Thinking

Vivian Maier. 1955. New York, NY. Photograph. 16" x 20". 1955.

Vivian Maier was a young street photographer from New York who started taking snapshots in the early 1950's to 1990. She spent much of her life traveling the world, taking over one hundred thousand pictures of the world surrounding her. Most of her negatives were unseen until recently reconstructed to impress the world. 

It's obvious in her photos that Vivian wanted to capture the raw and real people that she encountered throughout her life. Noah Berlatsky of The Atlantic stated, "When you buy a Vivian Maier photo, you buy her life, not her work" in December 2013. The subject of this particular photo is a young African American male sitting in what is possibly Central Park. His suit and book in his lap leaves you to believe he is either a student or new business man. His facial expression is one of discomfort. Maybe it is from stress or maybe he is reflecting on his life, wondering what's next? When one is coming of age, those are all reoccurring emotions and thoughts that are reflected very well in this photo. I believe Vivian truly enjoyed capturing people in their moments of thought.