Vivian Maier and The Lost Art of Secrecy

Doing research for Pop Photo earlier, I ran across a site on Vivian Maier.

It was a fascinating post for two reasons: first, because Maier's street photography (circa 1950s through 1990s) is excellent and humorous; second because it's been posted, Found magazine style, by John Maloof, who picked up the prints and negatives from an estate sale after Maier had passed away.
Maloof writes that these photos inspired him to pick up his own photography again, and he's not only posting the prints to the website but processing and archiving the undeveloped rolls. An homage to the photographer who did not live (nor would have) to see her small internet fame.

I'm interested in this story partly because it's an interesting engagement in the photography/internet dialogue, on a few levels. Since the advent of internet and sites like Photo.net and Flickr, the emphasis for personal photography by amateurs is often about being part of a community. People have been in camera clubs for decades, but the internet changes exposure; it widens the world of what might inspire us.

It lets you find technique and styles that you wouldn't find otherwise. You find more things off the radar that are creative and super interesting. I spend a lot of time going through Flickr for stories for Pop Photo, especially for the My Project department.

But on the other side (there always is one), is that it seems that a lot of people these days are too quick to share with strangers throughout the learning process. When you post your images online, you're not posting them just to a small community; you post them to the world at large. There are good and bad things about anonymous feedback. One is that you might get more honest critical feedback; another is that you get more criticism you might take too seriously. It's good when it's tech-related. When it's style-related it gets iffy. The photograph you want to make is not always going to be the one that everyone wants to see, and enough opinions one way or another may persuade you into adopting a style rather than creating what you want to create.

I love Flickr because it's a source of inspiration and access--much like camera clubs, which have been around for ages, but on a much larger scale. I love the internet, because it allows people to show photographs they might have otherwise kept in closets.

I'm happy that the internet and documentarian John Maloof have made it possible for us to see the images of a street photographer who would otherwise go anonymous. I also kind of think it's cool that she shot in her own way, for a collection that was hers only.