Blog

NFL - Playoff Weekend

AdrianPeterson15I received a request from a magazine today to pull files of all the players I had shot portraits of that are playing this weekend. Here is what I came up with. Should be great weekend of football.group agoup b

Esquire Russia

Here is a peek at the Russian edition of Esquire Magazine that I have to say is full of amazing design and photography. They ran a series of my photographer portraits this month. Be sure to check out the contributor pic! Who is that handsome Cyborg?

Contributors Page

Mary Ellen Mark and Donna Ferrato

Marty Lederhandler and David Levinthal

Lyle Owerko and Donna De Cesare

Roberto Salas and Harry Benson

David Hume Kennerly and Roxanne Lowit

Douglas Kirkland and Nick Ut

Elliott Erwit and Jeff Widener

Shawne Merriman - 56 Limited Edition Prints

I recently had one on my portraits of Shawne Merriman licensed by the NFL and set up a private signing with Shawne. The 30x30 inch photo is limited to an edition of 56 and we are now excepting orders for the holidays. Prints may be purchased both framed and unframed.If you have questions or are interested in buying one of these images, please call the studio 619-543-9959 or email Chris@mantoani.com.

Kurt Warner - USA Weekend

Kurt Warner photographed in Phoenix

Look out in your Sunday paper if you get USA Weekend. We shot the cover story of Kurt Warner, their 2009 Most Caring Athlete. The last time I photographed Kurt it was in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl when he was a Ram. The PR team from The Cardinals were a big help in setting up the shoot that took place at their practice facility after practice.  Please read the article and you will see why this award is so well deserved.

http://www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/091122/091122kurt-warner.html

Nice to see a successful player making the world a better place. Congrats Kurt! To learn more about his charity please visit http://www.kurtwarner.org/

Behind Photographs - Farmani Gallery Opening

Behind Photographs show at Farmani Gallery

My 10 days in NY were a blur. A partial show of my photographer portraits opened at Farmani Gallery in Brooklyn. Elizabeth, Hossein and the Lucie Crew did an incredible job of getting the word out, thanks for your efforts and packing the house! The show featured 20x24 Polaroids of the Lucie Lifetime Award winners from my project and a wall of 8x10 images of the other photographers documented to date. I also took the 20x24 Polaroid Camera to Javits for the Photo Plus Expo and managed to shoot another 19 photographers for my Behind Photographs project. Mark Seliger, James Nachtwey, Michael Halsband, Bob Gruen, Joyce Tennison and Art Streiber were just a few who took the time to share their time and images. I will have their portraits up on my site in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone that came out to Dumbo and Javits, your support and enthusiasm is appreciated.

The photograph of the photographer (Henry Grossman), photographing the photographer (Alfred Wertheimer), photographing the photographer (Tim Mantoani) that photographed the photographers.

[Over one hundred 8x10 portraits from the project on display at Farmani Gallery

Easton Hockey

easton hockey webpage blogI was on site for the press conference the day Danny Heatley joined The San Jose Sharks. We had photographed Danny two weeks prior and had to shoot him a second time in his new colors. It was fun seeing a player in his new jersey for the first time and being the first to photograph him as a Shark. Danny is a class act and always a pleasure to photograph. Here is a look at a few of the new Easton Hockey website and a few catalog covers/backs for 2010, there are 10 total. chara blog parise cover blogheatley cover blog

EA Active - More Workouts

ea active more workoutsMy photos are the on the gamebox for EA Active, More Workouts, in stores today. We shot the images in my studio a few months back. If you haven't had the chance to try EA Active, it is a killer. You have been warned about the lunges! The first time I did the workout, I figured a Wii workout couldn't be that difficult. I was seriously wrong. EA Active totally kicked my ass! Nice to see the product has done so well and the new add-on game is out for the holidays.

Behind Photographs - Opening in Brooklyn

This Friday Eve is the opening of my show in Brooklyn. It is one of the official events of Lucie Week! Thanks to The Farmani Gallery and the folks at The Lucie Foundation who have been supporters of my project and getting the word out. The show will feature 20x24 Polaroid images of 18 Lucie Lifetime Achievement winner and over 100 8x10 images. Tim-Mantoani-evite_blogI will also be shooting more 20x24 Polaroids for the project from the 19-23. Please join us on the 16th if you are in NY.

Punta Brava - Tiger's New Design

tucker_tearsA few months back, I had the opportunity to drive south to Punta Brava near Ensenada, Mexico. I was shooting for Private Clubs Magazine, covering a member profile on Brian Tucker. Brian and I shared the ride across the border and I learned that he is the founder and principal of Punta Brava, a 300-acre development that will include 120 homes and one of a few, Tiger Wood's - designed golf courses.The property which sits below a steep mountain, is perfectly positioned  just above sea level, and is magical to say the least. Brian worked hard for this, putting his faith and instinct on the line to see his dream come to life. Currently, story poles serve as tee boxes and hole markers, while the rest of the land appears to be untouched by man (with the exception of a small, but rather picturesque lighthouse).

We arrived on site and the fog was thick, covering the rock cliffs, not giving us much of a "picture" of the ocean. After waiting for over two hours, on the site of one of the several, over-the-water tee boxes, we decided it would be best to head back to town for lunch and return in the afternoon. Several hours later, our patience paid off as the fog cleared and a stunning, blue sky and view of the Pacific were there to greet us. I hope I can return when the project is complete, to say this course will be epic is an understatement.

I lit the image with a single strobe &  large Chimera softbox; my Profoto battery packs were the perfect solution for this location set-up. To exaggerate the blue sky and water, the ambient exposure was about 2/3 of a stop under the meter reading for my main, strobe lighting.

pano_web

3 Cheers from Prairiefire on 3-D Contrast

 3d contrast revised front

 

Here is a link to a review on my 3-D Contrast lighting video. Thanks to Steve and crew for the kind words about our hard work. He has posted a video sample as well. We still have a limited supply at the studio for sale if you are interested, just drop Luis Garcia an email: Luis@mantoani.com

Check it out here : http://prairiefireproductions.com/2009/08/review-3-dimensional-contrast-principles-of-lighting-for-the-digital-age/

3-d graph ball

Mark Sanchez - New York Magazine

ny_mag_blog2I was happy to see that Mark Sanchez put up a "W" in his first game as a Jet. It was a great weekend to kick off the NFL season and how about those 49ers and Chargers?! Here is a spread from New York Magazine with my pic of Mark Sanchez. I have had the opportunity to work with Mark a few times this year and he seems like a stand up guy. As the dad of an 8 year old boy that is getting more and more into pro sports, we could use a few more athletes that can not only be amazing on the field, but off the field as well.

Upper Deck Rookie Cards

I've been hunting around for which of my images ended up on Upper Deck football cards this year. Here are a few that I have found so far. It is always fun to see where these images end up. Thanks to the Upper Deck design crew and my editors for doing a great job this year.matt staffordmark sanchezkenny Brittpat_whitetyson Jacksonaaron currybeanie_wellspercy harvinRhett Bomermike_wallace

Tintypes, something old is new again.

At the beginning of the year, I enrolled in a wetplate collodion workshop with Will Dunniway (www.collodion-artist.com) in Corona, California. The class, which lasted two days, was a crash course on the basics of making tintypes and glass negatives. This process was invented by Fredrick Scott Archer and dates back to 1851. For the life of me, I can't believe he figured out how to make this process work. It is a time consuming process that requires you to sensitize, shoot, develop and fix the plate while it is still wet. A bit toxic, but the uncertainty of it all is magic.

I went back to work with Will again to see how I could create some tintypes of my athlete portraits and to shoot some tintypes of some model cars for a book project. Here are a few images we created.

O.J. Mayo

Darren McFadden

Deadly Comet

Dwayne Jarrett

Behind Photographs Opens at Brooks Gallery 27

Here are a few pics from the opening at Brooks Institute. I was able to hang over 80 images from my project. Since the show will be up for two months, I plan on swapping out some of the images at the first of September. This will give me the opportunity to share all of the images to date. Special thanks to everyone that came to the opening and to Brooks for hosting a great evening.

Behind Photographs - Brooks Institute


I've been in Santa Barbara the past few days hanging prints for a show at Brooks Institute's Gallery 27. This is a partial show of my Behind Photographs Project. There are 40+ 20x24 Polaroids in the show and 40+ 11x14 prints. It is great to be back in Santa Barbara and very fulfilling to have this show at Brooks. Hard to believe it has been 18 years since I graduated! The opening is tomorrow night 8/6/09 from 5-8, please drop in if you are in town.