Sally Mann - Deep south

[morgan]

I was poking around Barnes and Noble last night and stumbled on "Deep South". I can't say I'm huge landscape fan, but I was flat out floored by her work. I've seen some of her family work, but hadn't seen these before. I don't know much about her process or equipment but the quality of the images were simply haunting. I was simply transported to her world. Does anybody know about how she gets that look of her prints or what she uses? Here's a PBS link: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/card1.html

[cpborello]

She uses a "collodian" process with a lens that has mildew and misaligned elements. See the link below

http://www.tufts.edu/programs/mma/fa...sallymann.html

[andreas]

Hi Morgan,
i`m a big fan of her work, too.
As far as i know, she works with a 8x10, or bigger, field camera. For Negatives, she uses wet collodium glass plates, i think. Probably homemade. Combined with these old large format lenses used wide open, you get some very interesting results. Of course, this means nothing without a strong photographic vision, which she obviously has.
I`m planning to do a bit of experimenting with glass plates myself, using my old Voigtländer Bergheil 9x12 cm . Hope to post some results in the future.

(Hello Bartender, what about a Classic Voigtländer LF/MF forum? Maybe no rangefinders, but definitely classics, like the TLRs!)

All the best,
andreas


www.myspace.com/tiredmusik

[morgan]

I found some videos of her on that PBS site actually. She's holding a large camera together with her head!

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/index.html#

Her work is so haunting, so mysterious, it really sticks in you. I've been thinking about it all day. She does have remarkable photographic vision.

[morgan]

Originally Posted by cpborello

She uses a "collodian" process with a lens that has mildew and misaligned elements. See the link below

http://www.tufts.edu/programs/mma/fa...sallymann.html

Thanks for the link! Very informative.

[FrankS]

"I embrace the accidents, the serendipity of the process ...Mistakes are not the end of the world, and perfection is not my goal."

I like that.

[sepiareverb]

And some of those prints are literally 'huge' like 4x5 feet. Quite powerful in person.

[terrafirmanada]

Good read. Very interesting technique.