• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Photography Culture

In Remembrance: 10 Quotes by Photographer Mary Ellen Mark

Chris Gampat
No Comments
05/28/2015
2 Mins read

Last Updated on 05/28/2015 by Chris Gampat

tumblr_n8sy19qSuk1qg08uio1_1280
Image by Mary Ellen Mark

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark was born in Philadelphia in 1940 and recently passed leaving behind quite the legacy of images. Her work was incredibly important; and it is evident by the fact that Magnum Photos included her as member for a while until she left, but also quite clear by all the awards that she won during her career.

In the 1960s, she moved to New York City and began photographing protests, transvestite culture, and what Times Square was back then–a gritty and dirty place that was all about sex. Her work also went on to address things like homelessness and other major social issues. “Usually my ideas for work have revolved around my interest in people, especially people that live on the edges of society.” she said about her own work.

It’s easy to say that her work influenced many photographers who came afterwards and that she was an inspiration for many photography students aspiring to do documentary work. But besides images, she is known for her interesting quotes that sometimes were funny and other times showed the realities of life.

In remembrance of Mary Ellen Mark, we’ve rounded up a number of quotes to remember her for.

– I’m just interested in what makes a photograph.

– The difficulty with color is to go beyond the fact that it’s color – to have it be not just a colorful picture but really be a picture about something. It’s difficult. So often color gets caught up in color, and it becomes merely decorative. Some photographers use [ it ] brilliantly to make visual statements combining color and content; otherwise it is empty. 

– “I don’t think you’re ever an objective observer. By making a frame you’re being selective, then you edit the pictures you want published and you’re being selective again. You develop a point of view that you want to express. You try to go into a situation with an open mind, but then you form an opinion and you express it in your photographs. It is very important for a photographer to have a point of view- that contributes to a great photograph.”

– In a portrait, you always leave part of yourself behind.

– Finding the right subject is the hardest part.

– I respect newspapers, but the reality is that magazine ‘photojournalism’ is finished. They want illustrations, Photoshopped pictures of movie stars.

– Nowadays shots are created in post-production, on computers. It’s not really photography.

– I just think it’s important to be direct and honest with people about why you’re photographing them and what you’re doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.

– If I hadn’t become a photographer, I would have loved to become a doctor. I would have loved to have done something that actually helped people and changed their lives.

– It’s not when you press the shutter, but why you press the shutter.

magazines Mary Ellen Mark newspapers photographer portrait quotes
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

Adobe Lightroom CC to Get a New Dehaze Feature

Next Post

Should You Barter a Trade for Your Photography Services?

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug