Vivian Maier Street Photographer

Most of the art that makes my heart beat faster is of the musical kind, but photography is also a huge part of my life (and Melanie‘s too). Recently I went on one of those internet binges where I ended up going down the rabbit hole and somehow stumbled across the photography of Vivian Maier. I couldn’t pull myself away as I scrolled through image after image, which both inspired me and made me feel insignificant as a photographer.

However, it isn’t just Vivian’s work that fascinates me, but the story behind it as well. Her work was discovered when John Maloof purchased a collection of over 100,000 negatives from an auction house in Chicago which made their way to sale from a storage locker that was emptied due to delinquent payments. Maloof brought the images to light and they received critical acclaim, exhibition, and even a book. Unfortunately, Maier had passed away and left a mystery of a life behind. Maloof goes through his journey to find out who Vivian Maier was here.

Maier’s work consists of street photography taken mostly in Chicago and New York during the 1950′s. It is a lovely piece of history portraying “the humorous, moving, beautiful, and raw images of all facets of city life in America’s post-war golden age”. I am absolutely amazed that a person without a digital camera or any post production and no formal training created such a vast collection.

I’m including a few of my favorite photographs here, but please keep reading about Vivian and see more of her work at VivianMaier.com.