Your Point of View

I saw Mary Ellen Mark speak tonight. She and her work is remarkable. Her career has spanned from India, Mexico, Brothels, Celebrities, High School proms, Homelessness, Mental Hospitals, Circus performers, Broadway from the 1970s. She most recently has partnered w/ a Pharmaceutical company, Novartis, making short documentaries with her partner on pediatric care for children with cancer, autism, blindness and developmental syndromes. She shared some of the shorts with us tonight and I came very close to tears. Here are some notes I took and wanted to share. I think for any beginner or more advanced photographer/artist, this advice is great to know.:

• Black & White vs. Color:
• She loves and appreciates color and respects those photographers who know how to use it. She has used color in her work, but she has a love for Black & White. She said, "I can tell if my students are shooting in B&W or if they are shooting in color and making it B&W." I thought this was a really interesting approach to color and execution. 
• She shoots in analog
• She detests instagram and cell phone pictures - she sees them as social media marketing tools, not photos or art. I personally disagree with this outlook, but coming from her it makes sense. She is a photographer from back in the day when magazines showed non-glossified, non-photoshopped pieces about world issues. I can't say many magazines do that anymore. In fact, there aren't that many print outlets anymore for photos, mostly online - so i think she is right and wrong.
• She went on to say she hasn't heard from a magazine asking for her to do a shoot in a year and she doesn't quite mind because magazine photos nowadays are "glossy, decorations" not raw pieces of point of view. 
• It takes many years to develop ones point of view
• When she has students do a project she doesn't take them somewhere and have them shoot all the same thing at the same time, but she rather tells them to go out on their own and do it, so they can develop a strong point of view without other influences
• Paraphrasing: "Photography is like writing, it's not accidental, not simple. It's not like you shoot and it's art. [She] asks her students why they shot something the way they did. She wants to make a point to figure out the thought process behind a shot, a picture. 
• She said it is easier shooting someone she doesn't know, because her viewpoint is less influenced by the outside factors of that person and her's history. Whereas, if there is no history, her viewpoint is fresh, more free. She didn't say she preferred it one way or the other, she was saying how your relationship to the person you are shooting effects the way you shoot them. 
• She talked about not settling and fighting for what you believe in. Follow your heart.

All and all it was yet again another inspiring lecture to attend. It made me feel those artistic bones rattle inside of me, wanting me to do more and try harder. Always, always, always I must. 

Here are only a SMALL sampling of hers. Enjoy!