In recent years street photography has exploded, blogs such as The Sartorialist, Garance Dore and Face Hunter have made this form of photography very popular and have become well known photographers in the process. Now it has come to light that one of the pioneer street photographers in America was actually a children's nanny and housekeeper, living and working in Chicago during the 50s.

Recently an unexpected discovery was made of over 100,000 pictures and negatives belonging to Vivian Maier. After spending years collecting dust in a locked storage locker, the work of this unlikely artist has finally been uncovered. Maier spent her free time wandering the streets of Chicago with a Rolleflex camera strapped to her neck taking beautiful black and white pictures of a different side American life during the 1950's.

John Maloof, a real estate agent, had hoped to find a picture of the city for a book he was writing and bought a locked storage locker at an auction in Chicago. Upon opening the box he discovered the life's work of what might become one of the most celebrated photographers of the previous century, however Vivian Maier, who died aged 83 in 2009, most likely did not make a cent from her photographs. A New York gallery has now opened the first major exhibition of Maier's work and a book of her photos has been published giving the artist the fame she never had in life.

Mr Maloof has been able to paint a picture of her life from her photographs. 'It's almost Mary Poppins in a way.' he says. Phil Donahue, who hired Maier as a nanny in the 1970s to look after his four sons, agrees with Mr Maloof's Mary Poppins comparison. 'There is everything but the umbrella, I saw her once taking the picture of the inside of a trash can and I thought, 'Well, they laughed at Jackson Pollock.' How do I know?'

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