Vivian Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American street photographer born in New York City. She was a professional nanny, who from the 1950s until the 1990s took over 100,000 photographs worldwide— from France to New York City to Chicago and dozens of other countries. In 1956, when Maier moved to Chicago, she enjoyed the luxury of a darkroom as well as a private bathroom. This allowed her to process her prints and develop her own rolls of B&W film.
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Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of fifteen, he picked up his first camera and started to document his peers, one of his inspirations at this time was his father, a professional photographer that he credits as the catalyst for his artistic passions.
In 1980 as a concerned photographer with a clear vision he embarked on a mission to document various aspects of life in New York City, from youth culture to a wide range of social conditions. Due to its spontaneity and uniqueness, the streets and subway system became backdrops for many of his photographs. His series has successfully become the well-known, visual representation of New York in the past 40 years. |
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and conceived of photography as capturing a decisive moment.
He explained his approach to photography in these terms, '"For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression." |
Saul Leiter was an American photographer and painter whose early work in the 1940s and 1950s was an important contribution to what came to be recognised as the New York school of photography. He pursued his vision through signature framing devices, bold hues and reflective surfaces, Leiter manages to transform seemingly ordinary street scenes, in close proximity to his New York apartment, into visual poetry.
Leiter specified his inspiration merely came from his surroundings, 'I go out to take a walk, I see something, I take a picture', he prefers to avoid long profound explanations of what his works. He also explained the simplicity of his images and subjects within them, stating 'A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a famous person.' |