Vivian Maier - A Life Uncovered

Last week I went to a lecture at the National Portrait Gallery. It was part of a bigger exhibition, about Street Photography. It was incredibly interesting and I thought I would share what I learned with you.

This is Vivian Maier. Born in 1926, Vivian was of French-Hungarian heritage. She was employed as a nanny for many years but was rather reclusive and didn't have any family or friends. All through Vivian's adult life she took photos. Photos that captured American life from the 40's to the 90's. She also travelled extensively and always took her camera, recording what she saw.Vivian didn't share her photography with anyone. She died alone and penniless in 2007 and her boxes and boxes of (some undeveloped) work was put up for auction in a Chicago auction house. On that day a young historian, John Maloof, put in a bid for a box of photographs by an unknown photographer and left the auction house. He later found out he won the bid and after leaving the box in a closet for several months he decided to take a look at what he had bought...

Maloof discovered that there were more boxes out there that had been sold at auction and set about tracking them all down. He now has all but one of the boxes which amounts to hundreds of thousands of shots. Only about 10% of which have been developed so far. It's sad that Vivian had to die before we got to see the beautiful work she created. However, John Maloof is compiling a book about Vivian's life and work, which will be out in November and a film will follow next year. I find Vivian's work fascinating and I hope she knows how much joy her photography has brought to so many people.

Hugs,

B x

All images are from http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Barn update

I have a sore throat. One of those itchy, scratchy, irritating sore throats. It's very aggravating. On the brightside, it does mean that at 3 o'clock in the morning I am up and sitting at my computer and there couldn't be a better time for me to give you a little update on my barn project.

When we first moved in to Pear Tree Cottage one of the things I was most taken with, was the lovely barn/out building that came with it...


(Excuse the photo quality, they were taken with my phone and are now the only photos of the barn as it was.)

                         This fabulous stove is in full working order and staying in the reno'd barn

                                      It really was just a dumping ground after we moved in.

                                                 very 'rustic', but not very stable....

                                             The barn in relation to the house

           I'm hoping to keep one of the old windows and turn it into a mirror...I'll let you know how that goes!

                                The vegetation was really making itself at home!

                  Who needs velux windows when you already have natural  light streaming through your rafters!

Well, clearly you can see there's much to be done. My aim was to restore rather than get rid of all of the barn's charm. However, as any of you who have taken on a project like this will know, it's a bit like dominoes and once you touch one thing, it tends to have a knock-on effect elsewhere. I hope I have done the barn justice. You can let me know, I will be posting new pictures very soon.

Now, one more mug of hot lemon and honey and I'm off to try and get some sleep.

Night, night.

B x

Simple pleasures...

My favourite arrangement...

Pure beauty.

Enjoy your weekend!
B x



p.s I' ve been without a computer for 2 weeks...grrrr...but just wanted to thank you guys for your lovely words of encouragement  re my last post- it means so very much. Also, big things happening with the 'barn' ! Will update (with pictures) next week. x

Sorting it out...

Recently, I bought these beautiful suitcases at a local flea market, which were filled with lots of gorgeous loveliness.

While I sit here, sorting through my new pretties, I find myself having a

bit of a tussle with my conscience.

It’s nothing new really.

The same tussle I have every year...every month, sometimes even on a daily basis.

The usual one that goes something like this...

”What am I doing here? The kids are getting bigger. They’re at school all day, they need me less and less. I could be out. Meeting people. Earning my own some extra money. Doing MY THING.” Except, I’m not sure what ‘my thing’ is.

10 years ago I was carving a career in the media world. I worked in television.

It was fun. Exciting. I met my Mr Right there.

I felt like I was at the centre of the universe in that office. As though our decisions meant everything.

Now I realise that as fun it was, it really isn’t the be-all and end-all. And I’ve moved on.

Being there for my kids is the most important thing to me. But I also need to feel fulfilled. My business dreams seem to have stalled- I’ve lost direction...

But as I sit here and try to decide what to do with my future and while I sort my lace into pretty piles I think...”filing was never this fun at the office!”

Oh my...!

It's that time again...the new edition of Lonny e-magazine just hit my inbox and I am loving every bright, delicious, summery page of it!

Pop over to fully enjoy!

Hugs,     B x

Hello Sunshine!

Oh my goodness. Where does the time go? Spring has well and truly sprung here in (currently) sunny England and I have spent it doing many things and that clearly has not included blogging...for that I apologise.

Forgive me? I hope so.

We have had some fab weather of late and with the children on a 4 week school holiday, we have been making the most of it. Going for walks and picnics in the country with the kiddies- and the dog, barbies in the garden and generally soaking up the rays - after all, we never know how long it's going to last here!

I hope the sun is shining where you are!

Hugs, B x

Congratulations William and Kate!

Wishing the lovely couple much happiness for the future. x