After reading my review (of sorts) of the Malick Sidibe book, Sean Hallisey emailed me with some comments about Dash Snow; and he wrote this following paragraph, which is too interesting not to share (quoted with permission, of course).

“You say that unlikely comparisons elicit interesting insights. It may be an obvious comparison, but why not compare Dash Snow to Weegee? They both are concerned with the 1 AM - Dawn time frame, the illicit and the taboo, the unusual and unglorified (Dash did not glorify anything, I actually think that he showed people in those Polaroids in the most compromised of positions, and it is perhaps our own insecurities that prevent us from saying, ‘this is disgusting why are we watching?’). The crucial difference between Dash and Weegee is that Dash could just as easily have been a subject of a 21st century Weegee. Maybe photography has come full-circle then, where the would-be subjects opt to document themselves instead of delegating such a responsibility to the Weegees? And if Dash Snow’s Polaroids are the turning point of this trend, doesn’t that make them incredibly important?”

This looks like a good topic for someone to pick up and write about…