Shaoiro,+K+2RA

Kelsey Shapiro Visual Rhetoric MW 4:00 2RA
 * Mirrors Through Time: The Street Photography of Vivian Maier **

 Photographs are a unique form of representation; only photography makes it possible to present an accurate and exact replication of a specific moment in time. This idea is the root of the genre of street photography, which emerged in the early 20th century. This form of photography focuses on everyday people and places, and records them as they are using the camera. Though some question the genre’s status at art, it cannot be contested that street photographs are appealing to the general public.

 In 2005, the street photography of Vivian Maier was accidentally uncovered by John Maloof, who then organized and made public her impressively large body of work. Maier’s work is characteristic of other street photographers at the time: the subject was most often people, the primary setting was cities, and the medium was black and white film (Smith). From an audience’s perspective, every photograph of this type must contain some point of view, some merit for taking that image at that precise moment in time. The crucial question the audience must ask when viewing this kind of image is why; why did the photographer take this exact photograph. Looking at two of Maier’s photographs from a rhetorical perspective, I will demonstrate how these two images act to create importance in everyday objects and situations, by engaging the audience through the medium of street photography.

 In order to understand how Maier’s two images work, it is important to understand the audience that they are being viewed by. Part of what makes Maier unique to other artists who have achieved critical acclaim is that she never exhibited her work or showed it to a single other person (Vivian). This is also what drew the collection’s buzz and the notice of the New York Times  when her work did finally surface. The audience for Maier’s work consequently is not people of her own time, the 1950’s and 60’s, but rather current followers of the art world through the Times.

 For readers of the Times , understanding the world around them happens by not only keeping up-to-date with current events, but also through situating events within a broader cultural context. For this audience, Maier’s obsessive collection of images of city life in the 50’s and 60’s is another way of consuming news and understanding the world. Street photography, like photojournalism, can be seen as a nontraditional way of documenting and communicating events to an audience; this communicative power is what makes it a popular genre, and also what sparked my personal interest in Maier. In looking at Maier’s images, the audience is interpreting them as something reminiscent of a time-capsule; relics to connect with and understand the past.

 First, I would like to consider one of Maier’s photographs taken in New York, “Undated, New York, NY” (Image A). Most of Maier’s image’s are untitled; those that are named were done so by Maloof retroactively, using information transcribed on negative casings. Titles usually give a clue as to the purpose of a document- in this case the image- however Maier’s work excludes this, making the message a mystery to the viewer from the start. This break from tradition could disorient the audience, however it also allows for more freedom in personally interpreting the image. Breaking down the different elements of Image A will demonstrate how this style of photography elevates the importance of the subject as perceived by the viewer.

 Upon looking at Image A, immediately the viewer is drawn to the subject, the woman who seems to be glancing towards her left, out of the focus of the camera; this woman is the first signifier in the image, denoting the point of interest to the audience. The second largest signifier in the image is the blurred line on the bottom horizon of the picture. This line is significant because it physically separates the photographer from the subject and creates perspective. With this composition the viewer is almost looking at this woman as if they are peering over some object, maybe even through a car window. At the sime time, the border evokes the idea of a snapshot, which reminds the reader that this moment is time sensitive. This combination of candid elements and split-second timing causes the gesture of the woman to feel very private, as if the audience had the privilege of momentarily intruding on this woman’s glimpse towards some distant object.

 The lack of color in the image further serves to emphasize the importance of this moment in time to the viewer. The use of black and white creates drama and suspense, which further calls the reader to become involved with the image and ponder over the situations that made this moment occur. The way that the light highlights the woman’s face is part of what compels the viewer to look first at her, and what signifies her as the subject of the image as opposed to the library in the background that is larger and takes up more space in the frame. Furthermore, the lack of detail that would be present in a color photograph causes the objects in the background of the image to appear blurred, removing distractions from the subject and allowing for more ambiguities in the message.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> After perceiving the woman as the subject of the image, the viewer is next led out of the frame by following the woman’s gaze. Because the object of her attention is not present in the image, more questions arise for the audience. The nature of street photography invites the audience to fill in these gaps themselves. Standing in front of a public library, or even just public building of some sort, is relevant to many people. Pulling from their own personal experiences the viewer is able to fill in what is left out of the image on their own, such as what is at the other end of the woman’s gaze. The genre of street photography further encourages this interaction by presenting subjects that are often typical, such as the woman in Image A. In this way the audience is more able to place themselves in the shoes of the subject and consider the situation as if they were a part of it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Shields makes reference to an idea coined by Foucault, termed mirrored heteropian sites, which elaborates this process of audience understanding. He explains that “Foucault’s mirrored heterotopian sites are conceptual spaces opened between imagined utopias and real heterotopain sites... where time is altered and new social and personal relationships are negotiated” (Sheilds 285). Image A, and Maier’s street photographs in general, are the real heterotopian sites given this definition; the imagined utopias exist in the minds of the audience, and are comprised of any ideas they have about the external context of the images from education, documentaries, popular culture etc. Combining the photographs with audience perception creates Foucault’s mirror: the image becomes a cultural artifact which the audience interprets first in terms of its context, and second in terms of their own personal context by identifying with the image and transposing it onto their their lives. In essence the audience interprets what is represented in the image in a new way, by perceiving parts of themselves in it through association.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Viewing the image as a whole, the audience reads the image in terms of why it was an important or significant moment. For Image A, the viewer focuses on the woman and her gaze. Though many things are left out of the image, when the audience places themselves within the context of the image, city life in the 1950‘s, they understand the situation in terms of their own personal context. The composition of the photo reminds the audience that this is a candid, further emphasizing that the moment is special and important. The significance of the photo is that it was a fleeting moment that was preserved through time. In this way, an act that spans only seconds, one that most would overlook in daily life, becomes elevated simply by being captured by Maier. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> As exemplified by Image A, even seemingly simple photographs have the ability to be very powerful and engage many people. Photographers began to understand this compelling draw for viewers to interact with the image, and a branch began to form in the genre of street photography. The name for this offshoot is social landscape photography, and is what many associate with when they think of street photography. This style is characterized by images like Dorothea Lange’s iconic photographs of suffering during the Great Depression, but also contains propaganda images such as those that depict conditions of animals raised for slaughter (Gleason).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Street photography of this kind is often thought better of than images that simply capture a scene; because of this view, it is possible that Image A and others of a similar style would not work as well to some of the audience of the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">New York Times <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">who viewed Maier’s collection. There is a part of the audience, and of the larger culture, who question the merit of photography to be seen as art. Many believe that since theoretically anyone could reproduce a photograph with little to no training, these images should not be considered works of art.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Interestingly enough, the rejection of the photograph as art serves to facilitate this type of images’ transmission of its message. According to Berger, “..as soon a work is placed in a museum it acquires the mystery of a way of life which excludes the masses” (291). If street photography were to acquire the status of art, the audience would be immediately cut off from interacting so freely with the image. The change to art would place more emphasis on the photographer and their abilities in interpreting and depicting the scene, and the subject of the image would become less important. In order for street photography to continue working for audiences, the novelty of photography must remain intact.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Regardless of if either is considered art or not, the important distinction between social landscape photographs and street photography in general is that the former has an intended communicative purpose to it’s audience. More than simple records of time, these images become infused with persuasive elements. Berger’s scale of persuasion ranges from coercion on the left, to pure persuasion on the right, with legal reasoning sitting squarely in the middle (Ramage). In these terms, social landscape photography is oriented towards the right, grazing the realm of pure persuasion but still holding on to the edge of legal reasoning.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> These images are almost pure persuasive acts because they are true to life documentation, which is also the most important persuasive element present in this genre. They are not pure, however, because they also utilize invisible manipulations by the photographer such as angle of the shot, time of day, style of exposure, etc. Accordingly, they look to logic as a way to portray their message, requiring that the viewer of the image maintains a certain set of associations that will result in their interpretation of a specific message in a specific way.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Image A has shown how the persuasive power of street photography to invite the reader into the image and ultimately leads them to perceive the status of the subject in a more significant way; the second image with the same title, “Undated, New York, NY” (Image B), shows this as well but also demonstrates how this style of photography can act as social commentary when viewed by a particular audience, and elevate the importance of not only the subject of an image but the importance of the implied message as well.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> This second picture generally shows a boy standing in the foreground, while out of focus behind him is a crowd in the street. The literal focus of the image is on the boy, however the crowd holds almost equal weight in importance to the viewer, and is a more easily interpretable signifier to use in answering the question of why the image was taken. Dealing with the boy first, the immediate thing one notices about the him is his posture. Considering all that is going on seemingly right next to him, he appears surprisingly at ease. Holding his hands in his pockets, and wearing a pleasant but not anxiously excited expression, both work to portray him as accepting of the situation. The second major signifier present in the boy is his youth; children often symbolize the future and hope, and these ideas can certainly be placed on the boy in this image. His gaze looks slightly upward and in the opposite direction of those in the crowd, so that he is looking at the mass of people straight on.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The audience observing Image B would be doing so in response to hearing something about Maier and the discovery of her work, therefor they would have some context for this image. At the very least they would know from the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">Times <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> article that Maier photographed beginning in the 1950’s and continued until her death, meaning that the two most likely occasions for this kind of demonstration are either related to the war in Vietnam, or a union rally. Either way, the audience understands from the mass of people that some sort of change is being sought through the channels of democracy and the freedom to demonstrate. Accordingly, this image would fall in the category of protest/demonstration images that the audience has seen before.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Even without knowing much about the crowd other than that it is a movement of some sort, already the audience can interpret a message from this image. Given the boy’s pose and juxtaposition next to the gathering, he can be seen as representational of hope for the future, as he literally looks to what is to come in a seemingly fearless and accepting way. The trick of the angle of the shot makes the boy appear larger than the mob of people, even larger than the buildings behind them, which can signify the coming triumph of a new generation or a new way of doing things. The setting of New York, given by the title of the image, calls to mind the hub of America, progress, and change. Metaphorically, the image tells the common American story of the people taking full advantage of their rights as members of a democracy to stand up for what they desire and create change.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> One difference between Image B and the first image is that in Image B the event portrayed already holds some inherent ideas of being important. This implied importance is understood by the audience due to mental comparisons to other images like it, such as portrayals of Martin Luther King speeches and violent images of Vietnam War protests. This being said, the subject of these image’s actually decreases the persuasive appeal for the audience to view this specific image as important, because is has become a terministic screen. Ramage defines this as the phenomenon when “once something is defined, assigned a term, it is indistinguishable from that which terminates it” (48). In this case, the audience knows this is a significant event, however it is simultaneously made ordinary by fitting within the larger body of a pattern of similar images.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The objects which combat this abrupt conflict in being able to portray an effective message are the signifiers in the picture, and how it works rhetorically. The audience is led through the image to create and interpret the message in the way described earlier, and is not caught in the terministic screen of the category of the image. Part of this again has to do with the fact that the image exists under the umbrella of street photography; were it a painting, the persuasive elements or goal would be more obvious to the audience and make it less likely that they would arrive at a more constructed message from the image. The fact that a photo carries the documentary element somewhat disguises the persuasive acts of the image, making the audience more accepting of a message as they are the one’s interpreting evidence for themselves.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Using the different elements in the image, the photograph works to speak metaphorically and send a clear message to the audience. As in Image A, the audience again projects their own experiences onto the image. Where in Image A these interpretations and musings about the message were more individual and open, the elements in Image B give the audience a specific format to relate within. For the current audience, this image fits within the recent context of images that would have also been in publications like <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">The New York Times: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">similar images of the Occupy movement. Had Maier’s images surfaced maybe five years or so earlier, audiences would have probably been more likely to relate this metaphor to George Bush and public dissatisfaction with the ‘War on Terror’. Though the specifics vary throughout time, street photography has the unique ability to metaphorically represent an idea structure that is relatable over large amounts of time.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> The most important element in these images being able to act in this way is that they engage so closely with the audience. Rather than acting as a passive viewer, when reading street photographs the audience must make associations with the subject and inferences about the situation. Street photography is the ideal medium to portray messages through personal connections, because by definition the images depict people in real life situations that are typical and relatable to the general viewer. In Image A, an ordinary event is rendered extraordinary by being captured and artistically presented to an audience. In Image B, an important event is used to represent a larger idea, emphasizing the importance of that idea by presenting the image as a metaphor and emphasizing the structure of the image’s message over the individual signifiers.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Images coming from street photography, including Maier’s photographs in particular, are able to retain relevance decades after they have been taken because they represent our collective past experience. The documentary element of this genre transforms these images from simple composed pictures to cultural artifacts that can be interpreted by viewers to understand a different time. While evoking the past, these images simultaneously lead viewers to draw comparisons and contrasts and see the same idea within new contexts. By presenting messages metaphorically, these images are able to stand for larger ideas transferable across different subjects and different time periods. Maier’s photographs demonstrate the power of street photography to instill immense significance in seemingly unimportant objects, and emphasize the importance of cultural ideas than reach across time and space.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Works Cited **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Berger, John. "Understanding A Photograph." : 291-94. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Gleason, Timothy R. "Roles of Street and Social Landscape Photography." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">Simile <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> 8.4 Nov. (2008): 1-13. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Ramage, John D. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">Rhetoric, A User's Guide <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">. N.p.: Joseph Opiela, 2006. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Shields, Ronald E. "The Force of Calla' Kiss: The 1997 Apple Advertising Campaign, "Think Different"." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">Text and Performance Quarterly <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> 21.3 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> (2001): 202-19. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Smith, Roberta. "Vivian Maier: 'Photographs from the Maloof Collection'." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman Italic','serif';">The New York Times <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">19 Jan. 2012. Print.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';">Vivian Maier //<span style="font-family: 'Times','serif';">. Ed. Martin Fuchs. The Maloof Collection LTD, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PHOTOGRAPHY AUDIENCE PROFILE SHEET

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NYT Readers || **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Secondary ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Me ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kind of Viewer: ** || **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Primary **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Education: ** || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> probably at least college on average || College Junior ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Professional Experience**: || white collar and higher workers || CVS chashier, Writing Center Tutor ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Job Responsibilities: ** || varies || cashiering, tutoring ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personal Characteristics: ** ||  || Outgoing, Spontaneous, Positive ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personal Preferences: ** || Being informed and up to date, interested in gaining knowledge on a range of different subjects ||  ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cultural Characteristics: ** ||  ||   ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Attitude Toward the Photographer: ** || Interested, photos are being touted and amazing art worth seeing || Positive, intersted in the fact that she was anonymous for so long ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Attitude Toward the Subject: ** || historical perspective on what it was like to live in the city in the 50s || Positive, interested in street photography and candid photography ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Expectations about the Subject: ** || unsure || none ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Expectations about the Photograph: ** || unsure || moving and emotional ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reasons for Viewing the Photograph: ** || They were in the paper || class ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*Way of Viewing the Photograph: ** || just casual observation || rhetorical analysis ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Viewing Skill: ** || average || Decent? ||
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Viewer’s Physical Environment: ** || home/office/commute || home/school ||