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I choose to review the works of Sally Mann for this assignment. Mann is known for her images of the Southern United States that capture the slowed nature of the South. She is known for her provocative black-and-white photographs, often capturing her own family and the landscape. Her distinctive style utilizes collodium as her medium and she produces gelatin silver contact prints from collodion wet-plate negative giving her photos a timeless feel. Mann embraces the imperfections of this technique and her equipment and encourages the imperfections to be part of the story portrayed in her images. I choose to highlight three of her photographs for this assignment each from a different collection.

Reviewing Sally Manns work introduced me to a new technique that can be used in photography. I was first drawn to Mann’s work because of the ominous feel her photographs convey. Learning that she created these feelings on purpose through her use of large-scale cameras and the collodium technique showed me the importance of choosing the correct materials to create images. Evaluating her work also introduced me to the idea of purposefully allowing for imperfections or purposefully causing them. Mann believed that the flaws in her images allowed for poetic potential. I believe these flaws and the use of unique techniques made her images more impactful. Mann's work not only broadened my understanding of photographic techniques but also deepened my appreciation for the deliberate storytelling within her images.