I will always remember seeing Sally Mann’s photographs for the first time; It was when I was studying photography in college about 25 years ago. The first thing I tried was its polarization. immediate family Series: Monochrome images, mostly of your children, taken on 8 x 10 inch film.
There was a timeless beauty in those photographs, which were painstakingly taken with a large-format 8 x 10 Deardorf bellows camera; If you’re interested, she describes her workflow in this CBS Mornings article.
‘I’m finally in the modern world!’
Mann explained: “Working with an 8 x 10 camera is very time-consuming and laborious, and film is very expensive now. I hate spending so much money on each shot.
“And so you’re always questioning yourself and saying, ‘Is that good enough? Is it really worth $12?’ But with digital, you just shoot, and if you don’t like it, boom, off your computer.”
Sally Mann, who was born in Lexington, Virginia, where most of her best-known photographs were taken, is now 74 years old and embraces new photographic equipment with an infectious enthusiasm, even if she has kept a foot in both camps.
“I have this old, original lens that doesn’t handle light well, so there is a little glare on everything. I had the lens before the [digital] camera: it’s an old Leica lens from the ’40s,” he explained.
And she added that retirement is not planned: “I am a workhorse. I am a peasant, I simply put on the harness every day.”
Mann has an upcoming traveling exhibition with the Gagosian gallery network, featuring intimate portraits spanning decades with her 55-year-old husband, Larry, who suffers from muscular dystrophy.
“I hope the work is seen in its entirety,” he said. “I don’t want to always be known just from family photos. There’s a lot more to come.”
The full conversation is available on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs page for UK viewers.
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