As soon as I finished the last page and closed the cover, I turned to page one and began reading it again. If you strive to be a better mother or daughter, or a more insightful human being, Hold Still needs to be with you at all times…. If you want to be an artist, carry it around like your Bible. “ prose examines Southern life as closely as her camera lens examines the Southern landscape, and Hold Still explains not just her photographic technique, but also her resolve to look head-on at things most people would rather not see.” - Associated Press

“Hold Still, multigenerational in its scope, southern in its humor, and Nabokovianin its ambition, is gorgeously written and convincing.”- The Atlantic “A boldly alive, bracingly honest, thoroughly engrossing, sun-dappled, and deeply shadowed tale of inheritance and defiance, creativity and remembrance by an audacious and tenacious American photographer.” - Booklist (starred review) “The twilit aura that makes Sally Mann’s photographs so evocative comes through just as strongly in her writing.” - USA Today

The abiding and precious gift of this book is precisely this: Mann’s highly personal exploration of her passion, and her perseverance.” - Claire Messud, Bookforum It flows like wine-fueled gossip.” - Boston Globe “Intelligent, heartfelt, hilarious, disarming…. The vivid descriptive energy and arresting images in this impressive book will leave readers breathless.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A record of life that is intimate, outrageous, frank, and fearless. “ Hold Still a glorious marriage of words and pictures, a courageous and visually ravishing memoir.” - BookPage “ wonderfully weird and vivid memoir-generously illustrated with family snapshots, her own and other people’s photos, documents, and letters-describes a life more dramatic than I had imagined.” -Francine Prose, New York Times Book Review An instant classic among Southern memoirs of the last 50 years.” -Dwight Garner, New York Times A cerebral and discursive book about the South and about family and about making art that has some of the probity of Flannery O’Connor’s nonfiction collection ‘Mystery and Manners’ yet is spiked with the wildness and plain talk of Mary Karr’s best work….

“ Hold Still… weird, intense and uncommonly beautiful new memoir….

Hold still a memoir with photographs