Sally Mann

Sally Mann creates a dramatic focal point in this photograph, Shiva. Not only do lines along the tops of the trees and along the open car doors and the body on the ground all point to Mann's daughter in the center, but Mann develops the photo so that the girls skin is dramatically lighter than the rest of her surroundings. The lightness in the center of the image highlights the feeling of carefree innocence that a young girl might feel--hair loose, playing naked in a beautiful field. Yet the darkness of the rest of the photo evokes an eerie reminder of the forboding connotations of the situation--the budding sexuality, the vulnerableness. The juxaposition of light and dark in this photo really emphasizes the fragility of childhood immersed in a harsh world.