Photographer's Talent Went Unknown Until Death

(CBS)  Vivian Maier, by all accounts, was a very private person. By profession: a nanny and housekeeper. But her passion was taking pictures. With the Rolliflex dangling from her neck, she took thousands of them, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.

The photos depict street scenes, intimate moments, anonymous portraits -- pictures she apparently never shared with anyone, until John Maloof accidentally stumbled on them.

A few years ago, Maloof, a real estate agent and flea market fan, saw a box of negatives at a Chicago auction house.

"The box I bought was the biggest box they had," said Maloof.

Vivian Maier - Her Discovered Work

"Her storage locker had delinquent payments," explained Maloof. "So what they do is they auction the stuff off."

He bid about $400, hoping to pick up some shots of the city for a book he was writing. What he found in the box has literally changed his life.

"I didn't know how big this would get," said Maloof.

When Maloof posted some of the pictures on a photography website, Maier became an internet sensation.

This month an exhibition of her work opened at the Chicago Cultural Center, but the picture of Vivian herself is still developing.

Born in New York, in 1926, to a French mother, Maier's own tape recordings show her speaking with a slight French accent.

Maloof traced Maier from the name on a film envelope to a 2009 obituary in the Chicago papers that led him to the families she'd worked for.

Like Phil Donahue. Maier took this picture of the talk show host the day he hired her in the late seventies to care for his four sons. She worked for Donahue for nearly a year.

"I met her in a diner as I recall," said Donahue.

In the late eighties, Maren Baylaender's husband hired Maier to care for his disabled daughter.

"I don't think she had a friend," said Baylaender.

Maier never shared her photos with anyone, so would she feel comfortable with them being public?

"I think it would be a shame if this stayed in a dark closet, because we just don't know if she would like it or not," said Maloof. "My mission is to put Vivian in the history books."

Renowned photographer Joel Meyerowitz says she may well belong there. He's co-author of "Bystander: A History of Street Photography."

She's ruthlessly honest about what she sees," said Meyerowitz. "And I think she should be taken seriously."

John Maloof is still working his way through Maier's negatives. He has 90,000 more he hasn't even seen.

Shot by shot, we are coming to know the elusive Vivian Maier, through her own eyes.

[douglaskeister]

I too discovered a clutch of negatives by a unknown photographer. I found them at a garage sale in 1965 and have been exploring the provenance of the 280 GLASS NEGATIVES since the late 1990's. Turns out they were taken by an African American photographer (or perhaps two photographers) from 1911-1926. The pictures are of the African American and immigrant community in Lincoln, Nebraska. I recently had my local congressman's office send four prints to the White House photographer with the hope he shows them to the President. Here's a link to a brief youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcG1oFsj7DI
Thanks for looking

[cktirumalai]

Some writers and artists come to be known for their work only after they have left the world.
Others receive a great deal of attention during their lifetime but are forgotten afterwards.
Candadai Tirumalai

[alksdjfhal]

Amazing artist. There is a more in depth TV story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoKD_pJgItk

[brwneyesaz]

Wonderful story of a true artist.

[Alice_Polarbear]

I hope someone publishes a collection of her photographs so that those of us who do not live in Chicago and, would have no other reason to endure a plane trip to visit, could still see her work. The few I saw on the blog spot were evocative and wonderful. I wonder how many other wonderful undiscovered photographers are out there. Street photographers like Vivian really capture the odd, forgotten corners of their era.

[ToolMangler1]

I agree 100!

[tsigili]

There's not a lot of money in photography, and few in the industry who actually make a good living at it. So, it is easy for a talented person to go completely unnoticed in that field.

Comparing film images to today's digital imagery is also a world apart.

[TJphoto]

Having worked in photography most of my life, I can tell you that most pros specialize in one field only. It may be advertising / weddings / portraits / or in Vivian Maier's case, street photography. In my opinion a major photographic discovery has been made that is on the level of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Here's a link for her work http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/ A Gifted Woman!

[mecanik-2009]

I went to that site and its as good as you say. She was a very gifted photographer. She captured life that we normally walk right by everyday and saw the beauty of it and captured it on film. I think we need to stop and see the beauty more as she saw it and sometimes even the pain she saw and captured. Her works deserve to be recognized.

[mswolfestock]

I was born in 1954 and I lived my childhood in a black and white world. I didn't have color TV until 1975 . . . .

These pictures gripped in some kind of emotion that I won't ever be able to describe, but I am left with a huge feeling of regret for not being able to meet this extraordinary woman. Great photos, every one of them.

[mswolfestock]

Oops . . . . "These pictures gripped ME in some kind . . . . ."

I need my second cup of coffee. :)

[mecanik-2009]

Now this is a human interest story I can appreciate. I would dearly love to see these photos in a gallery someday or on a TV show.

[maiingan]

Come to Chicago now! As the article said, some of the photos are in a "gallery" right now and admission is free; I went there the other day to see them.