Mary Ellen Mark is also one of America's preeminent living photographers, whose black and white photographs depicting social issues such as homelessness, prostitution and drug addiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards. She began her career as a unit photographer on movie sets, and has since published 17 books of photographs, ...
I was thinking about how fleeting and precious life is. Life is also arbitrary. For example, the choices that you make, the luck of being born into the right bed, to parents who support and help you and who love you. That doesn't always happen - and then, what happens when it doesn't?
2
I realized all of the possibilities that could exist for me with my camera: all of the images that I could capture, all of the lives I could enter, all of the people I could meet and how much I could learn from them.
3
The obsessions we have are pretty much the same our whole lives. Mine are people, the human condition, life.
4
I don't relax. I can't take vacations. I'm obsessive-compulsive, and I worry with every project that I'm going to fail. When it starts to go well, and I sense that something beautiful and important and meaningful is being created, it's a fantastic feeling, and I find it very hard to stop.
5
When you're working on a film, it's almost like photographing paintings at a museum. You're photographing somebody else's world. I just try and interpret it and make it real, and make it what the actors are about, what the director is about, and what the film is about.
6
I'm not much for cats. I'm terrified of mice. I've worked a lot with elephants, and they are extremely intelligent and sensitive, and thankfully, they seem to like me. You never want to get on the bad side of an elephant. And never trust a chimp.
7
Reality is always extraordinary.
8
I always think, 'What does this picture mean? What's the best place to put my camera? Do I have anything extra in the picture, things in the background that will distract? Am I in the basic position that will give the essential things for this picture but not too much?'
9
It's not when you press the shutter, but why you press the shutter.
10
Finding the right subject is the hardest part
11
I think photography is closest to writing, not painting. It's closest to writing because you are using this machine to convey an idea. The image shouldn't need a caption; it should already convey an idea.
12
You have to be a fast runner, and that's not part of my nature. (Why she never became a war photographer.)
13
I'm kind of a purist that loves reality - and that's not the trend now. Now they want very commercial, very decorated illustrations. (Why she preferred shooting in BxW without digital enhancements.)
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New York City, New York [June 2010]
Camera Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Babelis
2006/I
specials photographer: Richard & Susan, Morocco
On Location in Tulsa: The Making of 'Rumble Fish'
2005
Video short still photographer: The Motorcycle Boy
Bee Season
2005
still photographer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2005
still photographer
Big Fish
2003
still photographer
American Heart
1992
still photographer
The Believers
1987
special still photographer
Quicksilver
1986
still photographer: main titles
Silkwood
1983
special photography
Ragtime
1981
special photographer
Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures
1978
TV Movie still photographer
Carnal Knowledge
1971
still photographer
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Twins
2004
Short co-producer
American Heart
1992
associate producer
Prom
2010
Short producer
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Prom
2010
Short
American Heart
1992
story
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Blood of the Rose
2009
Documentary archive
Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider
1994
Documentary archival photographs by
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Messenger
2009/I
special thanks
Chopped Off: The Man Who Lost His Penis
2006
TV Movie documentary thanks
Downtown Locals
2006
Documentary thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Finding Vivian Maier
2013
Documentary
Herself - Photographer
Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story
2013
Documentary
Herself
Everybody Street
2013
Documentary
Herself
Carrière, 250 metros
2011
Documentary
Herself
Texas Monthly Talks
2009
TV Series
Herself - Interviewee
Bettina S.
2006
TV Series
Herself
The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia
$8 Million
