Vivian Maier with her Robot

Karl K

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This is a color self portrait of Vivian Maier, dated 1958.
Place unknown.
She is holding her Robot, a camera which I never before associated with Maier.
A camera case with filters attached is slung over her shoulder.
Is it the Robot case or perhaps a Zeiss case?
My guess is that this portrait was shot with her Rolleiflex because the image is square and shot from a low angle.
Vivian definitely preferred German cameras.
Comments?
 

CropDusterMan

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She was a very good photographer. Had she found the avenue for the world to have seen her work, she would
have most certainly become well known. I love the fact that she seemed to have chosen the nanny work to allow
her the freedom of time to get out and shoot. I love her work. She really used her Rollei well.She was obviously
well prepared. So thankful that John Maloof found her work and brought her name and work to us all.
 

CMoore

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Yeah, it (she) is a remarkable story anyway you look at it.
It would have been so easy for all her negs, at least those that Maloof acquired, to have all been tossed out. It is probably doubtful that anybody else, that ended up with those negs, would have pursued them the way he did. They would have been lost to time.
And this has, no doubt, happened before. Not in this scale perhaps, but think how may people left behind their negatives, and 50 years later, those negs were headed for a land-fill.
This is one of the more interesting stories of our time.......
 

AgX

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The ever-ready case is not from a Robot. It looks like the case for the Contaflex.
 

Theo Sulphate

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Is that a wide-angle Rollei shot? It appears wide angle to me. The depth of field is excellent and the focus seems to be spot-on on the lens markings.

Technicalities aside, what a wonderful woman she was,
 

tezzasmall

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I've never heard of Robot cameras before this thread and just looking them up, they are quite unusual in their design and they seem to get good prices still on the auction site. The quirky design doesn't attract me enough though, to add them to my oversized collection of cameras that I have already.

Terry S
 

CMoore

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I am not a Camera Nerd, like some here, but i had never heard of the brand before either.
 

Bob Carnie

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Somehow Vivian Maier has been made fun of, has been ridiculed, has been championed(me) , a lot of things have been said about this woman, I am not sure all of it is in good taste or respectful of someone who cannot be here to defend herself.

Just an observation!!!!!!
 

Bob Carnie

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not all on this thread and no insult to the OP.... but every once in awhile here on Photrio this kind of talk comes out and I wonder if as a group guilty of slander.
 

Pioneer

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Never having met her I can't speak to how wonderful she was but I certainly enjoy her work, selfies and all.
 

CMoore

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Touche`
I have also, frequently, Heard and Read many low blows and cheap-shots taken at her looks.
It is nothing, if not ironic, that on a Photo Forum there should be so many with a bad eye. It seems that A LOT of men suffer from this.
Vivian was just a "normal" looking woman. Her choice of attire did not serve her well perhaps.
If i had to throw some labels at it, i would say She seems to have dressed in a rather, utilitarian, staid, drab, plain, out-dated fashion.
If she had had a "Gal-Pal" that was perhaps a bit more modern of fashion.....somebody to help her with a pinch of makeup, some form of dress that was a bit more Modern/Fashionable, a different hair cut...stuff like that.....i think Many Men would have found her to be "Very" Attractive.
She had a slender and sleek figure, like a Movie Star of the 1930's .....not curvy like starlets of the 1950's.
She never lost that figure. I am sure there are many, much younger women, that would love to have her shape.
She also may have had "issues" that were not her fault and beyond her ability to cope with.
Lets all just give her a F'ing Break, shall we.? .....for humanities sake.
 

NB23

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I think we should cut the “humanitarian” bs, too.
 

removedacct1

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Absolutely. This petty BS sours the whole experience here.
 

Doc W

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CM, I agree whole-heartedly with most of what you say. I accept that you are trying to defend her appearance to those who criticize her in this way, but we need to think about why anyone would be in the slightest bit concerned about her appearance in the first place!. This always happens with women. Can you imagine someone raising an eyebrow at how Ansel Adams looked or dressed? Of course not. It would be ridiculous (even though that hat and those baggy pants sure disqualify him as a fashion plate). "Well, sure, he took some good photographs, but he looked like a bum half the time."

What nonsense (not you, CM)
 
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