This photograph is taken from Sally Mann's series 'Immediate Family', and is titled 'At Warm Springs' in 1991.

Sally Mann is most famous for her portraits of her children and close relations, taken against the backdrop of her woodland home in Virginia, Sally Mann's black and white photographs of her children portray the universal qualities of dignity, individuality and intimacy. The series 'Immediate Family' was both critizised and acclaimed by the art world when it was shown in 1992. It was perceived as extremely controversial, as several images portray her children frolicking around in little or no clothing, and some would argue that these images were not suitable to be shown in public. The series arrived as the maelstrom surrounding the McMartin preschool sex-abuse trials in California was finally waning and the hysteria around the sexualizing of children perhaps seemed to be ebbing, but her portraits stirred controversy while they brought her fame, renewing concerns that America’s young were no longer adequately and safely kept.

The main subject of this photo is the young girl's head emerging above the water, surrounded by a reflected halo of light. This becomes the main focus, due to being surrounded by an ominous seeping area of black, whilst being highlight and 'protected' by the angelic white tone of the circle. In my opinion, this photo has a strong theme of protection. The white reflected highlight acts as a guard, encircling the young girl's emerging head and protecting her from the threatening black tone surrounding her. Tonal symbolism is important in this image; with the darkest tone of black symbolizing negative, evil and darkness whilst the striking white tone is playing the part of the innocent protector.
Mann has chosen, in my opinion, to shoot this photo in black and white to highlight the story of the protecting tones described above. I feel she has also done this to draw attention to the peacefulness of this shot, which is shown also in the young child's sleeping face, and the use of colour would have disrupted the fluidicity of the harmonizing tones in this image.
The most striking formal element for me, other than the tonal effect I have mentioned, is the texture in this image, which is one of the first things that my eye is drawn to in this image. The strikingly mattered texture around the young girl's head reminds me of a tree's roots, which adds another natural source to add further peace to this photo. The mattered hair does at first look distressed, but then my mind is drawn to the idea above, which again creates a protective, mystic barrier around the young girl. This area is also the most in-focus area in the photo, particually the area of hair closest to the camera.
This photo has a shallow depth of field, with a section of hair and the child's face in focus (the upper center of the image), which works to make the black surround look larger and more threatening, but also keeping this photo defined as a portrait, keeping the eye focused on the facial features of the girl.
Sally Mann used a 8 × 10 view camera to capture this portrait in fine detail. It looks as if this photo is taken from above the subject, giving the feeling of her being small and more innocent/vulnerable, but also perhaps stood at the edge of the lake, so that the young girl was only in the shallow area. The halo of light reflected in the water could be a studio light or some kind of artificial light placed high above the surface of the water to subtly light this image, as the dark tones would suggest that this photo was taken at night. It also allows the highlights to only gather around the child, and for the light to be controlled more effectively than if natural light was used.
This piece of art also reminds me of the mythical creature 'Medusa' who has snakes for hair, as from a distance, the hair transforms into either thicker strands which become bolder, or thinner wisps which fade away into the water, so this gives the impression of the thicker strands becoming snakes. I think that Mann has done this to add an air of mystery to the image, but also because Medusa's snakes served to protect her, and so it links in with the protection theme within this image.