You may have heard the story of Vivian Maiers, the street photographer whose brilliance was discovered only after her death. It started when John Maloof bid for a box of her negatives at a Chicago auction and started to uncover some stunning images. She left 100,000 negatives behind, like this one:
Vanity Fair wrote that Maier’s work was a “starkly moving reminder of how powerfully we all experience our lives, largely in isolation.”
She was fascinated by the people who lived on the margins of city society, the homeless and the elderly, and she captured them on film, a secret obsession of a carer with a very private life who was without family or lovers.
In 2011, the Guardian ran an article on her, writing that “The people that remember Maier – the Chicago families for whom she worked as a nanny in the 1950s and 1960s – recall a reclusive, eccentric individual, one who spoke in a thick French accent and wore a heavy overcoat and hat even in the height of summer.”
Graham F Kerr, my favourite Camden photographer, started a tribute group on Flickr dedicated to photographs in the style of Vivian Maiers. He’s given me permission to share the following shots of his own that were inspired by her work, life and vision.
If you liked these, check out some of Graham’s other work I’ve featured on LLO. Add your own London photos to the Flickr pool for a chance to be featured.
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