Immmediate Family Analysis

Sally Mann’s photography book Immediate Family, published in 1992, has been acclaimed as one of the greatest photography books of our time. Book contains 60 photographs of Sally Mann’s children Emmett, Jessie and Virginia. Children were aged from one to six years of age when she began this decade long
Figure 1 Sally Mann’s children Virginia, Emmett and Jessie photography project in their family farm in Virginia Hills. Photographs are taken on 8 by 10 inch view camera. Sally Mann’s work has been exhibited across the world and held by such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, all in New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. (Aperture.org,
Children were very involved in the shooting process, and only time when they didn’t want to be photographed, as one of the children recalls, was the time when some of their friends were over, but their mother wanted to photograph. In an interview for New York Times Magazine Sally Mann tells how her children was teased at school after their nudes being published in news paper. Emmett told the kids that his mom pays him large sums of money for that, which was only partly true, because she was paying them only 25 cents per negative. "I was horrified, but the counselor thought that was great," says Mann. (Woodward, 2015) Apparently kids didn’t really care about nudity, and they also had veto power over the images, as example Emmett opposed on photograph where he had socks on his hands, because he didn’t want to look like dork, but Virginia didn’t want people to see her urinating. Sally Mann talks about the decision to publish the book in 1992 not ten years later as she was intending, because her kids would grow out of the bodies they were photographed in. It made kids angry, so she held family meetings; Emmett and Jessie were sent to psychologist to make sure they understand the issues. (Woodward,
An Interview with Jock Sturges (1994). [online] Available at: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/06/theory-interview-with-jock-sturges-may.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].
Aperture.org, (2015). Sally Mann - Immediate Family - Photography Book - Aperture Foundation. [online] Available at: http://aperture.org/shop/books/sally-mann-immediate-family-book [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].
Mann, S. (2015). Sally Mann’s Exposure. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-cost-of-sally-manns-exposure.html?mwrsm=Email [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].
Law2.umkc.edu, (2015). Robert Mapplethorpe Obscenity Trial (1990): Selected Links andBibliography. [online] Available at: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mapplethorpelinks.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].
Mann, S. and Price, R. (2002). Immediate family. London: Phaidon.
Woodward, R. (2015). The Disturbing Photography of Sally Mann. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-disturbing-photography-of-sally-mann.html [Accessed 15 Dec.