RD2-Initial reading of the image and first questions

Initial reading of the image and first questions:

This black and white photo features the portraits of three children, a boy and two girls. They are standing in different poses with the boy in the middle and two girls next to him. It is obvious that they are not wearing any top clothes and looking straight into the camera. Judging by the light effect, this photograph is likely to be taken in summer time with sunshine. Although the background is blurred, it is not hard to tell that the scene is set outdoor. However, the location is not quite apparent. It could probably be in the countryside or in a park.

The children pictured are at their young ages but was not afraid of being nude at all. They stand in three different postures of ‘don’t touch me’ and shows a very strong personality as if they looked through the camera to us. Even after more than a decade later, the photo still reveals an impressive yet invisible power. Mouths set, absolutely not smiling, they stare dead on into the eye of the camera, into the eye of whomever would dare stare at them. The tallest boy (presumably the eldest as well) wears pant underneath, nothing on top but some lucky chains. Whether or not the girls wear anything is unknown as the photo only shows the upper part of their bodies. They resemble by certain way of their appearance and hence may be close related, suggesting family members.

The boy’s hair is bit funky and puts his left hand around his waist. The girl on the right leans on to the boy and hugs herself as if to protect herself. She seems like a little bit shy to be seen naked. On the contrast, the girl on the left (presumably the younger one) posed bravely to the camera exposing her chest. She has cute curly hair and puts her hand in the waist.  

There is no doubt that this picture attracts a viewer’s eyesight instantly. Driven by curiosity, I will set off with the following questions to begin my research:

1, Who is Sally Mann?

2, Who are the children and what is the story of the photo?

3, Why do they appear in nude?

4, Why is it in black in white?

These are just primary questions that I raised for the photo. I had learnt Sally Mann’s fame as well as her controvertial work not long after. Yet these are still important for me to start off with my research. Simply by going through Sally Mann’s background can help a lot for my research to understand more about her images. More importantly, I hope the expanded knowledge I am going to learn  through the future research into these questions will lead me to certain stage of understanding the image in a different level.