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Sally Mann Quotes

Powerful Sally Mann for Daily Growth

About Sally Mann

Sally Mann (born 1951) is an acclaimed American photographer known for her evocative and deeply personal images. Born in Lexington, Virginia, she grew up on a farm with her four siblings, immersed in a rich Southern cultural heritage that would become a significant influence in her work. Mann studied photography at the California College of Arts and Crafts before returning to Virginia, where she began capturing her immediate family in intimate, candid portraits. Her series "Immediate Family" (1984-1992), featuring her three children, gained international recognition for its raw emotionality and exploration of childhood, identity, and mortality. In the 1990s, Mann turned her lens to the landscape of the American South in a series titled "Latin Verbs" (1992-2003). These haunting black-and-white photographs explore the region's history, from its colonial past to the modern day, using decaying buildings and remnants of the Civil War as visual metaphors. Another notable series by Mann is "What Remains" (2003), a powerful meditation on death and loss, which includes images of her husband's body after his fatal accident. This work, controversial for its graphic depiction of mortality, is a testament to Mann's unwavering commitment to artistic expression. Throughout her career, Sally Mann has been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Book Award and the Guggenheim Fellowship. Her photographs are held in the collections of major museums worldwide, cementing her status as one of America's most important contemporary photographers.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever..."

This quote by Sally Mann emphasizes that photography is not just about capturing an image; it's about evoking feelings, sensations, and emotions. It suggests that when we take a photograph, we are not only recording light and color but also the essence of a moment, making it tangible and timeless. The "touching" and "loving" aspects imply a deep connection between the photographer, their subject, and the audience - a bond that transcends the physical realm and speaks to the heart. In essence, Mann suggests that photography is a powerful medium for human expression and emotion.

"Art is not a product but a journey."

This quote emphasizes that art is not merely a tangible or finished product, but rather a continuous process or journey. It suggests that the creative experience, the exploration, growth, and learning along the way are as important as the end result. It encourages artists to appreciate the journey of self-discovery, experimentation, and personal development that occurs during the act of creation.

"The camera can't change what I see, but it can change what you see."

This quote by Sally Mann suggests that photography doesn't alter the reality she perceives, but it does influence how viewers interpret her perception of reality. By capturing moments and presenting them through a photograph, she is guiding our gaze to focus on certain aspects and ignore others, thus shaping our understanding of the world. It's a reminder that photographs don't just reflect the objective truth, but also the photographer's perspective and artistic choices.

"In my mind's eye, I saw my children as they were, and would always be: freckle-faced, barefoot, wild-haired, running through the grass, laughing..."

This quote by Sally Mann expresses a deep, emotional longing to preserve her children's youth and innocence in memory. The imagery of her children as freckle-faced, barefoot, wild-haired, and running through the grass, laughing, suggests a carefree and joyful time that she wants to hold onto despite the passage of time. The phrase "In my mind's eye" indicates that this image is not merely an idealized memory but something she visualizes vividly, as if it were still present before her. Ultimately, this quote shows how much love and affection Sally Mann has for her children and her desire to keep them frozen in time, cherishing those precious moments forever.

"I am less interested in the subject matter than the way the work makes me feel."

The quote highlights Sally Mann's focus on the emotional impact and feeling evoked by her art, rather than the literal or factual representation of its subject matter. This perspective emphasizes the importance of personal interpretation and subjective experiences in understanding and appreciating art. It suggests that for Mann, the essence of art lies not only in what it depicts but also in how it resonates with the viewer on a deeper, more profound level.

I taught up in Maine a couple of times and wasn't able to take a single picture. All that blue sky! Ugh. Sparkling clear air, just terrible. I couldn't do it.

- Sally Mann

Sky, Clear, Couple, Maine

I have three libraries. As a gift, a friend alphabetized and organized my main library of novels, history books, and nonfiction. Then I have a photo-book collection. Then there's this nearly whole room of my childhood books. I've also got cookbooks and a big collection of horse-related books.

- Sally Mann

Gift, Big, Nearly, Nonfiction

I baked bread, hand-ground peanuts into butter, grew and froze vegetables, and, every morning, packed lunches so healthful that they had no takers in the grand swap-fest of the lunchroom.

- Sally Mann

Bread, Butter, Had, Takers

I don't know what the instinct is, to save every report card, every half-sentence scribbled note, but my mother did it pretty effectively, and I've done it to a fare-thee-well.

- Sally Mann

Pretty, Instinct, Note, Report

Maintaining the dignity of my subjects has grown to be, over the years, an imperative in my work, both in the taking of the pictures and in their presentation.

- Sally Mann

Work, Over, Subjects, Maintaining

I feel I'm a strange mixture of insecurity and strength. Most of us, probably most people. I'm transferring that same concept to the people I photograph.

- Sally Mann

Strength, Feel, Concept, Transferring

I had written my master's thesis on Ezra Pound on 'The Cantos.' And don't ask me about it. I don't remember anything about it.

- Sally Mann

Master, About, Had, Pound

I'm just the opposite of a lot of photographers who want everything to be really, really sharp. And they're always, you know, stopping it down to F64.

- Sally Mann

Want, Always, Opposite, Stopping

I just started taking pictures, and it was - it was an instant love affair. It was just ecstatic.

- Sally Mann

Love, Started, Ecstatic, Affair

The thing that makes writing so difficult is you don't have the element of serendipity. At least with a photograph, you can set up the camera, and something might happen. You might be a lousy photographer, but you can get a good picture if you just take enough of them.

- Sally Mann

Good, Writing, Least, Lousy

I have no animus toward digital, though I still pretty much take everything on a silver-based negative, either a wet plate or just regular silver 8x10. But I've started messing a little bit with scanning the negative and then reworking it just slightly.

- Sally Mann

Plate, Messing, Slightly, Regular

I'm not a good photographer, not a good writer. I'm a pretty regular person whose insecurity is so pervasive that it makes me always feel vulnerable.

- Sally Mann

Pretty, Always, Good Writer, Regular

I have a vivid, apocalyptic imagination.

- Sally Mann

Imagination, Vivid

Eventually, my highbrow parents, who so hated the Eisenhower suburban culture of the 1950s that the only magazines they subscribed to were 'The Atlantic' and 'The New Yorker,' broke down and got 'Life' magazine.

- Sally Mann

New, Broke, Highbrow, Subscribed

I don't like memoirs. I think they're self-serving, and people use them to settle scores, and I really tried not to do that. You have to have a really interesting life to justify memoir, and my life has been pretty ho-hum.

- Sally Mann

My Life, Been, I Think, Self-Serving

When I read, I take notes and underline things. So reading is a vigorous process for me, but I read in bed. My poor husband is trying to go to sleep, and I'm reaching over him to get the Post-it notes.

- Sally Mann

Husband, Bed, Notes, Vigorous

At the age of 16, my father's father dropped dead of a heart attack. And I think it changed the course of his life, and he became fascinated with death. He then became a medical doctor and obviously fought death tooth and nail for his patients.

- Sally Mann

Medical, I Think, Became, Tooth

Very few males have the confidence to appear vulnerable.

- Sally Mann

Very, Appear, Vulnerable, Males

It's usually so fraught when you're taking a picture. I work with an 8-by-10 view camera and there's a, you know, hood that I put over my head, and it's tricky and complicated.

- Sally Mann

Work, Over, Fraught, Camera

The whole nature of photography has changed with the advent of a camera in everybody's hand.

- Sally Mann

Nature, Everybody, Advent, Camera

The two sensibilities, the visual and the verbal, have always been linked for me - in fact, while reading a particularly evocative passage, I will imagine what the photograph I'd take of that scene would look like, even with burning and dodging notes. Maybe everyone does this.

- Sally Mann

Fact, Been, Notes, Sensibilities

You start blocking out things, and that's a really important part of taking a picture is the ability to isolate what you're - what you're concentrating on.

- Sally Mann

Start, Part, Concentrating, Blocking

I'm not an ardent feminist - well, maybe I am an ardent feminist. I just roll my eyes at the way women are constantly used and how sensitive men are about photographs of themselves.

- Sally Mann

Maybe, Roll, Ardent, Women Are

Each time you take a good picture, you have the wonderful feeling of exhilaration... and almost instantly, the flip side. You have this terrible, terrible anxiety that you've just taken your last good picture.

- Sally Mann

Last, Side, Almost, Flip

I couldn't be Susan Sontag. I'm not very good with abstract thought. I always just take to the emotional core of me.

- Sally Mann

Thought, Always, Very, Susan

Matte digital prints are gorgeous, don't you agree? But the glossy digital prints, I just can't stand that paper.

- Sally Mann

Digital, Agree, Paper, Prints

I have had a fascination with death, I think, that might be considered genetic for a long time. My father had the same affliction, I guess.

- Sally Mann

Think, I Think, Genetic, Affliction

When I read something, I picture that scene in that detail. That becomes very similar to composing a photo in real life.

- Sally Mann

Very, Similar, Read, Composing

I try and take the commonplace - and some of it is writ large, like death - take the commonplace and make it universally resonant, revelatory, and beautiful at the same time.

- Sally Mann

Some, Resonant, Large, Writ

It's a touchy subject, but as a Southerner, you can't ignore our history any more than a Renaissance painter can ignore the Virgin Mary. And it's impossible to drive down a road or eat a vegetable or pass a church without being reminded of slavery.

- Sally Mann

Church, Southerner, Subject, Vegetable

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