Reaction In 2007, the collector Jon Maloof buys a box of old negatives for $380 at a Chicago auction house; he thinks they might come in handy for the historical book he is writing. The negatives were taken by the deceased photographer Vivian Maier. Maloof googles her when he is home and finds nothing. Little did he know that that box would lead him to expose one of America’s most reclusive artists.