By Jonathan Shih
Vivian Maier worked as a nanny in the US city of Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. She also had a hidden other life, as a street photographer of genius.
During her lifetime, Vivian's work was unknown and unpublished. Many of her negatives were never developed. Now, her pictures sell for thousands of dollars.
Vivian captured extraordinary street scenes on her Rolleiflex camera. She would walk for hours on foot, photographing well-to-do shoppers uptown, but also people on the margins of society living in rougher neighborhoods.
As a live-in nanny, Vivian spent most of her wages on camera film, getting photos developed, and paying for storage lockers in which to keep her life's work - having no permanent home of her own.
Frances Brent was a friend of the family where Vivian worked. She recalled that Vivian always had her camera with her on family outings:
"There was no eye contact. She was just into the viewfinder. It was fascinating to see someone who was part of the group but had also found a way to take herself off from it."
It was perhaps this quality of separateness, or even invisibility, which allowed Vivian to take such extraordinary photographs.
"There was always a degree of separation between her and everyone else", said Frances. "She was clearly a recluse." And yet, Vivian's pictures show a fascination with fleeting, intimate moments in peoples' lives:
"The camera presented this magical transition for her, that allowed her to see people and to get to places without being caught doing it," said Frances. "And people allowed it, because she wasn't there. She was just in the viewfinder."
Vivian's archives were auctioned when she died aged 83, and she is now considered one of the greatest street photographers of the 20th century.
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