Sally Mann

Sally Mann:

- born in Virginia in 1951

- winner of several awards including:

(3) National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and a Guggenheim fellowship

- her work is included in the permanent collections of:

The Met, The MOMA, The Whitney, and The Corcoran Museum of Art

One of the things I really admire about Sally Mann is the way that she creates these really warm intimate portraits without ever showing you the entire person. In fact, she compartmentalizes the people she photographs, but instead of it having an objectified effect on how we perceive the person being photographed, we seem to feel as though we know that person better since we are so close to their face or their body.

Sometimes in photography, especially large format photography, we forget that it is an artistic process. We get caught up in all the specific and almost scientific practices we use to compose the perfect technique in photography. This definitely is true of our class as a whole since we are still learning. However, Sally Mann is a refreshing reminder that like other art forms, photography is a process. She is unafraid to try new things, mix new materials, and use those "mistakes" as a polished masterpiece.

Overall, I thought that her perspective on portraiture and the way in which she makes images was some great food for thought as we all start planning out our future studio portrait project.