July 1-July 5, 2023 Most Recent Posts:
Moose River Campground Dodging the Rain in the Northeast Kingdom
Site 20 Ten Days, Lots of Rain
St. Johnsbury Vermont
Note: This post suffers badly from being read on a phone. Its pictures need size or the detail is lost.
When I finished the 478 page autobiography of Sally Mann, Hold Still:A Memoir with Photographs, I was in awe of both her writing and her photography. For her photography, she uses antique black and white film cameras and values the imperfections inherent in these older time consuming methods. For her writing she did copious research as is evident and paired it with wonderful photographs.
While mine is not a purist technique, I thought it would be interesting to shoot a few black and white photos on some of the first 5 days of July. And to display them with nothing but place titles. This is the result. The “real” color post on my adventures with water in these days will come in the next post.
This is an homage to Sally Mann whom I find fascinating and immensely talented.
Site 21 Views
Molly’s Pond
Falling Waters
The inspiration for this post, Sally Mann’s Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs, is an interplay of her words and photographs.
Her subjects are family and location, particularly her farm in Rockbridge County near Lexington Virginia and the landscapes of the American South.
She traces her personal characteristics back through her family tree and tries to understand her parents and grandparents and their affect on her, her life and work. It’s a great personal history and a fascinating read.
I hope you’ll tell me what you think about this unusual post and its photographs.
Black and white photos tug at my heartstrings. I learned photography in college, and b&w was my passion at the time. My favorite photographer is/was Ansel Adam's. Good job Sherry!
ReplyDeleteWow thanks Laurie. There is definitely something about black and white photos. Adams is great.
DeleteBoy the water looks like glass, beautiful...
ReplyDeleteLove the waterfall too, thanks Sherry!
Things definitely look different in black and white. Hope you two get some good news soon.
DeleteGary was a black and white fanatic; he liked to shoot 4 x 5 plates back in the 80's. We put several of Adams' best up on our walls - a favorite. I guess I am more of a magpie; I dote on the shadings of colors. Your shots took me back to my early days of the 50's and 60's when b/w was all I could afford! Good work!
ReplyDeleteBlack and white makes me feel like I've gone back in time. It's hard to date a black and white photo. The Falling Waters pictures are my favorite, especially the ones with the dappled sunlight. Very interesting post. I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it, I really wasn't sure what folks might feel. She was quite inspiring. The ones of the campsite seemed haunting once I saw them..
DeleteHow fun that you were inspired to shoot in black and white! We're played around with B & W photography, too, and created a wall of photos of images of the Florida panhandle. The light on the rocks and water really shows up in your B & W photos, much more than if you were shooting in color. What a great idea to give yourself this exercise and share your photos!
ReplyDeleteI'll bet your wall of panhandle photos is wonderful. I really loved the Mann autobiography. What a life she has lived.
DeleteI prefer your normal narrative along with your photos... the narrative brings the photos alive and invites me to want to to have the same experience.... the black and white photos without narrative are interesting but would not keep me coming back for more... Maybe a mixture....
ReplyDeleteReally appreciate your comment here Roger. I have thought about putting commentary with the black and white but decided not to in the spirit of Sally Mann. I doubt I'll do another all black and white post and I'll be back to my normal color commentary with the next one.
DeleteHow fun! Love the pics inside Winonna and the kids stacking the cairns. I agree the water shots are very special. They all feel like story-telling. Now I'm inspired to do some B&W pics too :-))))
ReplyDeleteI was hoping they would tell a story on their own without any commentary. That's one of the reasons I put so many of the kids doing the Cairns because it did seem to tell that story. Thanks for this comment Jodee.
DeleteAs always you take intriguing photos Glad you are having such a good time Jacque Campbell
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear from you Jacque what are you up to? And thanks for signing your comment so I know who you were. Google makes me so irritated with their anonymous.
DeleteIt's different. An art form. I am so in love with light and color I'd make a lousy B&W artist.
ReplyDeleteThat was really cool! Loved it.
ReplyDeleteGood black and white shots.
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