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LAST CALL TO Win a Solo Exhibition in July 2026 + An Exclusive Interview!
LAST CALL TO Win a Solo Exhibition in July 2026 + An Exclusive Interview!
Mark Mann
Mark Mann

Mark Mann

Country: United States
Birth: 1970

Mark Mann is a celebrity and advertising photographer. He was born in Glasgow, where he lived until he went to study in the prestigious photographic program at Manchester Polytechnic. Before long, the recent graduate was assisting innovative fashion photographers Nick Knight and Miles Aldridge, learning the ropes and building his own body of work. Three years later, Mark started shooting on his own, relocating to New York City.

Mark’s editorial work has appeared in Esquire, Men’s Health, Vibe, Spin, Fortune, Billboard, Parade and Complex, among others. He has shot countless celebrities, including Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Iggy Pop, Jack Black, the Black Eyed Peas, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Rihanna, Queen Latifah, Simon Baker, Stevie Wonder, Bradley Cooper, Willie Nelson, Sean Connery, John Hamm and Jennifer Hudson. Mark has amassed a sizable advertising portfolio, as well. His clients run the gamut: Reebok, Adidas, Hennessy, Bombay Sapphire, Pepsi, Gillette, Vitamin Water, NHL, Zumba, Ford, Chrysler and Svedka to name a few.

Mark has just completed a yearlong project for Esquire Magazine, The Life of Man. He shot 80 American men ages 1 through 80, to celebrate 80 years of Esquire Magazine. This project took Mark to the White House where he was honored to shoot the sitting president, as well as former President Clinton. He also shot numerous other notable people and celebrities all across the country.

Source: www.markmannphoto.com


Because so many of Mark Mann’s striking celebrity portraits are taken from just a few feet away, he’s often asked, “Why so close?”

“I’m not exactly sure where that idea of getting so close to my subjects came from. The simple answer is that I don’t like to have to shout to talk to people so—over the years—I’ve moved closer and closer. If you’re more than a few feet from someone, the nuances of what you are saying can be lost. And I always try to have a conversation to help make a connection with everyone I am photographing.”

He may start out four or five feet away from a subject but “bobs and weaves” or “creeps” (as he terms it) closer to three feet or so while chatting and shooting. “That means the camera can be just 24 inches from a person’s face, or smelling distance,” says Mann. He never uses a tripod because he’s always moving, changing his distance and angles.

He also shoots close up because he enjoys shooting wide open, explaining that helps give a "dimension” to his images. “They have a shallow depth of field, but I like that they almost feel three-dimensional,” he says.

“There’s another reason I like shooting close,” says Mann. “I just love faces. I love looking at them. I can inspect every detail, every angle of a face when I’m just a few feet from someone as I look through my lens. I could never get that close without the camera in front of me.”

Source: PPA


 

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Adam Bartos
United States
1953
Adam Bartos visited local speedways in rural New York, Florida and New Mexico where drivers race the super-stock class of car on quarter-mile dirt oval tracks. This elemental class of driver-owned racecar competes without corporate sponsorship, for minimal prize money, simply for the pure thrill and sport of weekend motor racing on tracks all over the U.S. The intrinsic aesthetic Bartos captures is that of a rather crude and utilitarian technology glamorized by the singularity of its purpose and accumulated patina, acquired at high speeds on dirt tracks.It is said that stock car racing originated in the 1920s, during prohibition, when "moon runners" began boasting about the speeds of their nighttime trips, often on backcountry roads, illegally transporting liquor. Soon they began to race with each other for sport on weekends. (Famously, Robert Mitchum played one of these runners in the 1950’s cult classic, Thunder Road).Adam Bartos’s work has been exhibited widely. His books include: International Territory (Verso, 1994), which looks at the aging modern architecture of the United Nations’ headquarters and, implicitly, the ideals which created it; Kosmos (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001), a then inconceivable look into the Russian space program; Boulevard (Steidldangin, 2005), a dialogue between Paris and Los Angeles; Yard Sale Photographs (Damiani Editore, 2009) and Darkroom (Steidldangin, 2012). His work is in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and others. In 2013, he was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet, a global award in photography and sustainability, for his series Yard Sale Photographs.
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United States
1939
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Marie Sueur
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Oliviero Toscani
Italy
1942 | † 2025
Oliviero Toscani was an Italian photographer whose groundbreaking and often controversial advertising campaigns revolutionized the intersection of art, commerce, and social commentary. Best known for his work with Italian fashion brand Benetton from 1982 to 2000, Toscani transformed advertising into a platform for provocative and thought-provoking messages on issues such as AIDS, racism, religion, and capital punishment. Born in Milan, Toscani inherited a passion for photography from his father, Fedele Toscani, a renowned photojournalist and co-founder of the Publifoto agency. After earning his diploma at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, Toscani began his career collaborating with leading magazines such as Elle, Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar. His early work set the stage for a career that would challenge conventions and ignite conversations worldwide. In 1982, Toscani became Art Director for the Benetton Group, where he created some of the most iconic and controversial advertising campaigns in history. Among these was the unforgettable image of David Kirby, a man dying of AIDS, which echoed the composition of religious pietà paintings. While some criticized the ad for exploiting tragedy to sell clothing, the Kirby family praised it for raising global awareness about AIDS. Other campaigns addressed themes of racial equality, war, and even the death penalty, pushing boundaries and reshaping public perceptions of advertising's role in society. In the early 1990s, Toscani co-founded Colors, a magazine created with American graphic designer Tibor Kalman. With the tagline “a magazine about the rest of the world,” Colors reflected the multicultural ethos of Benetton's campaigns while maintaining editorial independence. Toscani’s tenure at Benetton ended in 2000, but his impact on the brand—and the advertising world—remains indelible. A resident of Tuscany, Toscani continued to innovate beyond the fashion industry. In 2003, he founded La Sterpaia, a research facility dedicated to modern communication, in collaboration with the Regione Toscana. His later projects, including campaigns addressing anorexia and LGBTQ+ rights, further demonstrated his commitment to using photography as a medium for social change. Toscani’s career was not without controversy. His 2005 campaign for the clothing brand Ra-Re, featuring images of men engaging in intimate behavior, sparked outrage among conservative groups. In 2007, his stark portrayal of anorexia through the haunting image of Isabelle Caro drew both acclaim and criticism for its raw honesty. Despite these controversies, Toscani remained a cultural force. When Luciano Benetton returned to the helm of the Benetton Group in 2018, Toscani rejoined him, marking a new chapter in their creative partnership. That same year, he became a member of Italy's Democratic Party, further highlighting his engagement with societal issues. Toscani faced health challenges in his later years, battling amyloidosis. He was hospitalized on January 10, 2025, and passed away three days later at the age of 82. Oliviero Toscani's legacy endures as a testament to the power of photography to challenge norms, inspire dialogue, and provoke change. His work reminds us that art can be more than an aesthetic endeavor—it can be a catalyst for understanding and transformation in the world.
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