I'm always moved when I see a new photograph by Vivian Maier. She was a nanny who did street photography in her spare time -- often only one day a week -- whose work was only found after she died. She herself did not see many of her own images, as there are hundreds of rolls of her film that are unprocessed.
She was, arguably, the best street shooter -- ever. To me, she is better than Cartier-Bresson, or any other famous photographer you'd care to mention. Her photographs have such soul. I've never seen anything like them. The best exponents of the form do have photos that are similar to Maier's, but only a few or, sometimes, only one. Maier produced thousands on this level. Perhaps, tens of thousands.
Maier could well turn out to be the most important photographer of the twentieth century.
There's already been at least one documentary about her work, 'Finding Vivian Maier', and there's sure to be more.
It's estimated we have 100,000 images by Maier yet to go through. You can see a gallery of some of her work here.
Here's an update on the ongoing effort to catalogue Maier's photography.
