Mary Ellen Mark has found portrait subjects in teen runaways, Indian
circuses, Indian prostitutes, and women in mental institutions. She has also
worked as a still photographer on film sets, such as One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now, and American Heart.

Because she concentrates on one subject for an
extended period of time, Mark is able to become intellectually intimate
with her sitters. The knowledge of the subject that she brings to her
photographs allows the viewer to see a person rather than a mere oddity.
She finds a photograph's success predicated upon whether it "has a sense
of content or soul to it."

The success of Andre Kertesz is a result of
Mark's ability to capture the famed photographer's patient, yet watchful,
manner. Years of street photography had taught Kertesz to patiently wait for
the right instant to capture an otherwise irretrievable moment; this was a
lesson obviously well learned by Mary Ellen Mark.