Vivian Maier: Street Photographer Extraordinaire

Vivian Maier is becoming posthumously one of the greatest street photographers of all time.  Her incredible collection of  photographs, negatives, and rolls of film were discovered by a guy named John Maloof, who is determined to share her legacy. Needless to say, she has become one of my favorite photographers.

Here is the link to the official website: http://www.vivianmaier.com/ and an interview with John Maloof.

Cup Refilled

I started a photo project back in October called 365 project. Essentially, what the project involves is posting a photo a day for a year. I have been amazed at some of the incredible talent on this site and am learning a lot about my camera and how to use the manual settings. I posted a collage tonight with the pictures above, but wanted to share them individually and in black and white. This was my version of a time-lapse photo.

Daily Something #19: Catching Up

I started a photography project about two months ago on the 365 project website and have been absorbed in taking pictures and figuring out the camera that my father gave me.  While this has been a great creative endeavor, I have missed sharing things on my blog. Now that I have established a routine, it is my hope to start sharing again.

I finally finished Fraces Mayes The Discovery of Poetry and have a greater appreciation for the beauty of words and how they can be arranged to express such powerful images.  Poetry is so different from our normal, everyday speech, and the selections Mayes chose to include in her book challenged me to really ponder and concentrate on the arrangement, form, and the sounds of words.  I had to read some of the poems more than once in order to understand them, but the effort was well worth my time. 

Here is a poem by Paul Hoover that Mayes includes in her book. It is one that appears to be simple, but is a wonderful example of style, rhythm, and form.

Poems We Can Understand

Painted Walls and Neat Discoveries

The other day I had the chance to walk downtown and I ate lunch at a little restaurant called Greener Groundz Irish Pub.  I've passed by this wall many times and have never had the chance to photograph it, but on this particular day, I had my camera with me.  I was also surprised by another photo opportunity when the owner talked to me about her fabulous vintage bagel machine circa the 1930's.

Daily Something #18: Stick Man

I have always been fascinated with the concept of stick people and how it is that at a very early age, we use them in our drawings.  So much of what we see is defined by lines, whether they are straight, curvy, bent, or zig-zagged.  Here is something fun to try if you have a few moments to be creative.

http://www.drawastickman.com/