Sally Mann

Sally Mann’s work involving her family, especially her children is very powerful. You can sense how intimate her relationship is with them just by looking at her photographs. Its as if the camera almost isn’t there because the gestures of the children seem too natural. After viewing the video I got a different view, almost behind the scenes of what went into the making of these photographs. These photographs will always be powerful to me but now I understand that these were not just natural photographs but they were often times carefully constructed images. I am not exactly sure how I feel about this. Something changes for me knowing that Sally was trying to control many aspects of the photographs but I think I am ok with this. The fact that she can be directing these images but it still looks as if she were just shooting exactly what she saw before her is great. For the most part her children seemed willing to pose for Sally but there were points in the video where they appeared to be annoyed. I am wondering if they ever got fed up with being photographed on what looked like a daily basis? I wonder if their relationship with Sally was changed because they were constantly being watched for the next good image? These are all things that are issues when something so personal is your most photographed subject matter.


I have photographed close friends and family in the past on numerous occasions. Having willing subjects is always a plus! I mean whenever I photograph the people in my life that are important to me those images seem to be closer to my soul because I have an emotional attachment to the subject. I love photographing my close friends and family but if I were to photograph them during difficult times that may be another story. I have never done anything like that. When I focus on difficult times in my work it is usually based on my own struggles and not that of my family and friends. I think I have avoided doing so because I do not want to ask them to expose themselves like that but now that I think of it maybe it wouldn’t be something they would be opposed to. To only focus on the good times in life and avoid the difficult is unrealistic. It gives a false sense of the person if you only pick and choose when you will document their lives. Sally Mann did a great job of showing the spectrum of her children’s lives. She wasn’t afraid of photographing them in difficult times because that is reality. I commend her on doing this because I would be afraid that it would cause tension between me and my subject. You have to find someone that would be willing to give you full access of their lives and that is a lot to ask of a person.

Like I mentioned earlier I have tackled some of my own issues in my work. But I am not sure how I would feel having someone document a personal aspect of my life. I don’t know if it is because I am a photographer but I am not sure if I would be willing to give up that control. I have always tackled the issues myself and I would really have to trust someone to let them have full access into my life. Also I do not think the work would be successful unless I fully trusted the photographer. I think the reason Sally Mann’s work is so powerful is because her relationship with her children is so apparent in her work. Having a personal aspect of my life documented by someone else is something I would eventually love to do but at this point I am not completely sure I would be able to give up full control. But if I were ever able to let someone have full access into my life it would probably give me a whole new perspective that I would have never gotten before. It would also help me see a new way to photograph myself that I otherwise would have never known.

My desire to produce something as emotional as Sally Mann’s work is very strong. I want my viewer to be able to look at my images of my friends and family and be able to understand the relationship I have with these people. I also want my images to tell a story about these people so that you have a better understanding of who they are after you see a series about them, or even a single image. I understand that these sorts of images are not created so simply. I feel I would need to spend countless hours spending time with my subject and getting to know them even better than I already do. I would want to the camera to be like another person and not something that would be intimidating to my subject. I realize this will take time but if I am on my way to producing images even slightly closer to the magnitude of Sally Mann’s work then it is well worth it.