Book Description

Reviews (11)

A Beautiful Book, Highly Recommended
I found this book to be a wonderful experience. Sally Mann has shown so many different 12-year-olds in her hometown of Lexington, Va, and she has captured their stories and what makes each girl so unique. I loved this book and found that some of the photographs, especially "Doll House" reminded me of myself "At Twelve".

Wonderful
I give Sally Mann a thumbs up for capturing her beautiful children when they were young, being what they are: beloved children. How fast we grow and turn into adults!
As I studied each page my memory was jogged several times of my childhood in southern Georgia. Humid sunny days and muggy rainy evenings; I couldn't wait to strip what little bit of cloths I wore and play outside in the rain or in the woods. I never gave it a second thought being nude. And apparently neither did my parents. Needless to say Sally Mann and her beloved childern are dear to my heart. Thanks for bring back so many innocent fond memories.
I recommend this book if you have an open mind and love children for what they are.

At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women
At Twelve is Sally Mann's revealing, collective portrait of twelve-year-old girls on the verge of adulthood. The way many of these reviews are written (i.e. like revealing) you think your getting something for the money but you're not. There is no nudity in this book (except for one picture of a 2 or 3 year old). I strongly recommend you stay away from this trash and stick with the David Hamiltion books.

Solidly beautiful pictures
Maybe I missed something. The pictures are beautiful, and they are supposed to be an attempt to capture the essence of young women on the cusp of becoming adults. What I got was pictures of young women-- missed the whole "becoming" thing. I could just be thick, but this one just passed me by devoid of any emotion.

Exploitative!!
This is not new ground. Mann is better than this. She could be a "contender," by taking a different route than she has - the exploitation of her own children in the nude. Not recommended!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Renowned for her candid portrayal of family life (Immediate Family), her revealing study of girlhood (At Twelve), and landscapes from the American South (Mother Land and Deep South), internationally acclaimed photographer Sally Mann has produced a powerful new body of work on the one subject that affects us all. In WHAT REMAINS, a five-part meditation on mortality, Mann focuses her lens on the ineffable divide between body and soul, the means by which life takes leave of this earth, and the manner in which it rejoins it. Mann's new photographs are by turns shocking and sublime. An armed fugitive is hunted down by police. She photographs the scars left on her property after the incident. A series of brooding, otherworldly landscapes made at the Civil War battlefield of Antietam is followed by a group of close-up portraits of Mann's own children, floating in the inky black atmosphere of the nineteenth-century ambrotype; another series taken at a forensics study site offers an unflinching look at the process of decomposition, as do images of a beloved pet greyhound--long since departed. Made with the collodion process, using glass plates, the resulting images are at once painterly, sculptural, and photographic. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

it was the kids
i always wondered if mann was a truly gifted artist or if her subjects and locations were just so compelling that anyone could have captured incredible images if they happened to be present.

this book confirms the latter.

these photographs are flat, uninteresting, not compelling for me in any way.

Maybe she needs to find some new prepubescent girls and go back to the child-erotica.

The controversial nature of her images were what vaulted her to fame.

it surely was not talent.

Disappointing ...
I was very disappointed in this book. If I want to see death photos, I can find them almost anywhere these days. I miss Sally's earlier work, which was focused more on people and children. Her landscapes and these death photos are made to look as if they were photographed 100 years ago and I find this too "gimmicky" for my taste. I think that her new subject matter, death, is on the level on the current supermarket tabloid mentality. A very disappointing book that I was looking forward to ... really wish she would return to her earlier topics, and printing techniques.

Thank you to Sally Mann.........
Thank you to Sally Mann for her frank discussion & photographs on death. I have long felt that American's are spending millions of dollars in the vain, dillusional and fear-driven attempt to ELIMINATE aging and death. It is frustrating & depressing to see so much money wasted this way. It also seems to have created an obsession with safety at any cost. I appreciate Sally Mann's beautifully done work on this "taboo" subject.

Shocking
The first time I viewed this book, standing over it for nearly an hour, I was left socked, so shaken that I had to go to my room and turn off all the lights, and just lie in my bed and rest myself.

What Mann has created is not definable, and doubtless each viewing experience will be different for each individual. She does not seem to be creating an agenda book as much as an human experience. As I moved through I kept on thinking about, or rather questioning myself. What is it to look at a dead body? Is it a sign of disrespect for the dead? Or is it a sign of reverence? After all, it is the easy thing to turn away from the rotting flesh of our family, but that does not mean that it is the respectful thing, right?

One would think that Mann, already an artist at the top of her profession, might be tempted to rest on her laurels. However, this new work proves that she has no intention of doing so. She bravely continues to take risks, as well as dive further into her subject matter, and what remains is one of the world's greatest artists functioning at the peak of her creative powers.

Outstanding!
Death has long been a subject for artists. Mann's depth and vision elevate even the photos of decomposing bodies several levels above the merely grotesque. Yes, the photos are "difficult". The techniques employed produce dark or washed out and unevenly exposed images. But this adds to the overall mood of the book. And the subject matter is not "pretty". The final section of tightly cropped family photographs sums up "what remains". This is an outstanding project from one of the finest practitioners today of the photographer's art. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (23)

Disturbing and Transcendental Art
All of the photographs in this collection were taken with an 8x10 view camera, even those that have the appearance of candid, random snapshots. Many of the images are carefully manipulated in the darkroom to give one of the subjects an eerie, almost angelic luminescence in scenes dominated by hardship, tragedy, and crushing rural poverty. Sally Mann is a major artist, supported by Guggenheim, NEH and NEA grants, and this is some of her very best work. Readers should be warned that some will consider this work to border on child pornography. While this is absolutely not the case (and I vigorously support prosecution of those who exploit children in any fashion), in some localities this could almost be a "dangerous" book to own. Sally Mann's disturbing and transcendent vision will outlast our current hysteria and misunderstanding and will endure as photographic literature.

CHECK OUT these photos! Sally Mann is... um... the Mann.
POSSIBLY MY FAVORITE BOOK! I carry this book with me everywhere I go. I bring it with me on two-day trips. It's ridiculous. Sally Mann is an incredible photographer and in this book, contrary to previous criticism, she photographs her children in DECENT and human, natural poses (nudity reigns, but tastefully so). She is by far my favorite photographer and, as a photo major in college, constantly cures me of those dreaded uninspired days of my life. Every time I flip through this book, I'm crazed with new ideas and inspiration. Not to mention awe.

Rich and honest images
The summers of one's youth in the Blue Ridge are unmistakable. The heat comes up by ten. You head to the ponds and rivers for relief. By the blazing arc of midday you play jacks or Uno under an oak. Evening comes; hotdogs are grilled for miles, and an immense cool falls like a hush between the pines. Mann captures this reverie with utmost grace in her unalloyed images of her children. In Mann we discover a eye keen to the wonderful contrasts of black and white. Some images offer striking, ambiguous detail; others approach portraiture.
If her children's nudity draws criticism from those of a certain political stripe, I can only surmise it comes from that small, unlucky handful of Virginians who did not have the opportunity to march outside on an August dog day with nothing on. Frankly, it's all you want to wear in August whether you are eight or fifty eight.
These images tug strongly at the heartstrings of, not just those of us lucky enough to have spent our youths in rural Virginia, but anyone who has deep set memories of childhood and place. A rich and lasting collection.

Absolutely beautiful.....
I've read some of the other reviews for this book, and most of the negative ones seem to mostly criticize the expressions on the faces of these children, and how they must reflect a miserable childhood. However, I know that when I was a child, I did not go around constantly with a huge grin on my face, even though my childhood was overall pretty happy. I think that if these photos showed these children all at happy moments and always smiling, then they would be boring, and I wouldn't consider them to be art. I think that these gorgeous photos honestly reflect their childhoods, and the ordeals they went through growing up. Just because the child's faces are blank does not mean that they were unwilling participants in these photos. Also, just because they were raised in an environment where nudity was accepted and not an issue isn't a cause for critism here either, in my opinion. Some people are just raised differently and in different environments, and I think it is fascinating to see how open this family was. I don't find it dirty [...] in any way at all. It's just honest, real photography.

Help Needed in making this book
I am so sore that I bought this book. I wonder why it is even printed at all. The photos are unartistic snapshots of a couple of hillbillies families and a few are out of focus and taken with shaky hands. I wish Sally would learn how to shoot.

The subject of most photos are uninteresting. Look toward Jock Sturges or David Hamilton's books instead ... Read more

Book Description

Expanded from an earlier catalogue of the same title, Still Time accompanied a traveling exhibition featuring more than twenty years of Sally Mann's photography.

Still Time celebrates an artist whose acute perceptions and imagination embrace not only the photographs of children for which she is renowned, but also earlier landscapes, and the unexpected, compelling forays into color and abstract photography.

The sixty images include abstract platinum prints, Cibachromes and Polaroids, landscapes, portraits of women and twelve-year-olds, and her celebrated family pictures.
... Read more

Reviews (2)

Not nearly as good as Immediate Family
I bought both "Still Time" and "Immediate Family" sight unseen after seeing her new book "What Remains". "Still Time" is a compilation of works from various periods. It is easy to see her promise, and there are some nice photographs. Her progress is interesting. But she really hits her stride when she photographs her children in "Immediate Family". Some of the early shots in "Still Time" seem sort of concocted and overdone-until the photos from "Immediate Family" which are breathtaking. Save your money and buy "Immediate Family".

After meeting Mann, the book was made more magical.
I am an English/photography teacher at a high school in southside Virginia. I had always been a fan of Sally's work and used this book as a teaching tool in my classroom. The way Mann has captured the human form and the "inner workings" of something as private as her family is breath taking in the flawless medium of black and white photography. I had an opportunity to meet her and after explaining to her how her book was used to inspire my students, she happily signed my copy of the book (my students went wild when when they saw her signature)! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

hard to view
i'll admit its hard to look at but the way you get right there in it, is amazing, it's just photographed beautifully. Each photographers style was evident. I especially enjoyed Jack Radcliffes section because his more than any other, i felt was about life under harsh circumstances, but still about life more than death itself.

Hospice : A Photographic Inquiry
A book about a place where people go to die will not by definition be a easy book to pick up and glance through. The photographers, Nan Goldin et al, do a remarkable job bring these people to us in a situation none of us would want ot be in. There is compassion and dignity in situations which can all too often lend themselves to the snap and run mentality of today's press coverage. It is worth buying especailly if you have an interest in quality, non-sensational photography. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

one of their students
Both Ted and Sally have a fantastic eye for photographs. Their images are interesting, entertaining and sometimes provacative. A great book to add to any collection. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Afterimage, published by Visual Studies Workshop on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 825 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Appalachian housewife: Sally Mann at the George Eastman House.(Critical Essay)
Author: Amber Hares
Publication: Afterimage (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Visual Studies Workshop
Volume: 32Issue: 4Page: 13(1)

Article Type: Critical Essay

Distributed by Thompson Gale ... Read more