Tonight I revisited one of my favorite photographers, Sally Mann, via a documentary called What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann. For years I've been drawn to and influenced by her images, but it wasn't until after I watched the documentary that I realized that I gravitate to her on behalf of a much deeper, mental standpoint. She spoke out about many personal philosophies such as aesthetics and existentialism which I can agree wholeheartedly with and could apply to my own thoughts about my photographs and life in general. Perhaps the best thing I took from this documentary was her extraordinary take on ordinary topics that have anchored my mind lately, her raw artistic motivation and consistent way of seeing the world photographically. Also, I felt a strong connection to her death series, What Remains with my decay series, Of What Remains. The titles are even inadvertently alike! Watching her speak and work allowed me to help define my own artistic visions with more clarity in ways I never thought about before.
Needless to say I'm feeling very refreshed and inspired to make new work. I highly recommend this video to all photographers out there reading this. Here are a few quotes I found especially inspiring:
"The things that are close to you are the things you can photograph the best. And unless you photograph what you love, you are not going to make good art."
"It's not that each picture is better than the next, it's that each picture ups the ante and every time you take on good picture, the next one has got to be better."
Quoting Hemingway, "'All you have to do is write one sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.' It's the same with a photograph. Whenever you get to the point where you're having trouble working and you've just hit the wall, just set up the camera and take one picture. It doesn't matter what you take a picture of."
Hello dear. So glad to hear you're feeling refreshed and inspired. I am feeling none of those. I've been so busy working at the restaurant I don't have any time for myself or let alone to make art. I miss our fun times of experiments and travels. We need to get together ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily! I'm sorry to hear that you haven't had much time for art lately. If it helps you feel better, I haven't had much time to shoot, either. It's so frustrating to have all kinds of inspiration coming at me from all directions but lacking the time or energy to create. *shakes fist at student loans*
ReplyDeleteI miss our photo adventures, too. It's too bad we don't live closer to one another, but we really need to make a point to get together and shoot soon! We could practice our portrait skills, make cyanotypes (I recently bought a kit), or explore an abandoned building or two (I have a handful I'd like to start photographing this fall up around your area for my second book). :-)
Umm yes let's seriously do that SOON! And... I was thinking of you the other day while driving.. We used to have an Indy car racetrack in my town, they removed the grand stands and its all grown up and ABANDONED.. so if you wanna check it out sometime I thought you might be interested. Where else have you been looking to go?
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