Watch a fascinating BBC documentary on street photographer Vivian Maier on YouTube

 

 

We've written about the dueling documentaries on street photographer Vivian Meir and her lost images previously and now here's your chance to watch one of these movies via YouTube.

The BBC documentary, titled "Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures?," originally aired on BBC One's "imagine…" series last week and is embedded below. We're not sure if this is an "official" upload though, so it's unclear how long it will remain on YouTube. (You can also watch a better quality version of the documentary at the BBC's site but you have to download the BBC's "Media Hint" browser extension to view it if you live ouside the U.K.)

The documentary tracks the story of Maier, who worked as a nanny in Chicago for 40 years, beginning in the mid-1950s, during which time she shot over 100,000 street photos of the residents and cityscapes of the area. Most of Maier's images went undeveloped until Chicago historian John Maloof purchased a treasure trove of the negatives at a storage locker auction in 2007. Maier's work is now being hailed as some of the best street photography of the 20th Century, with comparisons to Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Weegee.

Another documentary, titled "Finding Vivian Maier," is still awaiting release.

(Via Reddit)