‘Prom’: An intimate look at an American rite of passage

Award-winning photographer Mary Ellen Mark traveled the country to find an eclectic mix of subjects for her latest work, “Prom.” The book features photographs of students at more than a dozen proms that occurred over a four-year period at high schools in places such as Charlottesville, Va., Pacific Palisades, Calif. and Austin, Texas. Mark captured the hope, fear, sadness, joy (and yes, awkwardness) that prom brings in black-and-white photos, using the same mammoth 20x24 Polaroid camera she used for her 2003 book, “Twins.”

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Breayanna Robinson and Shannon Kinnard, Pacific Palisades, Calif., 2008. Says Mark: "This is one of my favorite photographs."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Tamazia Jordan and Dillon Brooks, Pacific Palisades, Calif., 2008. In the book, Jordan says "I didn't plan on going, but I was forced to go." Added her date: "I thought she was excited, like everyone else, but I'm finding out different."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Natalie Williams and James Gallagher, Los Angeles, 2008. Said Williams: "Being a housewife would be boring."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Adam Johnson and Carley Gunter, Austin, 2008. In the book, Gunter is quoted as saying she and Johnson were known as "the God squad" and were "taught to love everyone, everyone around us, everyone at our school, just embrace everyone for what they are."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Lucas Nathan and Grace Bush-Vineberg, Pacific Palisades, Calif., 2008. In the book's preface, Mark notes that Bush-Vineberg was undecided about her future plans, saying she "wanted to have a sandwich shop or study music history." Her date had a philosophical look at the future, telling the author, "The world has always been ending, unless it never began."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Tim Blackwell and Kelly Hayden, Austin, 2008. Says Mark: "I loved his goth style."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Jason Sneed and India Whitney, Pacific Palisades, Calif., 2008. Whitney was quoted as saying, "Prom kinda feels like a dream. It’s like you don’t really think you’re here. It's magical, it’s weird."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Jameelia Ricks and Marielle Evangelista, Ithaca, N.Y., 2008. Ricks noted that she planned to get her nursing degree, but really wanted "to sing and be an actress."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Greg Jacks and Isabel Shill, Los Angeles, 2008. Jacks said that he came from a family of dentists and was "excited to be breaking the chain."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Matthew Krumpe and Alanna Bram, Los Angeles, 2008. The couple in this playful photo talked about Krumpe's sure-to-happen fame.

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Jason Byun and Carolyn Seuthe, Los Angeles, 2008. Seuthe had Oval Office ambitions, saying, "In ten years I'll only be twenty-eight, so I won't be president yet."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Timothy Huff and Rachel Wright, Austin, 2008. Mark calls them "the perfect all-American couple."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Miranda Banks and Candice Martin, Charlottesville, 2008. In the film, "Prom," Banks noted that she wasn't allowed to take a girl to her own prom and had to go with a guy, adding, "It was really awkward and incredibly boring."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Shane Kammauff and Jenna Zschaebitz, Charlottesville, 2008. Kammauff said he wanted to "write a great novel or make a great discovery or do something to really change the world."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Maria Carroll and Coretta Gerould, Wyncote, Pa., 2006. This couple was photographed at Mark's own alma mater, Cheltenham High School. Caroll told Mark that Gerould talked her into going to prom, adding, "No one really has the guts to come to prom with another female. And of all else, that's why I'm really here."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Brittany Weintraub and Anthony Bellino, Staten Island, N.Y., 2006. In her preface, Mark notes that this couple's high school boasted more than 3,800 students and was the largest she photographed. Weintraub told her: 'I wish I could have saved my strength, instead of arguing with friends who I thought mattered. You are never going to see them again. You are born alone, you live alone, and you die alone."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Abraham Lopez and Ramal Gibbs, Newark, N.J. 2006. Notes Mark: "This is the prom king and his friend."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Aixza Esteves and Rickie Trejo, Houston, 2008. Prom was almost canceled for these close friends. Mark notes in her preface that the hotel lobby flooded the day of the dance.

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Toccarra Baguma and George Wilkinson, New York City, 2007. Baguma, a student at an all-girl Catholic high school, told Mark she hadn't "put kids in [her] schedule." In her preface, Mark calls Baguma "a girl I'll never forget."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Sean Hayes and Alison Fadelici, Brooklyn, N.Y., 2007. Fadelici said she still slept with a teddy bear.

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Samantha Toet and Alyssa Smith, Charlottesville, 2008. These Charlottesville High School students were proud of their low-budget attire, telling Mark their thrift-store finds totaled less than $50 each.

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Robyn Frazier-Bodrick and Keicon Cherry, Charlottesville, 2008. After-prom plans for this couple: a meal at IHOP.

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Cristina Cárdenas and Jeremy Longoria, Houston, 2008. Cárdenas said what this pose captures pretty perfectly: "We did it. We're ready to go head into life."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Jessica Del Bosque and Alonzo Salas, Houston, 2008. Was love in the air for this couple? Not according to Salas, who said "Love is light-years away. Love is for grown-ups."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

Ashley Conrad, center, and Sandra Liu, right. Prom-goer at left is unidentified. New York City, 2009. Mark photographed the prom at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer City in New York City, where she met Conrad, whom she describes in the book's preface as "strikingly beautiful and wise beyond her years."

Mary Ellen Mark / "Prom," Getty 2012

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