Rediscovering Photography Through Film: Vivian Maier (Part 2)

First, I want to give a quick shout out again to our good friend Shelley of Shelley Castle Photography! I'm so thankful we have friends who constantly encourage us to get out and do things - like go see the Vivian Maier documentary at E Street Cinema, a really cool theater I plan on visiting much more often. Friends truly are one of the best gifts.

Okay, enough of that mushy stuff. Even though we sat in the very front row, and left the theater with an intense neck workout, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. In fact, I enjoyed it more because I was forced to be completely engrossed in the film. Vivian's story is so fascinating. It was a joy to sit there and allow myself to observe and wonder. To observe the simple, beautiful, and powerful photographs made by this closet creative. And it was also reassuring! This talented woman took so many photographs - SO many photographs. Some of them were breathtaking, some were beautiful, some were good, and some were not. As artists, we often forget that not every photograph - or painting, or poem, or mosaic - will be perfect. The important thing is to give your your best, to show up and do the work every time, and to continue loving the craft.

This film also reinvigorated my love for film photography, and the sheer mystery of it. Today, it's so easy to see your photo right now - a form of instant gratification. But with film, you have to wait, have patience, and sit back while the film is developed. I could re-create this sense of mystery in two ways: 1) bust out my old Nikon 8008s or 2) try to keep myself from checking the preview screen during some of our personal projects. I think I'll do both! :)

I also appreciate how many questions this film has raised. First, have we lost some of our appreciation for photography due to the sheer ubiquity of it? Or has our love for photography grown because it has been made so accessible? According to a CNN article I read a few weeks ago about photos from the 1964 World's Fair, "photography was a luxury because film was so expensive". So did this sense of luxury create more gratitude? For me, the verdict is still out on that one.

Second, even though we seem to be "documenting life" more and more, are we documenting it well? What are we doing with all these photos we take? Do we look at them? Do we print them? Do they leave our phones or social media platforms? Do those of us who are professional photographers give ourselves time to process our own photos and send them to the printer, like we do for everyone else? Again, I don't think there is one solid answer to this question of documentation.

Both of these questions, regarding the value and use of photography, have created another personal mission - to make more time to attend to our family photos. As I get better and better at all the systems we've created, this will continue to get easier. But in the meantime, I plan on using some of our less busy seasons to cull, edit, and print those personal photos....and finally put all those scrapbook supplies to use!

So what about you? What is your take on these questions? I'd love to hear!