Filippo Venturi Photography | Blog

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 1)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 2)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 3)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 4)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 5)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 6)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 7)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 8)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 9)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 10)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 11)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 12)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 13)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 14)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 15)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 16)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 17)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 18)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 19)

Vivian Maier, street photographer (photo 20)

Vivian Maier è morta in disgrazia nel 2009.

Per tutta la vita aveva fotografato americani medi per le strade dello shopping con uno sguardo triste. Dopo la sua morte un collezionista ha comprato all’asta 40mila negativi, 15mila da sviluppare, e ha pubblicato il suo tesoro su un blog bellissimo (Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work).

Ora il tutto diventa un libro e una mostra su di lei a Chicago. Venti anni di storia americana, fotografata per le strade di Chicago in bianco e nero con una macchina Rolleiflex medio formato, tornano alla luce, online, grazie a un collezionista fortunato. L’autrice di questi mirabili scatti, esempi preziosi di street photography, è la francese Vivian Maier: arrivata negli Stati Uniti negli anni ’30, impiegata prima come commessa e poi come bambinaia, morta in disgrazia nel 2009 e solo oggi celebrata come una fotografa di successo. Ha scattato ininterrottamente fino agli anni ’90 per poi conservare migliaia di negativi mai stampati tutti per sé, senza mostrarli mai a nessuno.

Ma nel 2007, a causa di alcuni pagamenti insoluti, parte della produzione di Vivian viene ceduta, insieme ad altri mobili d’epoca, chiusa in un armadietto di archiviazione. I mobili vengono messi all’asta e 40mila negativi, dei quali circa 15mila ancora all’interno di rullini non sviluppati, vengono acquistati per poche centinaia di dollari da John Maloof, fotografo per passione e agente immobiliare per professione, in cerca di materiale fotografico per la scrittura di un libro sui quartieri di Chicago. È lui a decidere di far conoscere al mondo l’opera di Vivian pubblicando parte delle immagini acquisite sul blog Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work.

Sboccia così, a metà tra la leggenda e la virtualità, il mito di Vivian Maier, la fotografa del mistero della quale si conoscono rare notizie biografiche e il cui viso si intravede solo in alcuni autoscatti

Night train (photo 1)

Night train (photo 2)

Night train (photo 3)

Night train (photo 4)

Night train (photo 5)

Night train (photo 6)

Night train (photo 7)

Night train (photo 8)

Night train (photo 9)

Night train (photo 10)

Night train (photo 11)

Night train (photo 12)

Night train (photo 13)

Night train (photo 14)

I miei compagni di viaggio, al ritorno da Reggio Emilia.

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Il tempo sembra passare. Il mondo accade, gli attimi si svolgono, e tu ti fermi a guardare un ragno attaccato alla ragnatela. C’è una luce nitida, un senso di cose delineate con precisione, strisce di lucentezza liquida sulla baia. In una giornata chiara e luminosa dopo un temporale, quando la più piccola delle foglie cadute è trafitta di consapevolezza, tu sai con maggiore sicurezza chi sei. Nel rumore del vento tra i pini, il mondo viene alla luce, in modo irreversibile, e il ragno resta attaccato alla regnatela agitata dal vento.

– Don DeLillo, Body Art

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 1)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 2)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 3)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 4)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 5)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 6)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 7)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 8)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 9)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 10)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 11)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 12)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 13)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 14)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Photo 15)

Philip-Lorca diCorcia (born 1951) is an American photographer.

DiCorcia alternates between informal snapshots and iconic quality staged compositions that often have a baroque theatricality.

Using a carefully planned staging, he takes everyday occurrences beyond the realm of banality, trying to inspire in his picture’s spectators an awareness of the psychology and emotion contained in real-life situations. His work could be described as documentary photography mixed with the fictional world of cinema and advertising, which creates a powerful link between reality, fantasy and desire.

During the late 1970s, during diCorcia’s early career, he used to situate his friends and family within fictional interior tableaus, that would make the viewer think that the pictures were spontaneous shots of someone’s everyday life, when they were in fact carefully staged and planned in beforehand. He would later start photographing random people in urban spaces all around the world. When in Berlin, Calcutta, Hollywood, New York, Rome and Tokyo, he would often hide lights in the pavement, which would illuminate a random subject in a special way, often isolating them from the other people in the street.

His photographs would then give a sense of heightened drama to the passers-by accidental poses, unintended movements and insignificant facial expressions.Even if sometimes the subject appears to be completely detached to the world around him, diCorcia has often used the city of the subject’s name as the title of the photo, placing the passers-by back into the city’s anonymity. Each of his series, Hustlers, Streetwork, Heads, A Storybook Life, and Lucky Thirteen, can be considered progressive explorations of diCorcia’s formal and conceptual fields of interest. Besides his family, associates and random people he has also photographed personas already theatrically enlarged by their life choices, such as the pole dancers in his latest series.

His pictures have black humor within them, and have been described as “Rorschach-like”, since they can have a different interpretation depending on the viewer. As they are planned beforehand, diCorcia often plants in his concepts issues like the marketing of reality, the commodification of identity, art, and morality.

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Wikipedia