One of my all-time favorite photographers is Irving Penn. I wish I could have watched him work.
Mary Ellen MarkI think the prom is very serious also. It's an American ritual, it's a rite of passage, and it's very much a part of this country.
Mary Ellen MarkWhen you're working on a film, it's almost like photographing paintings at a museum. You're photographing somebody else's world. I just try and interpret it and make it real, and make it what the actors are about, what the director is about, and what the film is about.
Mary Ellen MarkEveryone asks me how I get my subjects to open up to me. Thereโs no formula to it. Itโs just a matter of who you are and how you talk to people - of being yourself.
Mary Ellen MarkIโm trying to please myself; certainly thatโs a big criterion... though in a sense, I donโt take images just for myself. I take images that I think other people will want to see. I donโt take pictures to put in a box and hide them. I want as many people to see them as possible.
Mary Ellen Mark