My favorite photographer (maybe of all time) is Sally Mann. I realize this is very cliché but I the way she captures images of her children reminds me of my childhood growing up by the lake. I think that Mann’s photography shows a euphoric kind of simple lifestyle. Her photography illustrates the life I would like to live. She really captures the emotion and naiveness of childhood, she photographs her children in such a pure and beautiful way. I love how a lot of her photographs how an underlying social meaning such as sex, puberty, fertility, death, etc. I think that Sally Mann has real eye for photography. I like that she uses a large format camera. I also enjoy that fact that Sally Man uses black and white photography as opposed to color. One of the main reasons I like Mann is because she brings a new style to photography, its not just the same old portraits. I think her book Immediate Family is a cool and interesting way for her to have a photo album of her kids. I think people who put down Mann’s work or call it child pornography are seriously delusional. Childhood is a time to be free and natural and not worry about the responsibilities of adulthood. I think it would be a cool project for Sally Mann to do the same sort of project with her grandkids one day. I do not think she should try and recreation the photographs she has already done but create new ones. The kind of summer kids live without television and video recapture in the present.
Sally Mann has been one of my favorite photographers to study, because of the way she deals with all of the criticism surrounding her work. She takes photos of her family. To her, they are pure representation of the everyday goings-on of her family's life. But that isn't how many of the critics have seen it. They look at the nude and semi-nude images of her kids and they instantly think exploitation. They ask, "Why else would Mann show naked pictures of her kids if it wasn't simply to get the publicity?"
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why people can't look at her work for what it is, an honest portrayal of life inside her home and a reflection of the innocence of childhood. If she had neglected to put these images in her book then there wouldn't have been any honesty to it. You can't show only part of your life and not the rest. Mann wanted to show the purity of childhood. Its innocence and the overwhelming freedom it provides. I completely agree with the essence Lindsay's blog and it is refreshing to find another artist that had an opinion that is as nonjudgmental as my own.
I've always loved this picture she has of her kids. The interesting thing about that she uses her kids and family, especially in this picture is that it is normal in families when your that age to maybe not have a shirt on. I remember from my own childhood and little cousins that you can just strip out of a wet cloths and it never was like its indecent. I've seen this also a tremendous amounts of times especially in the west/south. But we want to classify it to be wrong. The nice thing that she does is she uses what she already knows her family. I think most of her work is posed but I may be wrong but they dont feel that it most of the time.They are just beautiful portraits of who she loves by something she loves to do. It's like we can spy into her world and how she likes to see her family. She is just saving a moment in time in alot of her work.
ReplyDelete