I GREW UP looking at photographs. I would come home from school, play with my dog, Mickey, and go through old scrapbooks with pictures of family, on vacation, at weddings, and just snapshots in general. I was fascinated by that sense of time stopping and a moment being preserved forever. I was also mesmerized by how people changed over time with age and how the dress and customs of another era were so different.
When I was about 9 years old, I received a Brownie camera. I took pictures of my friends at school clowning around and also pictures of my friends at summer camp. I couldn't wait until the week went by and I could pick up my photographs at the drugstore. Many years later, some of these pictures appeared in the Mike Nichols film Carnal Knowledge as props for a slide show that Jack Nicholson's character presented.
I actually did not consider becoming a "real" photographer until much later. As an undergraduate, I studied painting and art history at the University of Pennsylvania and considered becoming an architect. For years I was really lost and didn't know which direction to go. I still have dreams about it today: finishing college and not knowing how I'm going to support myself or what I'm going to do or where I'm going to live. All of this changed for me in 1963, when I received a scholarship to the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, which, at that time, offered a major in photography. From the moment I picked up a camera for my first school assignment, there was no turning back. I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be for the rest of my life.
I remember the first time I went out on the street alone with one of the cameras that the school loaned to me. It was a small rangefinder camera called a Retina. I found some people on a busy street and started taking pictures. I loved the contact with people that the camera gave me. I was immediately challenged by the idea of expressing my feelings through my photographs. I walked all over Philadelphia, day after day, continually taking pictures.
My interest as a photographer has always been to photograph people. I dreamed about all the places I would travel to and all the people I would meet in their varied social situations. I wanted to tell their stories with my photographs. One of the first stories I did was about a convent for disabled nuns. The convent was a very beautiful, quiet, and spiritual place. I remember it was wintertime and the nuns had a snowball fight, crutches and all. I guess I was always interested in the underdog. I wanted to be a voice for the overlooked and show the reality of their sometimes difficult situations.
In 1965 I received a Fulbright scholarship to photograph in Turkey. After the Fulbright, I moved to New York City and began to work as a freelance photographer. I worked for Look, Life, the Evergreen Review, and a Catholic magazine called Jubilee. My inspirations were great photographers like Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész, Lisette Model, Helen Levitt, and Irving Penn.
The state of photography, especially magazine photography, was so different then—it was very exciting. Documentary photography was respected and given a real place. Magazines looked for interesting and meaningful stories about real people around the world. The cult of celebrity had not yet been invented. The pictures themselves were not retouched. Today it's very hard to know what to believe. Cut-and-paste rules, inches are taken off bodies, heads are moved around, and the computer acts as a new and improved vanishing cream. Now the primary interest seems to be surface; content and reality are seldom seen. This new field of photography, "photo illustration," has replaced documentary photography in magazines.
Most of the photographs in this book came out of editorial assignments and grants. At certain moments, it is painful to look at many of these pictures because it reminds me of a time when this kind of work was supported and published. It makes me worry that I will never have the opportunity again to pursue what I love most—taking photographs of subjects I feel passionate about. But even though magazine photography has changed, I don't regret making the choices I have made. I followed my dreams and passions, embraced reality, and made some images that I hope will last forever.
When you're editing, it's extremely difficult to separate what is a really great photograph from a strong memory. I believe that great photographs stand on their own and do not need any explanation. Sometimes you can fall in love with an image because of the memory it evokes. I had the help of excellent editors when going through the thousands of pictures I have taken over the past forty years. In the end, I had to be very tough on myself and pick only the strongest images. The 134 photographs in this book represent what I feel is my best work.
People often ask me what makes a great image. That's an almost impossible question to answer. Sometimes the obvious can make a great image. Sometimes a photograph works because of its subtlety or what is excluded from the frame. For me, a great image involves a combination of strong content and excellent design.
Another question I am often asked is "How did you get this photograph?" The story behind a picture can be very revealing. I decided to go through these photographs and pick several of the images that had the most compelling backstories as a way of explaining both my experiences and how some of my favorite photographs were made.
In many ways, it was really difficult looking back and remembering all the amazing experiences involved with taking these pictures. It was even more difficult than I could have imagined. I have led such an incredibly rich life as a photographer. At times I have taken it for granted. I was sure the continuous support for documentary work would last forever, but it didn't. I could never have imagined the changes I have seen in this industry. On the other hand, I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to make these photographs and that they exist.
I am also lucky that I was able to find sponsorship for personal projects that were not necessarily news oriented and certainly not commercial. I received some of the support from grants, but most of this work came out of collaboration with excellent photography editors and art directors at magazines and great book editors and publishers. More recently, I have had to finance some of the projects myself. I have paid for this by doing more commercial work; I don't mind doing this. Sometimes it's very challenging, and I've learned a lot technically. The important thing is that I can continue to produce my own work.
The best advice I can give to young documentary photographers who are starting their careers is to never lose sight of their goals and to follow their hearts.
--MARY ELLEN MARK
Click on any image below to read Mary Ellen's stories about them.
Federico Fellini on the Set of Satyricon, Rome, Italy, 1969
Pinky and Shiva Ji, Great Royal Circus, Junagadh, India, 1992
Diamond Settles, Halloween, South Bronx H.E.L.P. Shelter, New York, USA,1993
A Disney Visit to Parmatown Mall, Parma, Ohio, USA, 1997
Tiny in Her Halloween Costume, Seattle, Washington, USA, 1983
Tiny in the Bathroom with Ray Shon and Tyrese, Seattle, Washington, USA, 2003
Girl Sifting through Ashes at the Burning Ghats, Benares, India, 1989
Dog Trainer, Old Delhi, India, 1979
Craig Scarmardo and Cheyloh Mather at the Boerne Rodeo, Texas, USA, 1991
Cynthia Galves, Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1996
Teresa Merriweather, Bruce and Brian Kuzak, Tillie Merriweather, Twinsburg, Ohio, USA, 2001
Clayton Moore, the Former Lone Ranger, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1992
Vera Antinoro, Rhoda Camporato, and Murray Goldman, Luigi's Italian American Club, Miami, Florida, USA, 1993
Harry Hessell at Home, South Beach, Florida, USA, 1979
Shadow on a Wall, Shanti Nagar Leprosy Hospital, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, Bengal, India, 1981
Mother Teresa Feeding a Man at the Home for the Dying, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta, India, 1980
Margaret Joyce's First Communion, Travelers Encampment, Finglas, Ireland, 1991
Kamla behind Curtains with a Customer, Falkland Road, Bombay, India, 1978
Christopher with His Kitten, Sandgap, Kentucky, USA, 1990
Husband and Wife, Harlan County, Kentucky, USA, 1971
Gloria and Raja the Chimp, Gemini Circus, Perintalmanna, India, 1989
The Damm Family in Their Car, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1987
Crissy, Dean, and Linda Damm, Llano, California, USA, 1994
Beautiful Emine Posing, Trabzon, Turkey, 1965
Pro-Vietnam War Demonstrator, Manhattan, New York, USA, 1968
Runaway Boy in a Bombay Café, Bombay, India, 1971
Anna Mae the Elephant with Her Performing Partner, Margo Porter, UniverSoul Circus, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2003
Laurie in the Bathtub, Ward 81, Oregon State Hospital, Salem, Oregon, USA, 1976
Jeanette in Labor, Cumberland Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 1978
Ahaza Desta Giving Birth, Korem, Ethiopia, 1985
Amanda and Her Cousin Amy, Valdese, North Carolina, USA, 1990
Santa Claus Having Lunch, Manhattan, New York, USA, 1963
Transvestite in Her Hotel Room, Manhattan, New York, USA, 1968
Rat and Mike with a Gun, Seattle, Washington, USA, 1983
Arjun with His Chimpanzee Mira, Great Royal Circus, Gujarat, India, 1989