Legendary American photographer Mary Ellen Mark dies at 75

The award-winning photographer, whose career mixing documentary and portraiture spanned 40 years, passed away Monday in New York City, Philly.com reports.

(MaryEllenMark.com)

Mark had a knack for capturing the essence of people — from circus performers and celebrities, to teenagers and families living on the edges of society. And indeed she was prolific, publishing 18 books, including massive retrospectives (Exposure) and intimate photo essays (Streetwise).

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Her most recent photography book, Prom, captured that delightfully awkward rite of passage for teenagers in nearly 300 portraits taken across the country. Though simple on their surface — black and white, basic backdrop, centered subject — the images are rich with details, as the teens' postures, expressions, accessories, and clothes all draw the viewer in for a closer look.

Mark was an original and her photographs can't help but be iconic. That word has become overwrought, but there's no better label for a repertoire comprised of such perfectly composed images that so simply and elegantly elevate the ordinary to extraordinary.

"I like things that are real," Mark told The New York Times in a 2012 interview. "I don't like gimmicky pictures… I like pictures that are very clear and clean."