Imagine an eccentric young nanny in Chicago – a real-life Mary Poppins. Free-spirited, loved by her kids.

That’s magic in itself. But now imagine 100,000 photographs sitting in boxes undiscovered. All taken by Vivian Maier.

This is the story of a young businessman who bought a box full of old photographs for $400. As he began sorting through the images, he decided to post some of them on the Internet to try to glean more information.

And the Internet promptly told him that these were no Kodak snapshots. A deluge of requests and inquiries flooded his email, asking for book deals, art exhibits and more. This stuff is damn good. Almost Cartier-Bresson good, in fact – just incredible street photography. There remains entire boxes of undeveloped film, too. All from a woman who lived into her 80s as a private and solitary unknown.

Chicago Magazine: A Life in Shadow

—-

The last roll of Kodachrome was processed yesterday. And in Parsons, Kan. of all places! I wish I had some of my own to scan for you, but instead you’ll have to rely on this last roll by National Geographic’s Steve McCurry.

—-

Remember the “We Can Do It!” war poster? A woman flexing her biceps in a factory? The actual woman the poster was based on has died at the age of 86. And she didn’t even know about the iconic poster until 1982.

—-

And finally, for those trying to use iPads as serious photo editing devices, there’s an app update that you need to get: Photogene 2.0. I would, but I’m selling mine. I’m the proud papa of an 11” Macbook Air.