September 5, 2011

Vivian Maier

Meet "street photographer" Vivian Maier.


You really should read her story
These particular photos are from early 1950's, New York  City.



I love these for the same reason I hate looking through boxes of old postcards at antique stores (if you've never done that, you should).  It reminds me of how elusive time really is, and how little we have of it. To put it bluntly, it freaks me right out.

 

Every old photo of young people who never really believed they'd get old, but they still did.  And those trivial things they thought mattered so much - it turns out they never mattered at all.  (Let's all take a moment to think of what a phonetically weird world mattered is.  I mean, really.)



Fifty years sounds like a long time. It's not. Think of how fast this past year went by, times that by 50, and before you know it you're in 1961. We're not different or more special than these people, even if sometimes we like to think we are.  





Lucky for us we have iPhones, which make it a heck of a lot easier to find the best pizza in a 5-mile radius without having to talk to a stranger when you're in a hurry. But we also have to put up with Lady Gaga, so... I think they've got us beat.



You know what else?  I need to buy a nice camera while I'm here in The Big Apple. I want to capture some 2011 street people.

4 comments:

  1. I love this post. A lot. I think I"m going to have two of those pictures framed and hung up in my home. I also laughed with the butt through the bench picture. I agree with what you say- and it's nice to be reminded. I hope this blogging is going to happen more often too. I miss you already. Just knowing you're across the country makes me sad.

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  2. I get freaked out by the sort of stuff too! Looking s through my mom's photo albums always made me depressed, because it just reminds me how I really haven't done anything with my life....
    I hope you blog more now. I miss your blogs terribly!

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  3. I agree with the Lady Gaga statement. I actually wish I had lived in the 50's. Not so much the 60's though. I would have skipped that decade. Probably would have skipped the 70's too. And the 90's if I could... But I would have loved the 80's!

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  4. I've been watching the Dick Van Dyke Show on Hulu of late. Freaks me out how awesome writing used to be, how people generally had decent principles, and how much they could do with so little. Why does it freak me out? Because we're SUCH A MESS compared to them. Writing now is most often trash, (occasionally (that was a REALLY hard word for me to spell just now for some reason) Occasionally, writing now is good, but it's the exception. Transformers movies make hundreds of millions? Case and point, we expect nothing from writers.) Now everyone on tv portrays us as though we're all conniving (also a hard word for me to spell) WHINEY and selfish, oh, and sex-obsessed, twits. Anyway, your post reminded me of that.
    Thanks for writing a new post. I love your writing. I'd pay for it.

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