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
