Mary Ellen Mark at the Prom

[CGW]

Lovely big 20x24 Polaroids from a favorite and a nice back story:

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/young-lives-big-night/?ref=sunday

 

[canuhead]

A wonderful photographer but I'm not really seeing the point of her going super ULF with Polaroid for this project.

 

[artonpaper]

For reasons I can't explain I woke up this morning thinking about MEM. She is one of the greats IMHO. As for her choice of format, I think that may be more evident when one sees the prints in person. They have a presence. There are all sorts of reasons she may gone this route. I know she's used big Polaroids before for her book on twins. I'm sure the experience and challenges of using that camera make the whole process different. The fact that each image is one of a kind and the unique look of B&W Polaroids, well, all of this adds up to something special in my book.

 

[CGW]

Agree that big polaroid portraits do have an uncanny presence. Especially liked the inclusion of her prom photo, too.