RIP: Mary Ellen Mark
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Sad news. I love her work for decades. She did some great work documenting Calcutta.
A You Tube link to one of her more recent lectures embedded in this article about her recent death: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...hia-photographer-Mary-Ellen-Mark-dies-75.html
OMG.. very sad news. She was talented at both photography and social commentary. She will be missed but always remembered.
SuzanneR
Moderator
Moved the thread to Photographers, I don't think she was a member on APUG.
Here's her website, very sad news, indeed. One of the greats.
http://www.maryellenmark.com/
Here's her website, very sad news, indeed. One of the greats.
http://www.maryellenmark.com/
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SuzanneR
Moderator
I think the website address was the first post here!
Indeed!
How about an image google search of her work, then?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Mar...xsATYwoCgCw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=2042&bih=1212
I've always loved the man with the elephant trunk! Very sad news, she was an extraordinary photographer.
Sad news! A humanist with a camera - fine art with a purpose.
Sad news indeed. In 2012 the Philadelphia Museum of Art had a nice exhibit of her work featuring high school kids attending proms. Quite a few were taken using a 20 x 24 inch Polaroid; she was apparently one of very few who had such a monster.
(Maybe also sobering news because she was about 15 months older than Yers Trooly!)
(Maybe also sobering news because she was about 15 months older than Yers Trooly!)
Yes an inspiration to many. A brave and humane women.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
Actually I don't think any individual owns the 20x24 Polaroid cameras. They're such big beasts and so expensive to feed, for years they were owned and operated by Polaroid themselves in dedicated studios. Since the demise of Polaroid, there have actually been a few more of the cameras made, but you still rent them by the hour. I'd have to ask Tracy Storer (he built a couple of them in the last 2-3 years) if they went to private individuals or to rental studios.
Interesting -- my original comment was extrapolated from what I thought I knew, sorry! Anyway, she was entangled with them in some fashion. The exhibit I saw really captured some of the excitement of kids getting dressed to the nines and going out for a big night.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
She probably had a sponsor for the project - even if she owns the camera (which would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-$30K), the prints run around $50 an exposure. Not to mention the amount of light you need! Even full-length portraits are going to require some bellows extension exposure compensation, probably 1 stop, and to get enough depth-of-field to keep your subjects sharp, you're already down around f/32. So you're talking about needing to hit f/45 on the exposure meter with lights at least 6-10 feet from the subject, and the ISO is around 100 IIRC. That's some serious power.
OP
OP
Her price for 20x24 portrait sittings started at $20,000.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
Figure 1/3 to 1/2 of that price was the studio and camera rental. Even if she supplied her own assistants, she'd still have to pay them, and operating the Polaroid 20x24 is NOT a 1-person job.
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There are 20x24 cameras in private hands. All of them are now, since polaroid is defunct. Elsa Dorfman in Boston (?) I think has one, also the 20x24 studio that is a partner with the new55 crowd. Some places still do rentals, I think it's on the order of $400-600/shot. A dedicated tech to run the camera comes at that price, they handle all the mechanics of it, from what I have read.
TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
Another obit, from today's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/a...documented-difficult-subjects-dies-at-75.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/a...documented-difficult-subjects-dies-at-75.html
Not to be a indelicate but I don't believe she's resting.
I think she actually died.
I think she actually died.
OP
OP
I think 'resting" infers taking the big dirt nap.
I'm often tempted to challenge the norms of our existence and sometimes give in to the temptation.
A remarkable photographer has died.
Very sad news. I have always greatly admired her work. RIP Mary Ellen.
Yes well sad, another street person, gone to happy hunting ground.
A truly remarkable and original photographer. One of the very first whose work I fell in love with.
The death of Mary Ellen Mark means a big lose to photography, especially to analog photography, she used analog cameras to the end of her work and live. She hated the use of photoshop in any form of photojournalism or documentary.
I have the honor of had been her pupil and friend. I'm certain that it will be hard to find someone so committed to photography, now and in the future.
Truly, rest in peace Mary Ellen Mark.
Attached I post the last portrait I made of her, in 2011
I have the honor of had been her pupil and friend. I'm certain that it will be hard to find someone so committed to photography, now and in the future.
Truly, rest in peace Mary Ellen Mark.
Attached I post the last portrait I made of her, in 2011
Tribute from A.D.Coleman - http://www.nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/photocritic/2015/05/27/mary-ellen-mark-1940-2015-a-farewell/
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