On board your 8mm camera, the nanny photographer records the city

Abstract

The present article analyzes an 8mm film shot by Vivian Maier, the so-called “nanny photographer”, in the streets of Chicago. In the middle of the 20th Century, new technologies for photography and film became available, and Maier tested the possibilities of framing in both medias. It is noticeable that the photographer already shows the potential of her future output by trying out new forms of audiovisual equipment, notwithstanding her social condition. By ways of Edgar Morin’s concept of complexity, we approach the photographer/film maker as she boards trains and tell visual stories powered by her visual compositions, which enables new possibilities of poetically registering life in the big city. As we run through her imaginary conceptions, we understand that the film is a metaphor of Vivian Maier’s vision - as such, it tells us of her subjective universe and its relation with the routine of the city.