Vivian Maier was a nanny and also a ‘secret’ photographer. She was described by friends as being introvert. She preferred to have a very private life and even asked for a lock to be placed on her room door. Maier had O.C.D. and with that she also took many photographs. Her ever-growing passion for photography lead her to the extreme of creating a darkroom in her bathroom. Spread out throughout the five centuries that she photographed, she managed to take over 100,000 negatives.

Vivian Maier’s website: http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Amazingly her work was only discovered in 2007 at a Chicago auction. She’d actually become very poor and had to sell one of her storage lockers in order to pay for her house. Inside there was a mass of photographs and a man called John Maloof unknowingly bought them. He was the man that got her famous. After all those years of storage and hiding the photograph’s were finally brought to light. He’s played a huge role in helping to archive her  work for future generations to cherish.  Maier’s street photography seems to be very contemporary although it was taken with a rather historical camera. One of her many camera’s was called ‘Rolleiflex’ and can be seen in her self-portrait:

I have produced a similar photograph to this one. I actually took this picture spontaneously during the half-term and have edited it into black and white to create a similar effect to Maier’s. My face is not very visible but you can still see the outline of my reflexion on the car window.

Here’s my outcome:

Her photography focused on the street life in urban areas. Since Maier was born in New York City during the 1920’s, she had many sources for inspiration. During her life Maier kept changing locations from the her hometown to France. In 1951 she finally decided to settle down in the U.S. where her passion for photography evolved. Her documentary style created meaning and evolved into a great story. Vivian incorporated both still images and video recordings into her work.

Here are some example’s of her street photography:

“Well I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.” – Vivian Maier.