Mary Ellen Mark’s new book of photographs, Seen Behind the Scene: Forty Years of Photographs On Set, sounds very interesting. It’s dedicated to film sets; I confess I have ample curiosity about this subject (like lots of other people). She’ll be appearing at McNally Jackson to present a slide show, sign copies of the book, and I’m sure speak or take questions. Her photos have been appearing in The New Yorker for years now.

Here’s some verbiage from the press release to help assume some of the rhetorical weight of this post:

For the past 40 years, Mary Ellen Mark has been given unprecedented access to the film set of the world’s most acclaimed directors including James Ivory, Francis Ford Copolla, and Steven Soderbergh, to make beautiful, candid pictures of famous actors and actresses such as Marlon Brando, Laurence Fishburne, Nicole Kidman, Christina Ricci, and Benicio Del Toro.

This event takes place on Monday, December 1, 2008, at 7pm (designated author appearance hour in NYC etc. etc.) at McNally Jackson, on 52 Prince Street.