The incomparable Vivian Maier

Anyone yet to come across Vivian Maier’s street photography is in for a treat. She began photographing in the 1950s, mostly in New York and Chicago. Her photos combine aesthetics with humour and pathos. In her lifetime Vivian was unknown as a photographer. It was only when a cache of thousands of negatives and hundreds of prints turned up at an auction house that her work was discovered as a treasure trove of images. This is one of her hats worn when she was out photographing on the mean streets. It travelled 3,000+ miles to Brixton’s Photofusion gallery which held an exhibition of her work. A woman with a hat on is regarded, I like to think, in a kindly way. I, too, often wear one when snapping our mean streets.  www.vivianmaier.com/