More progress

Sally Mann man

Sally Mann does not seem to shoot anything she does not see as extremely personal.  Her most well known works about her children portray intimate moments that transcend and become iconic. Mann’s control over the scenes mixed with how comfortable her children were with her combined to create a sense of perfection.

            She seems to be seeking to show the world through her subjects’ eyes with the knowledge of someone from the outside. 

            I personally find it very hard to photograph people I am close with.  It is hard for me to focus on photography while the people I know are interacting, without drastically changing what is going on in the scene.

            I know that this is acceptable in documentary photography, however it feels like a violation of trust between those who view the photos and myself. I am much more comfortable photographing people and cultures I do not usually spend my time in.  While I develop friends and make connections I am still technically separate from them and this separation helps me focus on what is going on in the situation, not what I think is going on.

            In difficult times I feel exploitative taking pictures of my friends, but not of strangers. When my sister was dying of cancer I was unable to even really be around, much less photograph and edit.  Now I feel I could have shot details to remind me of the good points during that time.  Some points in life are so monumental that without documentation they can haunt you later on.  Luckily for me, my mother is where I got my photography bug from, so she has a giant archive of those years.

            The issue of photographing only when times are good or from the outside, is that you miss the important moments.  I believe that people truly show who they are when they are up against a wall.  Facades fade and fronts get dropped when people are under stress. These are also the photos that people want, raw emotion with nothing between the subject and the viewer.

            I feel like the way Sally Mann set up her relationship with her children and family was on the condition that she photograph them.  Who could be a more perfect group than the people who have no choice but to hangout with you? 

I have attempted to document life in my house, but my friends just are not comfortable with having their pictures taken, even after years of living with me. I do not think it is a conscious dislike of having their pictures taken. It does however come across in the photos and people looking uncomfortable is just not my aesthetic, it is more something I just cause.

The only friends I manage to take good photos of are already photographers and understand what having people tense up in photos looks like. Because of this I have an extensive library of people taking pictures of things.

Work in progress

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