Famed photographer Mary Ellen Mark

Famed American documentary and portrait photographer Mary Ellen Mark died on Monday, May 25, 2015 at the age of 75. Mark was a prolific photographer who gained worldwide recognition for her work; in a 40-year career she produced numerous books, exhibitions and collections. Her photography often focused on society's poorest and most vulnerable. Some of her most memorable subjects were prostitutes, the homeless, circus performers and twins.

Mark once told The New York Times, "What you look for in a picture is a metaphor, something that means something more, that makes you think about things you've seen or thought about."

At left: Cousins Amy and Amanda hang out in an inflatable backyard pool, North Carolina, 1990.

Mark wrote that nine-year-old Amanda (smoking a cigarette) "was the most interesting child in the class," at a school for kids with problems she was assigned to photograph by Life magazine's Peter Howe.

By CBSNews.com senior photo editor Radhika Chalasani

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

Beautiful Emine

Beautiful Emine posing, Trabzon, Turkey, 1965.

Mark took this photo while on a Fulbright scholarship. The photographer told Time magazine recently, "I don't like to photograph children as children. I like to see them as adults, as who they really are. I'm always looking for the side of who they might become." It was an important early image for her because it had something special, going beyond the cliches.

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

Fellini

Federico Fellini on the set of "Satyricon," Rome, 1969.

In 1969, at the age of 28, Mark was asked by Look magazine to photograph the production of Fellini's film, "Satyricon." What appealed to her about working on a film set was that she could approach it as a documentary photographer. Mark had total access to work behind the scenes, and shot both in black-and-white and color. She found Fellini incredible to photograph, saying he was "bigger than life."

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

Children at play

Girl Jumping over a Wall, in Central Park, New York, 1969.

Mark's work often focused on youth in America. According to her website, how kids play was a source of fascination for her. Though she had no children of her own, Mark saw them "as figures closest to the life force, whose consciences have not yet been censored by society."

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

"Indian Circus"

From Mark's book "Indian Circus," published in 1993: Ram Prakash Singh with his elephant Shyama at the Great Golden Circus in Ahmedabad, India, 1990.

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

"Streetwise"

"Rat" and Mike with a gun, Seattle, 1983.

In the early 1980s, Mark worked with reporter Cheryl McCall for a story about runaway children in Seattle. Mark said they chose Seattle because it was known as "American's most livable city." The point was that if street kids could exist in Seattle, they could exist anywhere in the U.S.

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

Tiny

One of the street kids Mark photographed in Seattle was 14-year-old Tiny (pictured in her Halloween costume in 1983). Mark's photos were published in Life in July of that year. Mark and McCall later returned to Seattle to make the documentary film, "Streetwise" (1984).

Photographing Tiny was the beginning of a relationship Mark said continued throughout her life.

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

The Damm family

The Damm Family in Their Car, Los Angeles, 1987.

There are no photos of Mark's own family or home in her body of work; other people's families substituted for her own.

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

"Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay"

"Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay", 1981: Kamla Behind Curtains with a Customer, Falkland Road, Bombay, India, 1978.

Mark was primarily known for her work in black and white, but her work on the prostitutes of "Falkland Road" lent itself to color. It took the photographer 10 years and many trips before she was finally able to be accepted by the women who lived and worked there to intimately document their lives. Mark wrote, "Falkland Road remains one of the most powerful and rewarding experiences of my photographic life...the men, women and children I met there are always with me."

Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)

Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark, Oaxaca, Mexico 2013.

Mark, 75, died in New York City of myelodysplastic syndrome (a disease that affects bone marrow and blood) on May 25, 2015.

Read a 2001 interview with Mary Ellen Mark for "Sunday Morning"

More photos: Mark Ellen Mark (Official website)