Some of you may have heard about Mary Ellen Mark passing away on May 25th. Some of you may even know a little about her and her amazing work. But those of you who do not, here is a little snippet into her amazing career.
Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer, she did all kinds of photography from photojournalism, portraiture to advertising photography. She's been in museums worldwide and has 17 published books of her photography, not to mention the many awards she received throughout her career. She was known for being the "a snake charmer of the soul" as she was able to capture people so intimately.
A little about her life: Her first camera was a Box Brownie which she received when she was 9 years old. But all throughout high school and college she focused on painting and art history. And in 1964 she received her Masters Degree in photojournalism. Right after college she received a Fulbright Scholarship to photography in Turkey, where she also traveled around to England, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain to photograph. In the mid 1960s she moved to New York City to document the demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War, the Women's Liberation Movement, Transvestite culture following themes of homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction, and prostitution. Only a few years later, she was a unit photographer on movie sets for movies from Mike Nichols'
Catch-22, and Francis Ford Coppola's
Apocalypse Now and over 100 other movies.
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| Mary Ellen Mark, Laurie on Pike Street Seattle, 1983, Gelatin Silver Print |
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| Mary Ellen Mark, 1983, Life Magazine: Streets of the Lost, Runaway kids eke out a mean life in Seattle, Gelatin Silver Print | |
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| Mary Ellen Mark, The cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Oregon State Hospital, 1974, Gelatin Silver Print 20x24 inches |
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| Mary Ellen Mark, Woody Allen on his balcony, Manhattan, NY, 1979, Gelatin Silver Print |
