Known for Camera
MARY ELLEN MARK achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. She published photo-essays and portraits in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. For over five decades, she traveled extensively to make pictures that reflect a high degree of humanism. She is recognized as one of our most respected and influential photographers. Her images of our world's diverse cultures have become landmarks in the field of documentary photography. Her portrayals of Mother Teresa, Indian circuses, and brothels in Bombay were the product of many years of work in India. A photo essay on runaway children in Seattle became the basis of the academy award nominated film STREETWISE, directed and photographed by her husband, Martin Bell.
Born
March 20, 1940
Died
May 25, 2015 (age 75)
Filmography
18 films


Prom
2010 · 33m
Prom is an American tradition—a rite of passage and one of the most important rituals of American youth; a day that is never forgotten—a day full of hopes and dreams for the future. For four years, from 2006-2009, filmmaker Martin Bell and photographer Mary Ellen Mark travelled around the country and documented proms. They went to twelve high schools in 10 cities, covering a wide range of ethnic and economic groups. While Mary Ellen Mark made portraits of the Prom-goers with the 20x24 Polaroid camera, Martin Bell interviewed the students in an adjacent studio. When the project finally came to a close, Bell had interviewed over three hundred students.