This paper discusses the photographer Sally Mann. Mann's photographs have often been regarded as controversial, and have evoked praise as well as condemnation and debate whenever they've been exhibited. Her large black and white prints, all shot with a more than hundred year old 8x10 camera, focus on her own family, her children and friends growing up in her home state of Virginia, observations of her environment, interactions of time and place, and of family and friends. Her work displays an intimacy and casualness, captured extraordinarily by the large format camera. Upon seeing her work for the first time, one may describe the images as "haunting", "comforting", or "disturbing". But no matter one's opinion of the work, few walk away from her images untouched.
