Finding Vivian Maier

[luxborealis]

The only reason we're talking about her life at all is because of her remarkable creative vision. If she had taken crappy photographs she would have remained as unknown in death as she was in life.

Right! and Wrong! - vivian Maier had great talent but as Rob C said:

the western world was already drowning in photographic images

And I would add to that "we are drowning in some damn fine photographic images". The problem now seems to be one of quantity. There are billions of images being produced and if only 1/1,000,000th are worth looking at, that's probably thousands more than even 20 years ago before the digital revolution.

So given the huge volumes of excellent images from talented photographers, it makes sense that there needs to be other criteria upon which to base the "saleability" of a photographer's work. So the photographer's life becomes part of the equation. After all, while great art sells, you can sell even more if there's a story behind it and that's what the gallery game is all about - sales.

[Rob C]

Not only drowning in images post-digital, but for decades before that too.

Apart from the attractions of living on a great location for the sort of commissioned work that I was getting, this island of Mallorca was one of the most visited destinations for UK holidaymakers. Imagine my horor, then, when my stock agent, Tony Stone, told me not to send any further shots of local atmospherics because the libraries were groaning under the weight of them from every snapper wth a contract who'd been here on holiday or on a shoot. So what do you do with a spare 24/24? With a camera? Really?

At around the same time (mid-80s) I also contacted BAPLA for advice regarding another type of photographic genre and the lady there gave me exactly the same answer: all member agencies are overstocked with everything. The BJP published a revue of the The Image Bank, and reported that it boasted 36,000 images of the Eiffel Tower... so yes, digital has certainly impacted upon camera makers and film companies - damned nearly made them extinct - but the slow death of photography as other than ego-trip began long, long ago, and more and more I see it as being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Inevitable, I suppose.

Rob C