I was very fortunate to spend a week as MEM's teaching assistant at the Maine Photographic (now Media) Workshops in Maine in the summer of 1993. I got to spend quite a bit of time with her that week, some of it one on one, and it is an experience I will never forget. Amazing photographer AND human being!
@@aboutphotography many things of course, but I'll give you a couple. One, be courageous! Have a vision and do what it takes to bring your vision to life. MEM was quite fearless and took no shit. Two: editing. MEM really stressed the importance of editing. You can take great photos but if you can't identify the most successful images from a group it can hinder you. Take time editing your images; great images are not always the obvious ones. - Thanks for your video....great job!
Mary Ellen Mark is my favourite woman photographer. Her drive, commitment to long form storytelling and ability to access places and locations inaccessible to most, puts her at the top of the tree. No other woman and probably no other male photographer since, has come close to Mary Ellen’s incredible photographic legacy.
That is what you get when someone commits for 100% to something. You might be wondering how is it possible to achieve such a mastery by a single person when you realize it was the only thing they dedicated their live to. Those people are really hard to beat in what they do. The flip side is that it is often the only thing they do. But hey, if they are happy about it, who am I to say what’s right and wrong.
Everyone who is visiting Berlin. The exhibition of MEM is still open to visit in the C/O Berlin. All items are originals. Including all her letters and especially her diaries.
Thank you so much 😀 Yeah, especially if you still trying to figure out the most optimized way to create and film everything. Thank you for your compliment! More is yet to come 🙂 see you around
What a wonderful summary of Mary Ellen Mark's life and work! Thank you for creating this! And I see you also have her giant 'Book of Everything,' one of my most treasured photo books 🙂
Yeah, really great job with this doco. It showed so much of the depth of thinking that went into her projects. Not just thinking though... commitment. Excellent work all round.
Thank you very much for watching! looking forward to see you around 🙂 feel free to check out the channel - you can for example check the latest video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sNxxeJw8kXs.html
Thank you! I am always happy when some appreciates the music as it is always kinda difficult and time consuming task to find something fitting and not be repetitive. happy you liked it 🙂🙏
Fantastic video as always… great homage to a great photographer… thank you… I have a request pls make about Raghu Rai … legendary Indian photographer if possible
Thank you very much for watching! that is a great suggestion and something I was actually thinking about as surprisingly a significant part of my audience comes from India. I was first thinking about Vineet Vohra but Raghu Rai is also very interesting. The important part is if the information about photographer’s life is accessible. I mean Things like biographies or films or something I can be sure to get true information. which is sometimes hard especially when the person is from different cultures. I do plan to create a video about an Indian photographer next year but I have not done any research so far to be honest. but great tip! thank you!
A great documentary, and presented very well. Mary Ellen's images are sometimes troubling, but always fascinating. One small grumpy comment - your moving hands are very distracting in your close up shots. Otherwise, I really enjoyed your presentation.
Many thanks! Appreciate your comment. I mean I try to vary between how I present different pictures and when using the book there is probably no way around it 🙂 Thank you for watching. see you around 🙂
A suggestion: instead of showing only each picture as a whole, which makes it appear very small on a phone screen, couldn't you also show one or two important detail views of each picture? This would make it easier for the viewer of the video to appreciate, for example, the facial expressions of the subjects of a photograph. Thanks!
Fascinating review. Although I had heard of her, I'd never found (made) the time to explore deeper. This video gives great insight into the talent and ground-breaking work she did. Thanks for posting.
Her drive and commitment to getting access was undeniable. She was certainly human, with a mix of good and not so good behaviors. I found her to be unpleasant times, being very pushy and uncool to other photographers on set. Great images, of course, but showing some kindness to her peers would have been nice. Just saying.
I mean you get cancelled for thing you say or did. Not for documentation of something happening. At least I don't have a feel something was intentionally done so people in the project look bad.
Mary Ellen Mark was a simple, great photographer. Mary Ellen an embarrassment to camera companies pushing digital. Even her links cut at Leica, who years Later re-introduced the Leica M6, a film camera An Analog area, on Leica-M masters of photography! her last book, probably superb. I will never see it! Unless the Reference Library has a copy, locked up! Price!
I mean, if she was still around when the film started trending again (also gear like you mentioned) I am pretty sure they would connect again. From the business perspective sadly she was no use for the companies that were trying to sell mainly digital cameras.
The only project I like from the ones shown here is the one on Turkey. The rest is just, I don’t know… whatever. Her work has always given me a very bad reaction over all. I might go as far as being allergic to her work.
This is an excellent vid but what is the purpose of aimlessly waving your left hand all the time? I see many people doing that lately and it's so annoying.
hmm I mean it kinda helps me talk. I don’t know it’s just something I feel comfortable with. also when reviewing the footage I found the static pose little boring. but hey I hope it’s not too much annoying 😀