6.1.11

Looking Back : Vivien Maier

I'm sure many of you have heard of Vivien Maier by now, but her work continues to amaze, delight and inspire me.  I keep going back to look at her work and read more about her life and her 'discovery' as a photographer. In 2009 Real Estate Agent John Maloof bought some of her photographers and negatives at an estate sale.  Unsure of what he was seeing he posted a few of the photos on Flickr, wrote to a few museums and galleries and waited to see if anything came of the more than 100,000 negatives and 600 rolls of undeveloped film he had purchased.  The more I read and the more I see of her work, the more I want to know.

John Maloof originally posted a discussion thread called "What do I do with this stuff (other than giving it to you)?" in the Hard Core Street Photography Flickr group.  It is a facinating read if you have a spare 10 minutes to scan through the thread.

John Maloof also has a blog with a large collection of her photographs posted there.

The Chicago Cultural Centre is hosting an exhibition of Vivien Maier's work from January 8 - April 3, 2011.  Admission is free for those lucky enough to live in the Chicago area (and for everyone else too, you just have to get to Chicago first!)


11 comments:

Lisa Gordon said...

All of these are wonderful.
I especially love the last one.

Ashley Sisk said...

These are all so cool - thanks for sharing them and the links!

Lucie said...

Oh! So lovely... Can't wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing :)

Justine said...

I keep seeing her name lately and some of these shots, it's amazing what people keep hidden and so great that someone found them - fate!

Jen said...

she was amazing, wasn't she?!

Em {Emerging Em} said...

Ooooooohhh - I'm going to Chicago next week! For the first time! I'm so excited!

Punctuation Mark said...

truly beautiful images!

Jamie said...

I honestly got chills looking at this images, what a unique eye she had. Makes me wish I lived close enough to go to the exhibit.

Carissa said...

what a cute pics, esp the last.

allyn said...

i caught this story only reacently. all of it is amazing + inspirational.

Suki said...

I really love her photography. I wish she would have been presented them earlier in life.