UNEASY Kickstarter - Sally Mann

While reading Sally Mann’s memoir last year I got to thinking about the day I photographed her in 1992. It was, in fact September 26, 1992, the day that the Immediate Family exhibition opened at the Houk Friedman Gallery in Manhattan. I meet her at the space before the event began, we shot a roll at the gallery, using the daylight coming in the front window, and then a couple of more a block away on 5th Ave, with her crouching by the street (with the MET behind her, cropped from the shot).

At the time I was keeping a Photo Diary to improve my skills, here is what what I wrote about the shoot:

HP5 Film (120)—on street crouching (processed normal)

After months of trying to get something together with editorial assignments it, finally happened rather casually with a couple of phone calls. I expect that it was Steve Manford’s [a college friend who became something of a photo-world curator] positive words about me that made it happen. She said something like, “He thinks very highly of you.”

I feel like these are snapshots, although perhaps with a little bit of a connection—she said that the shoot was relatively painless, does that mean that I didn’t push her enough? This shoot was perhaps an investment to do another more thorough shoot in Virginia.

A follow-up shoot in Virginia never happened, but I did receive a thank-you letter from Sally, written on the back of the contact sheet of Hangnail, 1989, from Immediate Family. I had sent her a print of my portrait, which she ended up using for some PR, and she was appreciative.

Top Image: My portrait of Sally Mann, to be included in the book Uneasy, Chris Buck Portraits 1986-2016.

Second Image: A scan of my photo diary, showing my notes on the Sally Mann sitting.

Third Image: The envelope I received from the Houk Friedman Gallery, with a press release and news clippings inside.

Bottom Image: Hangnail, 1989, by Sally Mann, from Immediate Family.