A chance purchase at auction has unearthed a photographic national treasure.

Man Buys 10.000 Undeveloped Negatives At a Local Auction And Discovers One of the Most Important Street Photographers of the Mid 20th Century

Lucky guy to be in possession of some of the art work of Vivian Maier, the recently discovered artist photographer who turned the art world upside down with her talent. Unfortunately, Vivian has passed away in 2009 at the age of 83. The self taught photographer who was a nanny by profession, kept the work to her self and wasn't aware of her profound talent and amazing work. Great story and much respect to John Maloof who not only bought the negatives but also made it possible for the art world to know about Vivian's work.

Imagine this : perhaps the most important street photographer of the twentieth century was a nanny who kept everything to herself. Nobody had ever seen her work and she was a complete unknown until the time of her death. For decades Vivian’s work hid in the shadows until decades later (in 2007), historical hobbyist John Maloof bought a box full of never developed negatives at a local auction for $380.

John began to develop the negatives and it didn’t take long before he realised that these were no ordinary street snapshots from the 50’s and 60’s — these pictures were a lot more then that. Maier’s work is particularly evocative for those who grew up in the 50′s and 60′s because she seemed to stare deep into the soul of the time and preserve the everyday experience of the people. She ventured outside the comfortable homes and picturesque residential neighborhoods of her employers to document all segments of life in and around the big city.

upshout.com...

Here's a couple of articles which may be of interest:

Vivian Maier: lost art of an urban photographer

She's been called 'the greatest photographer you've never heard of'... the mysterious Vivian Maier, a nanny based in Chicago who took about 150,000 photographs in her lifetime and stashed them away, not showing them to anyone.

She left thousands not even developed, and most as negatives from which she never made prints.

It was sheer accident that her life's work was discovered.

A recent documentary well worth a watch:

Finding Vivian Maier

This critically acclaimed documentary, directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, tells the story of Vivian Maier, an American nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers for decades. Her massive body of work only came to light in 2007 when her pictures were discovered at a local auction house in Chicago.

She is now considered one of the 20th century's greatest photographers and her strange and riveting life and art are revealed here through never before seen photographs, films and interviews with those who knew her.

I have a passion for photography an her work is just amazing. Only few people are able to capture details of this kind. And black and white is awesome. Now days the art of photography has lost its meaning with all those editing options and altering software. The real art is in black and white pictures and with no editing.

a reply to: Telos

I don't really blame the technology, I blame the people. Everyone is in a rush to make a picture say what they want it to mean, so, a little edit here, a crop there and presto!, instant meaning. I like it when the photographer waits for Just. the. right. moment. when everything flows together and you get a scene that can never be re created.

Sadly, there was an ATS thread nearly two years ago about this, and it got ZERO replies.

Link to thread.
I gave it a flag.... never saw when it was a new thread.

Pretty amazing.

a reply to: Telos

Stunning photography. She captured in photographs things that words could never fully express.

$350 for priceless moments.

a reply to: grey580

That one caught my eye too. I am a fan for the black and white portrait. You seem to be able to tell (or think) so much about a person just by the lines, and other features of their faces.

originally posted by: butcherguy
Sadly, there was an ATS thread nearly two years ago about this, and it got ZERO replies.

Link to thread.
I gave it a flag.... never saw when it was a new thread.

I think it got no reply maybe because of the lack of information on the OP. I mean no one's attention gets picked by an youtube link. The thread would have received way more attention if they were some comments and info.

originally posted by: Telos
I have a passion for photography an her work is just amazing. Only few people are able to capture details of this kind. And black and white is awesome. Now days the art of photography has lost its meaning with all those editing options and altering software. The real art is in black and white pictures and with no editing.

I was going to post about Vivian, and found your thread in a search. Few people who aren't photographers will appreciate what John uncovered, and gave back to the world. A true artist, in every sense of the word. The documentary wasn't the most flattering in places, but it introduced us to Vivian's eccentricities, as well as her genius.

Agreed on your comment. In the old days, we had to take the time to frame the shot, and get the settings right the first time. If we didn't, we didn't know until the negatives and prints came back. Thanks for posting this. I wish it had received more attention. S&F.
For anyone interested. Vivian Maier is a site John Maloof created to showcase some of Vivian's work...