Project 1 ‘Layered, complex and mysterious…’

Part 4

Project 1 ‘Layered, complex and mysterious…’

‘Layered, complex and mysterious…’ is a quote from American photographer Sally Mann from an interview for Chinese Photography magazine in 2010, and reproduced on American Suburb X website (Rong and Mann, 2013). In this interview Mann describes how she perceives the difference between the quality of the light in the Southern states of the USA, as compared to the “North”. I interpreted her use of the term “North” here to refer to the northern states rather than the far north and high latitudes of the Arctic regions.

In this interview Mann emphasises her aims as being “less interested in the facts of a picture than in the feelings” and that “the facts don’t have to be absolutely sharp. I can get information across by appealing to viewer’s emotions.” (Rong and Mann, 2013)

The mysterious feeling she achieves in some of her work seems to be exemplified by her images of “Southern Landscapes”, such as this image, Deep South 03.

In this monochrome image the composition is achieved with areas of light and deep darkness, the shadows suggesting mystery. However the light areas of the image are hazy and unclear suggesting a mist.

I would argue that she achieves a similar effect in some of the images in her series “Family Pictures”, such as this Family Pictures 12.

Sally_Mann_Family_Pictures_12 — Family Pictures 12, Sally Mann

The background is similarly hazy and the light of the landscape diffuse. Whereas the subject is lit by a much more direct light on her hair.

However I also note from the extended biography on her website (Mann, 2020), that many of her black and white, have been created with photography’s antique technology. She has used an 8×10 bellows camera, and a variety of printing processes to produce pictures that “almost seem like hybrids of photography, painting, and sculpture”. In her 2010 interview she also says that “there is no coating on the lens of my old camera, which permits a much softer and more luminous light”.

It seems to me that Mann is achieving her objectives of communicating emotional and spiritual aspects of a subject by the use not only photographing with the optimal light for her intention but this is enhanced by the choice of equipment and techniques.

The course notes refer me to the work of Atget. The notes (p 83) cite Washington’s National Gallery of Art website as describing his late photographs, as:

“frequently marked by subjective light and deep shadows. Often made early in the morning, these pictures – such as Parc de Sceaux – use light and shadow to create a mood rather than to describe a place”

I was unable to find this description of his work on that website (Eugène Atget, 2020). I have, however, found other descriptions of his late work and his approach to lighting conditions which indicate this technique:

“Among the qualities that characterize Atget’s work are… a willingness to work in a wide variety of lighting conditions, even (especially during the last five years of his life) shooting almost directly into the sun, a practice that was religiously avoided by conventional photographers.” (Szarkowski, 2020)

This is illustrated by this image, where shooting into the sun gives deep shadow behind the foreground tree.

Saint-Cloud 1926 — Saint-Cloud, Eugène Atget

Other images of the parks have similar qualities to those I have shown above by Mann. Here the lighting also enhances a mood, rather than providing a documentary description of a scene as in Atget’s earlier work.

Like Mann, Atget used equipment and techniques which also enhanced that approach and added to the emotion and subtlety of the scene..

“Atget used a large view camera that held 7 x 9 inch glass negatives, standard when he began to photograph but antiquated by the end of his career, when smaller and more versatile cameras were available. He developed the negatives in his workroom and contact-printed them in sunlight on the roof of his apartment building. He usually printed on albumen papers, even well after most photographers had abandoned the process in favor of platinum and silver papers.” (Eugène Atget, 2020).

This is distinct from the approach of Michael Schmidt described in the course notes which quote from an interview with Schmidt in Camera Magazine #3, March, 1979. (Editorial @ ASX, 2010).

In the interview, Schmidt states his aims as “to achieve a maximum of objectivity and thus create a photograph which possesses credibility and authenticity as a document”.

Unlike Mann in particular, he sets out to create images such that “The viewer must allow the objects portrayed in the photograph to take their effect upon him without being distracted by shadows or other mood effects.”

He achieves this by photographing in a neutral diffused light. Furthermore he shoots in black and white.

“I prefer black and white photography because it guarantees the viewer a maximum amount of neutrality within the limits of the medium. It reduces and neutralizes the coloured world to a finely nuanced range of greys, thus precluding an individual way of seeing (personal colour tastes) by the viewer. This means that the viewer is able to form an objective opinion about the image from a neutral standpoint independent of his subjective colour perception. He is thus not emotionally distracted.” (Editorial @ ASX, 2010)

These principles are illustrated by images from his portfolio for the 2014 Pris Pictet, Lebensmittel (Michael Schmidt | Prix Pictet, 2013), such as this.