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Your Chicago: Vivian Maier Photography Exhibit

(CBS) -- If you're looking for your family to do on the Christmas break, you might want to head over to the Chicago History Museum.

It's there you'll see a one-of-a-kind photography exhibit.

CBS 2's Kate Sullivan reports on the fascinating work of street photographer Vivian Maier.

She moved to Chicago in 1955 and worked as a nanny by day, all the while pursuing her passion for pictures. She took 200,000 of them throughout the years.

Richard Cahan helped to curate the exhibit.

"I've been a picture editor all my life, I've worked with professional photographers for the last 30 years; I've never seen anyone like that," he says.

Maier had a brilliant eye for capturing everyday people in everyday places in settings that ranged from the Loop to Skid Row. Walking through the exhibit is like walking with Vivian down a 1960-era street.

"I think Vivian was the first Instagrammer. She took her camera everywhere she went, and she wasn't afraid to click the shutter," Cahan says.

None of the photos in the exhibit were cropped. They are snapshots of scenes just as she saw them.

Never married, with no children and no known family, Maier's pictures pull together Chicago history in a most unique way.

Cahan has written a book called "Vivian Mmaier: Out of the Shadows." Maier died in 2009 at age 83. For more information on the exhibit, click here.

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