Mary Ellen Mark : The World Observed

Kelsea and I recently had the opportunity to work with Mary Ellen Mark when she came to CPW. Mary Ellen is one of the most internationally well-known women in documentary photography. She has covered a variety of areas everywhere from the circus to behind the cinematic scenes, the relationships between twins to prostitutes in India. All of these projects bring to light the humanistic aspect of subcultures. She has an exceptional range of publications, honors and experience in the field.

The first day of the workshop consisted of portfolio reviews for everyone in the class. Having 15 students, the class was full, and we had lots to look at. With this time, Mary Ellen was able to get a feel of what each person does and give advice on what they should try to push their work farther.

(my fellow intern, Kelsea, getting her work critiqued)

After reviews were over, we took some time to ask Mary Ellen questions about her work and her life. She then showed us a film about the circus she photographed in India.

The next day we were scheduled to go to the Ulster County Fair. Without fail, that was the day predicted for bad weather. With a few sprinkles in the morning, we decided to chance it and go anyways. Of course, it rained the entire time we were there and didn’t stop until we were walking back to the parking lot. This definitely made for challenges, but the students took it all in stride. There were plenty of places to shoot under a covered tent or indoors.


Kelsea and I had some time to wander around and take some photos of our own…

hey, thats me!
(photo by Kelsea Ellingson)

One of the interesting things of how Mary Ellen structures her workshops is that she asks the students to mail her in a contact sheet of what they shot at the fair. She then writes on the sheets and sends back her comments. I really admire this method of following through with the students.