of those times. Saul Leiter is another examples of that. His color work had been discovered 50 years after being shot. Back in the days B&W photography was all the rage and Color was judged vulgar and restricted to advertising... William Eggleston was the one that conciliate color and art 10 years later in the 60S.

3 ms·

I wish I could verbalize why I like her photos so much. Perhaps it's the nostalgia they bring, but honestly it's much more. She had an eye for capturing somethi

by anderber 8y ago

slantyyz 8y ago
Taste is obviously subjective, but in terms of "all the greats", Maier's style and work is my favorite. Like you, I can't quite explain why, but she definitely had an eye for great photos.
larrywright 8y ago
I feel the same way, and I think nostalgia is a big part of it. Not only did she have an eye for capturing interesting things, but she also had a high quality medium format camera to do it with. They’re a much better quality than most pictures we’ve seen of that era, outside of what appeared in magazines.
- 10729287 8y ago
  The medium format quality definititely have nothing to do with it. A lot of people were shooting Rolleiflex in those times, the talent made the difference.
10729287 8y ago
Something that should be taken into account is that THOSE pictures we see today are edited and color graded by today standards, by people who are aware of Wes Anderson and a lot of other cultural references we all share. Photography is way more than pressing the button and editing/sequencing is a big part of being a photographer. We obviously don't know all the frames contemporary photographers of Vivian Maier had trashed because they didn't fit the aesthetic of those times. Saul Leiter is another examples of that. His color work had been discovered 50 years after being shot. Back in the days B&W photography was all the rage and Color was judged vulgar and restricted to advertising... William Eggleston was the one that conciliate color and art 10 years later in the 60S.