Mary Ellen Mark: March 20, 1940 - May 25, 2015

I met Mary Ellen Mark for the first time at the 1982 Ansel Adams Workshop in Monterey, California. It was a magic week for a nineteen-year-old budding photographer. I was at that time steeped in the names and imagery of the Photo Secession and Group f/64, however the “younger” photographers—and some old-timers unknown to me—were a new discovery in my photographic education: John Sexton, Olivia Parker, Chris Rainier, Ruth Bernhard, Henry Gilpin, and Mary Ellen Mark.

It was during this workshop in August of `82 that I received a telegram inviting me to go to the Bahá’í World Center to serve in the Audio-Visual Department on a six to twelve month photo-documentation project of the Holy Places in the Haifa and `Akká region of Israel, a project that would ultimately keep me in the Holy Land for four years.

As if the Adams Workshop wasn’t enough, I was now riding a crest of enthusiasm, with this knowledge of an impending adventure on a new continent, when our group had its portfolio review with Mary Ellen. I remember sharing this news with her, and her encouragement in reviewing my work.

October found me in a new life in a new land. In keeping with my Group f/64 paradigm, I dragged my 8 x 10 inch Deardorff and accoutrements along with me to Israel. Moving about with the large camera and accessories without a car proved challenging, and soon it spent more time in its case than on a tripod. In time I picked up a used Nikon F, and my vision shifted from “Weston” to “Cartier-Bresson.” I began weekly jaunts through `Akká’s maze of alleys, documenting its weathered stone walls and people.

As I prepared for my return to the States, I received a catalog from the Maine Photographic Workshops with their 1986 summer offerings. Mary Ellen Mark was teaching a course on documentary photography, which I registered for without hesitation given my new-found penchant for street photography.

Rockport was reminiscent of Monterey, but now I wasn’t the kid just out of high school, I came with four years of experience working as a photographer. I had no expectations that Mary Ellen would remember me personally from the Ansel Adams Workshop, but when it came my turn on the first day of class to spread my photographs out on the table, I slipped in one older image, a portrait of Dr. Stanwood Cobb that she had responded favorably to in California.

As she reviewed my work—all (but one) black-and-white documentary work taken during my time in the Holy Land—she paused in front of the image of Stanwood, gazing intently as she tapped her fingers on the table in front of the print. She then looked up, turned to me and asked “Have we met before?”

I was touched that this image had somehow found a place in her memory that survived the intervening four years. It was a great start to what was to be a very energetic week of photography and creative interaction with both my own workshop group and others running concurrently.

I am sure that I hold no unique distinction in saying that Mary Ellen Mark was an inspiration to me and had a profound influence on my photography. And far be it from me to wax poetic on her place in the annals of photographic history. At this time, as we mourn her loss and celebrate her life and work, I simply wish to acknowledge my gratitude that our lives had intersected in these brief but potent moments in time.

Dr. Stanwood Cobb, Eliot, Maine, ©1981 Glenn Scott Egli

Books by Mary Ellen Mark