Documentary Photography at its Best | The Book of Everything - Mary Ellen Mark

One book to rule them all, one book to find them, one book to bring them all and very nicely bind them. This is the one book. And by one book I mean three books, but we will get to that later. You know what they say, you can't judge a book by its cover but in this case, you would be wrong. This book really has everything, at least when we talk about the amazing portrait and documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark. It is her complete carrier retrospective and I have to say, it is just wonderful. So, this video is not going to answer the question about whether you should get the book as I believe it is more than obvious but rather show you what is so great about it.

It’s safe to say Steidl has lately become one of my favorite publishers. Founded in 1968 in Germany this publisher has a magnificent collection of books that you should definitely check out if you have not done so already.

Mary Ellen Mark was born in 1940 in Pennsylvania, USA, and is most known for her documentary photography and environmental portraits as well as her commercial work (which is not really the focus of this book).After she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and art history she went to the Annenberg School in Philadelphia.

She took a photography course and when she received the camera, she realized it gave her access to people's lives. Little did she know that she would change the scope of modern photography. That's what she devoted her life to and that’s what this book is really about, the passion of her life.

Her husband, Martin Bell, conceived and edited three heavy volumes which chronologically cover the work of Mary Ellen Mark from 1963 to her death in 2015. When I say the work, I mean this massive archive of thousands of contact sheets and chromes from more than 2 million frames. It contains all her significant projects as well as her personal work.

The pictures are presented with titles and locations but also with short stories and interviews with Mary Ellen, her staff, or her friends. It also includes her notes which often feel like her personal diary. It gives you a little insight into her childhood and the way she lived and worked. Which is very clever since it makes it much easier to connect with the photographs. It brings another level of understanding when you can read about the photographer’s feelings.

One of the series that really impressed me is the one from the mental hospital. Partly because I can hardly imagine a photography project like this happening nowadays but also because of the letters and personal notes that made me emotionally connected. Mary Ellen spent 36 days on Ward81, photographing, documenting, and living on the ward to photograph and interview the women. And it is a recurring theme in her projects. When she was taking photos nothing was more important. Some of her projects took multiple months and often she even went back to photograph the subjects again and again.

You can also experience her work in the academy award nominated movie Streetwise or in the one called Tiny which I can only recommend. They really did an amazing job together with her husband Martin Bell as seeing the photographs of the main “protagonists” later on made me feel, even though it might sound really weird, like revisiting photographs of old friends.

The book also stresses that even though she was a woman, she was not overtly feminist. She even saw being a woman as an advantage as she said she was often able to go to places where a man would not be able to go.

I won't be going through all the projects here as I don't want to spoil it too much for you should you decide to buy the book. Apart from the size which might surprise you, there is also the price. What is a mystery to me is the evolution of the price. When I first saw the book, I was able to preorder it for around 150 USD. I am not sure what happened in the meantime, maybe Ellon bought a lot of them, but the price just skyrocketed.

Right now you can buy the book for 480 euro, (580 USD). On paper, this might seem like a lot, but believe me when you have a chance to hold the book and see the quality of

the print and binding you will understand why this book is priced the way it is.

Mary Ellen might not be among us anymore but if she was, I believe she would be quite pleased with how the book turned out. It was definitely a lot of work but I am glad they did it and I enjoyed all 624 photographs. If you don’t have this book, consider getting it, or if you are simply a fan of Mary Ellen Mark, let me know what photograph you like most.

What this book made me realize is that photography is not about capturing razor-sharp images but rather about connecting with your subject and seizing the decisi… you probably know what I mean.