Has anybody seen Sally Mann Camera

[Mikael01]

Hi!

Is there anyone who knows the lable/brand of the camera
that Sally Mann use?

[EdSawyer]

She uses several different cameras, last I knew. Mostly large to ultra-large format.

[Joseph Dickerson]

I thought I saw a video with her using a Toyo metal field. Don't remember if it was a 4x5 or an 8x10.

JD

[Light Guru]

What does it matter the camera does not make the image the photographer does.

[John Kasaian]

More unique are the lenses she uses.

[Mark Sampson]

I seem to recall seeing her in Toyo ads with their 8x10 field camera. That was a few years back- late 1990s maybe.

[Alan Gales]

More unique are the lenses she uses.

It would be awful hard to find lenses identical to hers! :)

[Brian Ellis]

If you Google "Sally Mann" you'll find many videos about her including a 3 or 4 part documentary that PBS or somebody did. Many of the videos show her working with her camera(s).

[Mikael01]

Thanks everbody!

I was just curious, because I saw some pictures on the internet and could not recognize the label.
Thanks again. super!

[E. von Hoegh]

It would be awful hard to find lenses identical to hers! :)

I hear you can get them from reputable dealers on epay.

[Thom Bennett]

92660


I seem to recall seeing her in Toyo ads with their 8x10 field camera. That was a few years back- late 1990s maybe.

[Alan Gales]

I hear you can get them from reputable dealers on epay.

;)

[Louis Pacilla]

Look what she's using now.

[jumanji]

Louis, it's View 2, not 2D :p

[Thom Bennett]

92691

Maybe an 11x14?

[Steve Barber]

Hi!

Is there anyone who knows the lable/brand of the camera
that Sally Mann use?

I do not know what other cameras she has used, but, as to her work, Immediate Family, I am familiar with the camera and lens she used, because I bought them from her. The camera is a Toyo 810M and the lens is a Rodenstock 300mm f5.6 APO-Sironar-N. With the purchase, she gave me a signed copy of her book.

I bought it, because it was competitively priced and was what I was looking for, as a beginner’s 8x10. She teased me about trying to use it to achieve her level of artistry, but I had no illusions and I have been neither disappointed nor pleasantly surprised in that regard. The reason for buying her camera against others I considered was the potential for added value as a collector item over and above its intrinsic utilitarian value and the purchase included a lens that met my needs.

[John Kasaian]

The trouble with buying cameras and lenses from famous photographers is that they've already used up all the iconic, award winning shots out of them, and thats why they are for sale!:rolleyes:

[Steve Barber]

The trouble with buying cameras and lenses from famous photographers is that they've already taken all the award winning shots out of them, and thats why they are for sale!:rolleyes:

No, I can definitely say that is not a correct statement. In the narrow sense, as in all of the award winning shots of your immediate family, it may be correct, but for landscapes, architecture and flora, that old camera still has a lot to give.:D

[Jim Galli]

Look what she's using now.

This is a revelation! Sally Mann uses a light tight box that only lets the photons come in through the lens glass???!!!

[giganova]

Reviving an ancient thread because I am fascinated by her technique and would like to learn more about it. ;)

Sally Mann plays fast & loose. Her tripods are unstable, her camera standards wobble and creek, the bellows have light leaks, dust, dirt, and her finger prints are all over the lenses, some lenses have broken glass elements, she looks into the sky and says "Ah well, I guess 1 min exposure, we'll see," she asks her subjects to repeatedly blink during long portrait exposures to make the eyes look weird, she sprinkles dust on her wet plates, etc. She seems to invite surprise elements that are out of her control to contribute to her photos, which I find remarkable.

[Corran]

There's a lot of good info in this thread previously it seems.

I recently saw her big show here in Atlanta. I love her early work, the portraits of her family. I am not a fan of her more recent work that centers around "landscapes." There was little mention in this retrospective show about her "Body Farm" (https://www.sallymann.com/body-farm) work (discretion advised when looking at this if you don't want to see literal dead bodies) which I was also interested in as a concept. Perhaps a bit too much for a public art musuem.

I would say she is one of the big reasons why folks started shooting more wet plates with lenses that didn't cover the format. She also doesn't strive for "perfect" plates. I like the work that was more formalized myself.

[Roberto Nania]

I love her work from Immediate Family, At Twelve and the recently purchased Deep South.
She wants more unpredictability in the photographs, maybe some signs of the "gods of photography" (she says something like that in one video of her on the network).
I really like this approach, as I like it in Michael Ackerman and, in a different way, in Deborah Turbeville and Paolo Roversi.
It is good to have a vague idea of what equipment she uses but at the end, as usual, is not relevant.
I will look forward to read Hold Still, I heard very good reviews here in the forum.

She is a master

[EdSawyer]

Hold Still is a great book. I agree with Corran that her Family pictures and At Twelve stuff are her best, at least to my taste. Frankly, everything else she has done since then has been not as good, in multiple ways. The landscape stuff just isn't inspiring. Body Farm is interesting but not nearly as much as her earlier work. I saw her big retrospective show in MA and it was a nice show, well seen with lots of variety. I wish she would publish another volume of material from the Family pictures, particularly some of the color work too.

[paulbarden]

I love her work from Immediate Family, At Twelve and the recently purchased Deep South.
She wants more unpredictability in the photographs, maybe some signs of the "gods of photography" (she says something like that in one video of her on the network).
I really like this approach, as I like it in Michael Ackerman and, in a different way, in Deborah Turbeville and Paolo Roversi.
It is good to have a vague idea of what equipment she uses but at the end, as usual, is not relevant.
I will look forward to read Hold Still, I heard very good reviews here in the forum.

She is a master

Roberto,
If you like audio-books, then please consider getting Hold Still as an audio-book: Sally reads this herself, and it definitely adds depth and authenticity to the story.

[Pere Casals]

Hi!

Is there anyone who knows the lable/brand of the camera
that Sally Mann use?


The important thing is not the camera, the important thing is the shutter and the integrated eye meter, see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o62-YMQHeoI


As time passes technology advances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICLG3HCDlhk&t=27s

[giganova]

The important thing is not the camera, the important thing is the shutter and the integrated eye meter, see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o62-YMQHeoI


Haha, that is fantastic! Eye meter, her hand as the shutter, and her head as stabilizer when the dark slides go in/out -- brilliant!

[Pere Casals]

Haha, that is fantastic! Eye meter, her hand as the shutter, and her head as stabilizer when the dark slides go in/out -- brilliant!

Yeah, I missed the VR. :)

But the great thing is all that ended in the most impressive prints many have seen on a wall. A massive silver print enlarged from a 8x10" wet plate is something extraordinary, it plays in another division ...this is beyond the artistic work, of course.

[Drew Wiley]

It's like making famous cheese. If you want the same level of quality, you need the same species of mold between the lens elements that she deliberately had in certain pictures.

[Pere Casals]

It's like making famous cheese. If you want the same level of quality, you need the same species of mold between the lens elements that she deliberately had in certain pictures.

It's not about specific gear... it's about authenticity and about being a true artist.

A true artist is able to create amazing art by using the bottom of a coke bottle. We discuss about lp/mm.

If a true artist finds a powerful crack in the middle of the lens he sees an opportunity. If he finds a tack sharp lens then he also sees an opportunity. It's the indian and not the arrow.

[Roberto Nania]

Hold Still is a great book. I agree with Corran that her Family pictures and At Twelve stuff are her best, at least to my taste. Frankly, everything else she has done since then has been not as good, in multiple ways. The landscape stuff just isn't inspiring. Body Farm is interesting but not nearly as much as her earlier work. I saw her big retrospective show in MA and it was a nice show, well seen with lots of variety. I wish she would publish another volume of material from the Family pictures, particularly some of the color work too.

Actually, I like the picture that are in Deep South a lot. Of course it is something very different from her portrait of young girls and her family.


Roberto,
If you like audio-books, then please consider getting Hold Still as an audio-book: Sally reads this herself, and it definitely adds depth and authenticity to the story.

Thank you Paul, maybe I will do it after actually reading the book; I'm not mother tongue English/American and I could loose a 10-15% while listening; reading gives me the time to go to the dictionary in the worst case. I afforded Avedon's Something Personal by Norma Stevens in that way and it worked almost ok (actually I think it is written in some kind of NY slang because some abbreviations and expressions were so strange).


The important thing is not the camera, the important thing is the shutter and the integrated eye meter, see here:

As time passes technology advances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICLG3HCDlhk&t=27s

Thank you Pere! This Galli shutter is the answer I was looking for to use a 210/4.5 Tessar I want to purchase.


It's not about specific gear... it's about authenticity and about being a true artist.

A true artist is able to create amazing art by using the bottom of a coke bottle. We discuss about lp/mm.

If a true artist finds a powerful crack in the middle of the lens he sees an opportunity. If he finds a tack sharp lens then he also sees an opportunity. It's the indian and not the arrow.

It is so.

[Kirk Gittings]

The trouble with buying cameras and lenses from famous photographers is that they've already used up all the iconic, award winning shots out of them, and thats why they are for sale!:rolleyes:

:)

[Kirk Gittings]

This is a revelation! Sally Mann uses a light tight box that only lets the photons come in through the lens glass???!!!

:)