OK, Shannon - *you* mentioned it again. After the last go-round, I had my local library track down copies of both "Immediate Family" and "At Twelve" for me. (No, I'm not a perv - if I were, the Internet is a far better source - or so I'm told. <g>) I was going to keep quiet, but, since I've done my homework...
I've spent some time with both books and find that I am totally unoffended by either. I have shown them to about a half-dozen friends, both male and female; they are not offended. I was prepared to find at least soft porn after the descriptions here; I found engaging photos of the personal lives of an apparently happy and well- adjusted family.
I'm male, in my 60's, have lived in New England all my life, have two children (one of each) and two grandsons, so I 'm not a stranger to the "family thing". My background should make me conservative, and therefore more sensitive to "crossing the line" in photographs, but I felt very comfortable looking at Sally's family. I didn't feel that I was peeking, leering, or intruding.
Look at the opening photograph of "The Family of Man". Does the fact that we don't know the child's name make a difference? (Not to me.)
Check one of my all-time favorite photo books, "The World is Young", by Wayne Miller. Does the fact that (most of) his subjects are fully clothed make me any less of a voyeur? No, not really. These photos reveal very personal information about their subjects, just as Sally Mann's do. His are candid (for the most part); hers are staged (for the most part). They both put their subjects under a strong spotlight for us to scrutinize; they both do it well.
Chacun a son gout? That's fine by me - until someone tells my what my "gout" should be, or that it's wrong because it's not theirs.
Best wishes, =Bill On May 17, 2007, at 9:57 AM, Shannon Stoney wrote:
But perhaps this is straying too far off topic - apologies to any grumpy old farts who are offended.Let's talk about whether Sally Mann digitally manipulates her family to make them look more like porn stars. ;-)--shannon====================================================================== ======================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.
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