Bill Cunningham, who is over 80 years old, has been shooting street style for The New York Times since the Sartorialist was just a whippersnapper. But while he’s wildly influential Cunningham lives a notably unglamorous life, sleeping in a tiny studio filled with file cabinets. In 2010, filmmaker Richard Press and Philip Gefter of The Times produced a documentary about Cunningham, his bicycle, and his camera, entitled Bill Cunningham New York. The film’s American theatrical release is scheduled for March 16, 2011.

“Cunningham photographs people and the passing scene in the streets of Manhattan every day. Most of his pictures, he has said, are never published. Designer Oscar de la Renta has said, “More than anyone else in the city, he has the whole visual history of the last 40 or 50 years of New York. It’s the total scope of fashion in the life of New York.” Though he has made a career out of unexpected photographs of celebrities, socialites, and fashion personalities, many in those categories value his company. According to David Rockefeller, Brooke Astor asked he be invited to her 100th birthday party, the only member of the media so honored.^{“via Wikipedia}