Vivian Maier

Some stories aren’t meant to be told. They hide from us until they finally slip through the crack of time into forgiveness. However, the story of Vivian Maier is not like any other story. Luckily, it fell into the right hands and got reviled to the world, leaving us all amazed. But first, let’s go back to how it all started.

John Maloof is the man who took it upon himself to introduce us to Vivian’s work. He’s the one that got to stumble upon her possessions in a storage sale. It probably wouldn’t be such an interesting story if he didn’t end up discovering her photographs. It turns out that the very mysterious lady called Vivian Maier was seriously passionate about photography. And none the less, she was seriously good at it too!

Working most of her life as a nanny and caretaker, Vivian used to spend all of her free time photographing or even filming people around her. She would wonder the streets for hours, capturing interesting bits and pieces of everyday life that others would not even notice. Although it seems this was more than just a hobby for her, Maier never showed her work to anyone. Her body of work that was discovered in the earlier mentioned garage sale was massive, but being such a private person, she never showed it to anyone. So, if it wasn’t for the magical finger of destiny interfering, Vivian’s piles of undeveloped prints would never get discovered, let alone developed and shared with the world. It was John that had the curiosity and an eye for her pieces, that helped him realise he came across something worth pursuing. Thanks to him we get to know Vivian Maier, the amazing street photographer that brings us back in time through her lens.

 

If you want to know more we recommend seeing documentary film Finding Vivian Maier and exploring further about this mysterious lady and her work on Vivian Maier website.