Is a well known street photographer,Her work is used in order to demonstrate a side of reality that is presented as the minority,so using her camera as a mode of inablment to show these people.
Her work can be descried as old and new,it is a modernization of historic journalism within her work but also a more outrageous twist to which she is accustomed. Mary Ellen has been photographing on the streets of New York City since before she even lived in New York City—and she continues to. The energy and variety of New York has always inspired Mary Ellen. Her work is also seen within experimenting in different modes such as Polaroids or more set up celebrity shoots. Although she only shoots people who have somewhat political power or a message of leadership within their own work.
Before her fame as a photographer, In 1983 Mary Ellen met Tiny, a 13-year-old girl working as a prostitute on the streets of Seattle. This was the inspiration for her book and commentary that inspired her work for a further 30 more years. This demonstrates how her work was based off a story of people and some occasions this could be based upon suffering or a miscarriage of life that she wanted to change by exposing to the world.
Mary Ellen taught photography workshops for over 30 years.she discusses the main topics that she would distill in her workshops using examples of her work and also photographs by some of her students.Her work was always graphic and had a suitable message behind every each piece. Her work shows a continuous explotment of different people,races and social classes within america at the time. As clearly seen all of her images are real and captured from inspiration within the streets.
to me her work is a clear exaggeration of the issues at the time and how it was important to exploit the minority and the issues living among everyone in new York. To me her work expresses and demonstrates Americas development and need for change within people.Each of her photos exploit a different conceptual concept of people within NYC .
My favorite image is seen below:
I like this image due to all the possible reasons behind as to why it was taken. this image has an interesting angle and composition to show a small youthful girl leaning on a masked persons shoulder,perhaps this is done to show how even the innocent are reliant upon masked and faked laws that portray a sense that they are helping and efficient but are nothing but the differ.