what color film did sally mann use for her mexican landscapes?

[Brian C. Miller]

Why bother yourself over how Sally Mann did it then, and just look at the Cross Processing site? Unlike Forest Gump, "Every roll of film you develop is like a box of rabid hamsters. You never know what you're gonna get!"

You can load film forwards or backwards. You can process film in B&W, E-6, or C-41. Underexpose! Overexpose! Try them all!! Use really, really old lenses. Load lots of cheap, uncoated (Tiffen) filters on the front of your lens and point it into the sun. Find some horribly expired film.

Pondering has its limits!!! Take your camera, now, go forth and have some fun!

[jennirose]

Ms. Mann seems to make a big deal out of using wrecked equipment - as if that is neccessary to the inclusion of "feeling" in a photo. Schtick is what it is, maybe a bit if reverse snobbism as well. Perhaps she cannot make a technically good photo with any equipment, and so uses the beat up stuff.

The only time I've ever seen a big deal being made out of the equipment she uses is by folks on this forum...If you take a look at her older work you can see that she can produce technically excellent prints, but instead chooses to provoke certain moods and produce fine art as opposed to certain definitions of "perfect". I (obviously) personally enjoy her work, and the evolution it has taken. How boring it would be if she had just continued to take the same kind of picture for the past 30-odd years. Shows growth, in my opinion.

[Frank Petronio]

I remember her early B&W work. At risk of being slammed as a sexist old white man calling a spade a spade, she played off the fact that she was an attractive young female using a view camera - I knew a few of her teachers and contemporaries who were infatuated with her, much to her benefit. Not an insult to her as much as them because she couldn't help it if she was charming.

Those post-student/pre-kids pictures themselves were no great shakes and kind of muddy rather than using a full tonal range. So I can see her evolution and it's coherent, and she's to be respected for continuing to shoot throughout her life... I think her high point was with her kids when they were young and she's been struggling ever since. She's still an interesting photographer but now that she is no longer an attractive college girl or making provocative photos of her kids, she's having to confront the struggles and hardships that most of us oppressed, beaten down, unattractive, older white males have had to deal with for most of our miserable lives.

[jennirose]

Man, I sure hope that bolded part was sarcasm. Not gonna touch that one.

[Frank Petronio]

I'll stand by that, we're all victims of affirmative action and political correctness where mediocrity is rewarded based on some physical characteristic.

[Michael_4514]

I'll stand by that, we're all victims of affirmative action and political correctness where mediocrity is rewarded based on some physical characteristic.

Satchel Paige.

And getting back to the Sally Mann discussion, I like her work. I don't think that her success is disproportionate to her talent, I just think that most people with her level of talent don't achieve the same level of success.

[jennirose]

And getting back to the Sally Mann discussion, I like her work. I don't think that her success is disproportionate to her talent, I just think that most people with her level of talent don't achieve the same level of success.

I do agree there. In any creative field there are extremely talented people that don't make it. (Or, to look at a different area, just think about jazz musicians. So many of the most revered, talented musicians--people who actually made it in that industry--hardly made enough money to live off of.) And I think art is so subjective anyway, it's impossible to debate someone on why you do or don't like something because you're not going to change someone's visceral reaction to a body of work.

And Frank, sure mediocrity gets rewarded all the time but you can't be serious in your assertion that white male artists are being oppressed. Women and people of color have always had a harder time becoming respected in the art world (or, you know, the world in general). Just because a few have garnered praise as of late doesn't erase hundreds of years of history, or make them any less deserving of that praise. It's fine to not like her work but don't blame that on her being a woman, I hate to say it but it's coming off a bit misogynistic.

[Vaughn]

...where mediocrity is rewarded based on some physical characteristic.

In the past that physical characteristic was a white penis. At least with 'affirmative action and political correctness', the pool of qualified competent people available for jobs has been greatly increased in size.

Sally was founder and member of the Image Continuum, along with Ted Orland, David Bayles and others.

The Image Continuum Press was founded in 1973 as a support group for artists, concentrating on the private publication and circulation of original collaborative artists’ portfolios, journals and letters.

So what contributed to Sally's success was her activity with other artists. She just did not make photographs, but she was/is actively involved with the world of photography. She was not just sitting around mumbling about how no one appreciates her work, or that she was not getting the kudos that others were getting...or complaining on internet forums. She was/is doing real work.

[EdWorkman]

Frank
Lemme splain PC to you
You are not allowed to say the obvious out loud
You might get away with "But the Imperial Personage has no clothes"
Go back and read Orwell again
Now then about the pics- too late to ask now, but who here, without reading the label , would say "gee i like that, it's stellar"
rather than, "well nice first effort but why not try....."

[Frank Petronio]

ISo what contributed to Sally's success was her activity with other artists. She just did not make photographs, but she was/is actively involved with the world of photography. She was not just sitting around mumbling about how no one appreciates her work, or that she was not getting the kudos that others were getting...or complaining on internet forums. She was/is doing real work.

That's great. It doesn't make her work any better though. It just means she played the game well and achieved some success by virtue of outside factors. I am sure that is the case with most popular artists.

It might be more constructive to understand why Ted and David lavished so much attention on an attractive female student 15-20 years younger than they were when there was a surfeit of talented but male students struggling to get similar attention?

It's another form of sexism, it just happened to benefit her.

Women and people of color have always had a harder time becoming respected in the art world (or, you know, the world in general).

I'm sure they did in the past but now the pendulum has swung in the other direction. I never discriminated against women and I never owned any slaves. If anything my ancestors were slaves back in the old country. Why should I have to pay the price for sins of several generations ago? Equality should mean equality, not added benefits for descendants of earlier victims.