I  have been an admirer of Sally Mann for a long time.  I became aware of her photography just as my own love of portraiture was blossoming.  While we have never met, we are  contemporaries and my kids are the same age as hers. There are far more points of departure than confluence in our lives, but those intersections have had an impact on my view of Mann and her visual and written work.  Beyond all that, I deeply appreciate much of her photography just as I admire much about her as an artist.  Thus, when I learned that her autobiography (“Hold Still”) was about to be published I was anxious to read it. I found it to be entirely compelling and a great source of artistic wisdom.  She is a strong writer and has a lot to say on subjects far beyond the controversy by which so many people know her name..