[Leica] Re:mary ellen mark and making a living

[Summicron1 at aol.com (Summicron1@aol.com)]

mary ellen Mark spoke at Weber State University, here in Ogden, two years 
ago 
and answered this very question.

she said she got into the business when it was possible to make a living 
doing documentary photography like she did, but you could not do it today. 
There 
are no outlets for that sort of thing, and the demand now is too taken up 
with 
personality and famous people photography, nobody cares about documenting 
the 
struggles of ordinary people. You can shoot that sort of thing, but who 
wants 
to publish it?   OK, some art magazine, maybe, but someone who pays real 
money?

By the way -- she said she still shoots everything on Tri-X film, always 
has, 
always will, has no interest in digital, film is what she knows. Said she 
will stick to TriX because she knows it and is comfortable with it and can 
make 
it give her the results she wants.

Rollei? She used Leicas all her life, although lately switched to 
Hasselblads 
-- the India circuses were shot with one -- and, most recently, the giant 
polaroid camera for her twins project. 

Brilliant lady, it was a treat hearing her.

charles trentelman
ogden, utah
In a message dated 5/31/05 11:47:17 PM, lug-request@leica-users.org writes:


> Of course to a large extent the question turns on your
> particular definition of "make a living" but on balance it seems that
> the most important asset a documentary photographer can have is an
> independent income of some sort...
> 
> On 31 May 2005 at 20:23, B. D. Colen wrote:
> 
> > I wonder if it was ever possible to make a living as an independent
> > documentary photographer - my guess is that it was not. It was one thing 
> to
> > be a Life or Look staffer - but as an independent?
>