she saw:
unknown
she said:"love the red against the fog."
he saw:
Sally Mann
he saw:
Sally Mann
he said:
when i got to college and began studying photography in earnest, i had access to all kinds of work i hadn't seen before. this was the artsy, edgy stuff that barnes and noble wouldn't stock (or couldn't keep in stock). i'm sure that when i say artsy and edgy, you're thinking of the same kinds of artists i am- the kind that take lots of pictures of their own little kids naked. what? sounds terrible, doesn't it? i hope it does. who wants to see that? well, surprise, surprise, i did. that is to say that once i saw some of it, i wanted to see more. wait. that doesn't sound right either.
Sally Mann's photography more closely resembles a dream sequence from a Faulkner novel than anything lewd or naughty you were imagining. still, the fact that these are her children, or members of her family, and they are in fact nude for the most part, has led to claims of exploitation at one end, and just poor judgment on the other.
yes, there are small children, and some adolescents and even teens, as well as the occasional grown-up, but what her work often portrays is a kind of eden-inspired innocence, a pre-fall of man sensibility. the nudity itself is more a characteristic of this lifestyle she is capturing, something to be weighed against the impact of the entire image. she might say that she captures only innocence, and it's up to the viewer to corrupt it.
furthermore, the images are often spooky and unsettling, not titillating (unless you're into that sort of thing. people are, it's okay). the best thing to do, of course, is to let the images speak for themselves. but much like the mainstream maligned work of Jock Sturges, context is everything. when judging work of this nature, it's best to keep in mind that in the end, the intense and dreamy expressions on the faces of her subjects remind us as much of the abyss as they do of any heaven: you are looking, as something looks back at you.
when i got to college and began studying photography in earnest, i had access to all kinds of work i hadn't seen before. this was the artsy, edgy stuff that barnes and noble wouldn't stock (or couldn't keep in stock). i'm sure that when i say artsy and edgy, you're thinking of the same kinds of artists i am- the kind that take lots of pictures of their own little kids naked. what? sounds terrible, doesn't it? i hope it does. who wants to see that? well, surprise, surprise, i did. that is to say that once i saw some of it, i wanted to see more. wait. that doesn't sound right either.
Sally Mann's photography more closely resembles a dream sequence from a Faulkner novel than anything lewd or naughty you were imagining. still, the fact that these are her children, or members of her family, and they are in fact nude for the most part, has led to claims of exploitation at one end, and just poor judgment on the other.
yes, there are small children, and some adolescents and even teens, as well as the occasional grown-up, but what her work often portrays is a kind of eden-inspired innocence, a pre-fall of man sensibility. the nudity itself is more a characteristic of this lifestyle she is capturing, something to be weighed against the impact of the entire image. she might say that she captures only innocence, and it's up to the viewer to corrupt it.
furthermore, the images are often spooky and unsettling, not titillating (unless you're into that sort of thing. people are, it's okay). the best thing to do, of course, is to let the images speak for themselves. but much like the mainstream maligned work of Jock Sturges, context is everything. when judging work of this nature, it's best to keep in mind that in the end, the intense and dreamy expressions on the faces of her subjects remind us as much of the abyss as they do of any heaven: you are looking, as something looks back at you.
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