Image Analysis

Candy Cigarette is a powerful image which was taken in 1989 and is now displaying at the Nasher Museum (Caldwell, 2013). It is one of the pictures in the series titled Immediate Family of Sally Mann who is an American photographer and is well known for her early controversial series of black-and-white photographs of her three children – Emmett, Jessie, and Virginia (Caldwell, 2013). In the picture Candy Cigarette, 1989 (Sally Mann, 137) Sally Mann relies on a combination of intense contrasts and a special composition technique in other to capture and reveal the early maturity of Jessie.

Obviously, the contrasting technique which is used in multiple different ways in this piece reflects effectively the distinction between childish innocence and adult maturity. The first and most clearly contradiction is the tonal contrast – black and white colors. Looking at the picture, the viewers’ eyes could be drawn immediately to the white outfit and the bright, blond hair of the girl holding a candy cigarette in her hand which are in a stark contrast with the dark background as well as the dark color of the other girl’s dress (Sally Mann, 137). Typically, white color is associated with pureness, innocence, peace and happiness of the childhood and thus perfectly clashes with the black color which indicates the darkness, depression and strong emotion in an adult’s world. In this case, this technique not only creates an extremely sharp and clear mood but the contrast details and focuses the viewers to the main subject. It also leads them to the nostalgia of a past childhood. If the tonal contrast makes the main figure – Jessie with her candy cigarette stand out, the separation between her child face, her dress and the mature gaze plastered across her face and her posture then successfully mirrors the maturity in an innocent child. Indeed, through her straight look at the camera, viewers can easily capture a rebellious attitude and a stubborn personality which are often seen...