Essay about Phtography - 1763 Words

Sally Mann’s photographic work has received both reverence and controversy, most notably her book Immediate Family (1994), which contains nude and suggestive photographs of her three children, has also sparked overwhelming critical discussions and speculation, whilst challenging the prevailing concepts of family and childhood in the United States. Produced immediately after the Reagan revolution, which reinstated family values and a more conventional moral sensibility as vital to the framework of public policy (Berlant, 1997, p. 7), Mann’s work has resulted in her immersed into debates surrounding child pornography, the inversion of familial relationships, motherhood, and conveying a complex notion of the maternal gaze. Hà ©là ¨ne Cixous†¦show more content†¦A recumbent young girl is depicted in the photograph next to a decrepit rocking horse - a dualistic symbol of childhood innocence and emerging sexuality: â€Å"Just as the riding of a horse is an obvious symbol for the sex act, and ‘riding’ was once the common sexual verb, so the rocking-horse stands for the child’s imitation of the sex act, for the riding which goes nowhere† (Stoltzfus, 1996, p.33). The girl is surrounded by squash, all luminous under the winter light. The light playing off the figures, particularly the ghostly images of the ducks and hens behind the horse, produces a glowing quality, a style comparable to that of Man Ray’s discovery and production of photograms, and makes the image as a whole appear as part of a hypnagogically-induced state. Her eyes are presented as half-lidded, and her arm placed strategically between her legs, modestly covering herself. She appears serene, and is transformed into a quasi-Madonna like figure, her body free from marks or flaws of any kind, conveying a pure and natural state. This image, on a basic level, deals with what a child sees compared to what an adult sees. This relates back to Mann’s theme of the fantastical. The viewer is taken, as it appears, into the small subspace of the imaginative world that often disappears after childhood has. Correlating with this, the toy horse has been placed lying down in the dirt, its paint peeling. The fact that the horse hasShow MoreRelatedPhotography Books and the Photographers Who Created Them1045 Words   |  4 Pagesletter to his family. Alfred Steglitz published Camera Work, a photographic journal, from 1903 to 1917. the journal was known for its high -quality reprints of important photographs from all over the world. With its editoral part it helped phtography as a fine art on par with painting and sculture. It also helped establish many phtogrphers careers and made their art more economicaally viable. Walker Evans decided in the summer of 1936,to take a leave of absence from the Resettlement AdministrationRead MoreThe Origins Of Psychiatric Photography1545 Words   |  7 Pagesscientific books to be published with photographs (Lansdown, 52). This new medical tool greatly inspired Doctor Diamond and many others to use it in their medical pratice. Before Becomoing the Father of Psychartic Photgraphys Doctor Diamond, used phtography to diagnosis and treat his pyschartic pateints. Prior to this, Hugh Welch Diamond was born in Kent in 1809, in a middle class background. Little is known about Diamond bacjground but what we do know is his father was a surgeron and later workedRead More Progression of Photography Essay1691 Words   |  7 Pagesknown as digital cameras and the art of making digital images is called digital photography. Works Cited Digital Photography. Digital - Photography - Tips. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/history-of-digital-phtography-early-days.html. History of Photography. About Inventors. About.com, Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventionsa/stillphotography.html. What is Digital Photography. Make Use Of. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-digital-photography/