Like all photographers, I depend on serendipity, and when you're photographing children there's often an abundance of it. I would have an idea of what a photograph would look like and then something would happen - a dog might lumber in and become a critical element. I pray for what might be referred to as the angel of chance.
Sally MannI have nothing but respect for people who travel the world to make art and put exotic Indians in front of linen backdrops, but it's always been my philosophy to try to make art out of the everyday and ordinary.
Sally MannI don't see many artists who are not trying to bring their work to the public - -to the contrary I see artists nearly desperate to get attention for their art and, failing that, often for themselves.
Sally MannIf it doesnโt have ambiguity, donโt bother to take it. I love that, that aspect of photography - the mendacity of photography. Itโs got to have some kind of peculiarity in it, or itโs not interesting to me.
Sally MannThese dog bones are just making art the way art should be made, without any overarching reference. Just for fun, if you can imagine that-art for fun.
Sally MannAll the good pictures that came so easily now make the next set of pictures virtually impossible in your mind.
Sally MannThe fact is that these are not my children; they are figures on silvery paper slivered out of time. They represent my children at a fraction of a second on one particular afternoon with infinite variables of light, expression, posture, muscle tension, mood, wind and shade. These are not my children at all; these are children in a photograph.
Sally Mann