Filed under: Art Gallery | Tags: female photographer, mirror, vivian maier
by Vivian Maier
Another wish-I-had-found-it-while-flea-marketing moment - the work of street photographer Vivian Maier.
A street photographer as well, John Maloof found Vivian’s negatives at a furniture and art auction in Chicago. Her private life is still somewhat of a mystery, but what little of it John has gathered can be found on his Vivian-dedicated blog.
He is compiling her work into a book, but has been kind enough to share some of her images via the Internet. The Independent recently did a write-up on the discovery of her work.
I am in love with these photos, especially her reflection images. Looking through her photographs is like peeking into her visual diary. Maier was primarily a nanny, but as evidence of the 40,000 negatives found after her death, photography was her creative outlet, her true work. It is evidence of how the joys of photography can be had in just taking the photograph, not worrying about the end result.
layers of reflection
subtle reflections
self portrait of Vivian
Filed under: Art Gallery, Pennsylvania | Tags: 'future tenant', anastasia ross, elevators, kim rullo, long exposure, meta, mirror photos, natural light, photo shoot, pittsburgh
mirrors are like finding your twin
I’m most inspired by places when creating photos. It could be a grassy field, a brightly colored house or in my recent Stasia project, the mostly-empty third and fourth floors of the art gallery downtown where Jeff and I curated a show this past September. When I first saw the rooms, it was a sunny day and the natural light coming through the windows was just insanely beautiful. I didn’t know what project I’d do in those rooms, but I wanted to take advantage of the space and the light.
a meta shot from 'to disappear'
My friend Anastasia is a great model. She’s easy-going, incredibly patient and willing to do most whatever I ask of her in order to get a shot.
from 'to disappear'
Initially, I thought I’d use some of these photos for a Day of the Dead project that never happened (Jeff was going to take one of my images and do something with it in Photoshop as a collaborative project). But I didn’t want to be confined to a specific project — after working on the fairy tale series, my main goals here were working with natural light, negative space, monochromatic backgrounds with pops of color, and experimenting with long exposures since the day that I took these was rainy and grey.
debating the physics of flight
portrait of stasia
I tried different filters in photoshop on this photo and finally settled on ‘deep yellow,’ to give it a warmer hue:
geometry
I love photo shoots like this because I allowed myself the freedom of doing whatever the hell I wanted and not worry about being perfect. I was also excited when my friend Kim came in from downstairs to shoot off two pictures – she’s an amazing, talented photographer and it was fun to work with her again, even if for just a few minutes.
photo by Kim Rullo
Now I have a batch of photos to work with over the next month or so and a new-found love for long exposures.
the red elevator
One of the photos featured on Utata.
Filed under: Pennsylvania | Tags: anniversary, art, bride, costume, groom, hallowedding, halloween, jeff schreckengost, pittsburgh, vows, wedding
photo by Lorraine Plaikner
Not only is Halloween our favorite holiday, it also happens to be the day that Jeff and I decided to get hitched in 2008. I’ve never been the girl to have bride-fantasies — hell, I never even thought I’d get married — so the idea of planning a wedding was a nightmare for me. We thought it would be more fun if we treated the affair like a giant Halloween party.
We kept it simple: 105 guests, no bridal party and asked our friends and family to arrive in costume. Throughout the entire planning, we promised to keep true to ourselves by doing it our way, no interference from others (and anyone who has planned a wedding will tell you how people will put their two-sense in. Brides, stay strong!).
r: photo by Lorraine Plaikner. l: our cake topper
We don’t belong to a church, and didn’t want to rush around trying to join one just for the sake of a wedding, so to ‘keep it legal’ we were married at the justice of the peace in Bloomfield on October 30.On October 31, our vows were written and delivered by a scarecrow, aka, my friend Mike Bunn. After 9 months of planning and knowing every detail of the event, he offered to do this for us so that we could be surprised. His words — our promise to each other — moved most everyone there to tears and laughter:
photo by Lorraine Plaikner
I love you.
You are my best friend.
You are my Monster.
Today, I pledge myself to you in marriage.
I promise to encourage you and inspire you,
to laugh with you
and sometimes laugh at you,
I promise to love you when our relationship is simple,
and to continue loving you when it takes effort.
I know we both will change,
individually and together,
but I’ll always accept you for exactly who you are, the only person I want to spend my life with.
When I need to remind myself why I made this promise to Jeff, I re-read our vows and know how lucky we are to have found one another. Who else will put up with my compulsive list-making, singing in the shower, and fear of highways? He’s the man who encouraged me to keep taking photos and who loves to cook me dinner and make beautiful, surreal paintings.
"for better or for worse" by Jeff Schreckengost
Marriage is a journey that I never thought would be so challenging and so amazing. If I could call anything close to home, it’s being with Monster.
portrait of Jeff as Krampus (or Satan, or whatever)
paper is the first anniversary traditional gift.
