Storytelling Master Class Through a Lens

Mary Ellen Mark might be one of the most influential photographers ever to have lived. Under her lens, the unseen and unheard stories of society were brought to light. Her storytelling has forever changed the course of street and documentary photography. This video is about capturing iconic images, the life of Mary Ellen Mark, and why serious photographers were captivated by her ability to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary, giving voice to the voiceless.
The books used in the video:
Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment: The Photography Workshop Series (I of the best book on portraits in my opinion) - amzn.to/3SIXwbo
Mary Ellen Mark: The Book of Everything - amzn.to/46t6RHs
Clips used in video by Alldayeveryday - Everybody Street: Mary Ellen Mark - bit.ly/3SWQRu2
Music: ref.audiio.com/erkbqf8k (You get 70% off your first year of Audiio Pro)
More photography content: aboutphotography.blog
00:00 - Who is Mary Ellen Mark?
01:09 - Early Life and Career
01:56 - Major Projects in the 1960s
04:13 - 1970s
09:21 - 1980s
14:36 - 1990s
15:29 - 2000s
18:05 - Final Thoughts

[@richardsimms251]

Great video. Terrific photography

[@dailyphilosophy]

I love the editing in all of your videos. Great work!

[@CrazyCloudZen]

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]

wow that is amazing! Anything particular you took from this encounter?

[@CrazyCloudZen]

@@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!

[@aboutphotography]

@@CrazyCloudZen Thank you, I see your point now 😊

[@davidmcc6666]

Mate, just a quick thank you for putting this video together. Excellent, mate.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you very much for watching! I am happy you enjoyed it! See you around 😊

[@tadeusz11000]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

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.

[@timfloydphoto]

Great bio of a remarkable photographer

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for watching 🙂 who is your favorite photographer?

[@MyAdoniran]

Nice work

[@benjaminparks8032]

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 🙂

[@aboutphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching! Enjoy the book 😊 See you around

[@TheDeSenaGroup]

What a well done video and great story of this photographer. Can’t wait to watch more on this channel.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! Glad you enjoyed it! Looking forward to see you around 🙂🙏

[@Bonobo3D]

Thank you for this very inspiring video, an excellent look at the photographic work of Mary Ellen Mark, one of my photographers.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for watching and your kind comment 🙏🙂

[@j.fontaine2491]

This is exceptional. I appreciate all the work that must have gone into making this. So well done.

[@aboutphotography]

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

[@EightTwoFourWeddingStudios]

Amazing video!! I would LOVE to see more videos like this

[@aboutphotography]

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 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qX_bqZiArJ2ejtU

[@wolfgangk1]

Thanks so very much. I was not familiar with her. Excellent job. Bravo.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for watching! I am happy you liked it. Looking forward to see you around 🙂🙏

[@jedt3d]

❤ thank you so much for telling us such a compelling story of her.

[@aboutphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching 😊🙏

[@JezLerman]

Great video. Thanks for posting it. Your work is appreciated by this viewer.

[@aboutphotography]

Much appreciated! Happy to see you around! 🙂

[@Brendan9674]

That’s was excellent. Thank you .

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you! 😄 Happy to see you around! :)

[@almostgreen9498]

What a masterful job you’ve done on this. Your backgrounds are so well chosen too

[@aboutphotography]

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 🙂🙏

[@theblackmanarmedwithacamera]

GREAT VIDEO AND PAYING HOMAGE TO ONE OF THE LEGENDS OF PHOTOGRAPHY!🙌🏾

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for watching! Yeah I think she ia important photographer. Do you have a favorite photographer? Looking forward to see you around 🙂

[@cuauharrietavisualcreative]

@@aboutphotography😊

[@peterbear2929]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching, see you around 😊

[@abchappell01]

That was an excellent video presentation. I truly enjoyed it. 😊

[@aboutphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching! see you around 🙂🙏

[@kennydrolet]

Long time no see thanks for this small documentary. You’ve done a excellent job

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you! I am happy to see you around! great you enjoyed it 🙂

[@tonypaulprince]

Very insightful. Thank you.

[@aboutphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching! Happy to see you around 🙂

[@user-dm1ke8ek6l]

This is beautiful! Thank you so much for your time and dedication . I so love your content!

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you so much! Appreciate you comment! See you around 😊🙏

[@hellinas77]

Υπέροχη παρουσίαση μιας τόσο ενδιαφέρουσα φωτογράφου. Ευχαριστώ 💖🇬🇷🍉

[@aboutphotography]

Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ που παρακολουθήσατε! Ανυπομονώ να σας ξαναδώ 🙂

[@sweetjane5033]

beautiful profile! Intimately pursued!!!

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you! Glad you liked it! See you around!

[@TheDavidGoldmanphoto]

Very well done. Thank you for your work.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you! happy you liked it! see you around 🙂

[@jaxonkm]

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

[@aboutphotography]

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!

[@MiladJP]

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.

[@sputumtube]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for taking your time to write your comment. I am happy you enjoyed it and found it useful. Thank you for sticking around 🙂🙏

[@krishnansrinivasan830]

Awesome & Thanks :)

[@aboutphotography]

Thank you for watching! See you around!

[@altrujillo3566]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

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 🙂

[@aperes1]

A couple people remarked about the hands. Funny…I never noticed them until I saw comments that made them very noticeable.

[@aboutphotography]

@@aperes1 😂😂😂🤦

[@user-pq3oq2nq2h]

really enjoyed that very well done I subbed the channel.......

[@aboutphotography]

Awesome, thank you! Happy you liked it. More is yet to come 🙂 see you around !

[@captainbackflash]

Your lava lamp need it's own show!

[@rajsingharora26]

Love from Bombay.

[@aboutphotography]

Happy to see how far can the content spread. How did you find this vid? Just curious 🙂

[@rajsingharora26]

I have been following your channel for quite some time from here in India.@@aboutphotography

[@aboutphotography]

@@rajsingharora26 that’s great! Thank you 🙏🙂

[@dailyphilosophy]

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!

[@jayc9184]

A woice to the woiceless.

[@aboutphotography]

🙂

[@recreationalplutonium]

lol never heard of her and will forget her when i close the tab. cya

[@aboutphotography]

so you have never seen any of her photos before?

[@recreationalplutonium]

whose fotos? @@aboutphotography

[@fruitlessbeast]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

Can't talk about that as I didn't meet her personally. I feel like she was a great photographer and was very aware of it.

[@DessieTots]

It’s such a pity Mary Ellen Mark wasn’t aware of Mother Theresa’s evil streak.

[@aboutphotography]

Yeah. But I mean what would she do about it?

[@Sophos1964]

What was Mother Theresa’s “evil streak”?

[@davehandelman2832]

I was going to post that as well but...

[@DRGBTL23]

If a man had taken those brothel photos, he would’ve been cancelled today.

[@aboutphotography]

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.

[@jasongold6751]

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!

[@aboutphotography]

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.

[@CRJines]

Mother teresa never lifted a single person out of poverty... Not one...

[@DRGBTL23]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

I love the circus one. Also Tiny is very powerful especially if you watched STREETWISE. I recommend renting it online. It is powerful.

[@ThiruNash]

Why street photographer's like to explain things like Super Rocket Science?

[@aboutphotography]

what do you mean?

[@justwideman]

Why can't you get someone who can speak English to read this script

[@aboutphotography]

😂😂 well you can always turn on the subtitles

[@justwideman]

@@aboutphotography I listen to KZbin at work, I don't have time to read as well.

[@aboutphotography]

@@justwideman well did you understand at least something? 😀

[@nocommentnoname1111]

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.

[@aboutphotography]

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 😀

[@nocommentnoname1111]

@@aboutphotography Thank you. Happy New Year!

[@aboutphotography]

@@nocommentnoname1111 Happy New year to you! See you around :)