The documentary is out.

I mentioned the posthumous find of Vivian Maier’s huge trove of work – over 100,000 negatives – over three years ago.

I had pretty much given up on ever seeing the promised documentary for which I had subscribed as a Kickstarter project, assuming it was just another failure, when an email arrived with a link to the movie. That has a bizarre two day expiration attached so I quickly watched it and it was exceptionally good. There’s a brief 3 minute trailer available and I should be getting the DVD soon, and recommend you do likewise.

Click the image for the trailer.

That Maier was an exceptional street photographer is clear. That she was borderline crazy and an insane pack rat is just as well, for her saving of all her negatives left a powerful legacy which we can all enjoy. Born in New York, she spent much of her youth in Alsace-Lorraine, a part of Europe which has alternated between French and German ownership, depending on which nut is running the army of the time. In truth, Maier’s borderline intrusive street work and wildly obsessive nature are, like her accented English, more German than French, but even her youthful work shows the divine spark of humor, timing and composition missing from almost all street photography today.

Highly recommended, once it becomes available. Meanwhile, the above link will also direct you to many examples of her street work.

A fine NYC street photographer.

Let’s face it. Most of what passes for ‘street photography’ today is unadulterated garbage. Invariably rendered in grainy black and white, the camera carelessly hosed around, no compositional skill in evidence, clutter everywhere and totally devoid of wit, interest or artifice.

These are not accusations which can be directed at Matt Weber’s work. The photographer has been making fine street images in New York since the 1980s in both monochrome and color and the work is witty, well timed, involving and just plain good photography.

Click the image for Matt Weber’s site.

You can buy Weber’s images by clicking the picture above and any of these would do your wall proud.

Paris in transition.

French photographer Charles Marville (1813-79) documented Paris before Baron Haussmann tore down the old city and built what we now know as the most beautiful city in western civilization. The narrow streets and crowding gave way to Haussmann’s magnificent Avenues and Boulevards, and Marville’s images are a fine record of the Paris of old.

The show is currently running at the Met in New York though May 4, 2014, and you can read more about the man and his mission in the NYT here.

Update March 2014: A fine piece from the NYT.

The real thing.

Classical photojournalism may be dying, replaced by the noise of Instagram and cell phones, but one of its greatest exponents, Jill Freedman, is still going strong.

Click the picture for the NYT Lens story.

The length to which she would go for a story or a good picture are remarkable. Click through to her blog here to read about her well known book Firehouse, documenting the tough lives of Bronx firemen.

A pioneering reformer.

Countless Americans owe their decent living standards to the pioneering social reformer and photographer, Jacob Riis, a naturalized American born in the Netherlands.

His revolutionary use of photography to highlight the plight of New York’s poorest residents came to the attention of Teddy Roosevelt and between them these two reformers arguably did more for the poor than any one before or since.

Click the image for more.

Click the image for The Retronaut blog which features a comprehensive collection of Riis’s many harrowing images which helped change America for the better.