Out + About : Vivian Maier Exhibition

I heard about Vivian Maier and–at the risk of being totally dramatic–I fell in love. You can find out more of her story here, but the Cliff Notes version is this: a guy stumbles into a pile of photograph negatives and discovers a treasure of work by an unknown artist…thousands of hours, scans, and prints later, Vivian Maier was being heralded as a remarkable–yet hidden–street photographer.

I was so moved by this story and I wanted to be a part of it, wanted to give a voice to Vivian. I donated money to her Kickstarter project and I've been following her story via the web.

On Christmas morning, JD handed me a gift wrapped in gold bow. I unwrapped The Vivian Maier book. And then I cried.

Every so often I open the book and stare at black and white images that move me, that make me feel something, so you could just imagine my excitement when JD and I made our way to the Merry Karnowsky Gallery for the Vivan Maier – A Life Discovered exhibit. As we made our way through Los Angeles, I looked out the window and felt lucky. Lucky to do what I love and, much like Vivian herself, see the world from behind the shadow of a camera.

En route to the gallery, JD stopped me from photographing him…he prefers to be behind the lens. I definitely prefer to be behind the lens as well, but when we stumbled on this mid century modern sofa, I begged JD for it. I even resorted to the pleasepleasepleaseI'lldoanything mantra that worked well with my parents as a kid, but not so well with him…

I felt weird taking pictures of pictures, but I didn't want to forget a single thing. Not.one.thing. To see more of Vivian Maier's work, you can check out her website, but I'd definitely suggest checking out the book…it's breathtaking. Really.

Even though I didn't get the sofa, we did enjoy shopping on Melrose Avenue and I even made a picture to remember the memory of it all.

Happy Monday!