family matters.

In the upcoming Future Heirlooms the featured artist mentions photographer Nan Brown as a current fave. So I clicked over to check her work out.  Without a doubt Nan is a gifted photographer in the sense that her exposures are near perfect with control and zone at its best.

Her concepts seem a little derivative seeing obvious influences of Sally Mann and Edward Weston in her use of zone techniques and composition. With her series intimacies she put a huge challenge out in front of herself by approaching such a similar subject as Mann- who did it with utter perfection.

Sometimes the compositions feel overly familiar. But in moments, most often when the time period and class of the individuals becomes more apparent, she puts her thumb on something unique and fresh.

I most prefer the shots that seem less like someone who knows photography and more like someone who knows their own individual eye as a viewer behind the lens.  The images of, I assume her children, are powerful much like Mann's. But unlike Mann's they become strongest when they are individualized and less aesthetisized.

She spent a long time working as a studio photographer and took an extensive hiatus for health reason- so it will be very interesting to see what she does now that she is working again and away from the confines of the studio. Definitely a photographer worth knowing about and looking into.

See more here.