Jonathan Mannion

Jonathan Mannion (December, 1970) is a photographer and film director [ [http://www.videostatic.com/vs/sugar_management/index.html Video Static: Music Video News: Sugar Management ] ] . With English and American ancestry, he was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His father and mother are both well known Midwest artists.Vague|date=April 2008 His mother is from London and his father from Brooklyn. [According to Mannion, quoted in Meka Udoh, " [http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.1085 Jonathan Mannion: Desire] ", Hiphop Dx.]

College

Mannion studied at Kenyon College in Ohio. He graduated with honors, and soon recognized that he had cinematic and creative urges that he couldn't ignore any longer.Fact|date=April 2008 It was at that point, in 1996, that he moved from Cleveland to New York City.

New York and Richard Avedon

From his first days in Manhattan, he was driven and relentless. His favorite music, hip hop, was created in the Bronx only a mile or two from his first apartment. He understood the buzz of the city,Fact|date=April 2008 and it in turn inspired him in many ways.

Mannion worked for a year with photographer Richard Avedon [" [http://www.hwobs.com/events/09_28_07_event.php Jonathan Mannion Opening] ", Hollywood Obsessions, September 8, 2007.] in his Manhattan studio. Avedon had always been a major influence to Mannion as a young art student, so it was an experience that changed his perspectives radically. His influence in Mannion's work is very apparent, even a decade later.Fact|date=April 2008 Mannion went on to work with photographers Ben Watts and Marc Hom.Fact|date=April 2008

Jay Z, Hip Hop and Beyond

In 1996, Mannion was commissioned, in his first major record company contract, to take photos of Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z for the Reasonable Doubt album [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1138575&categories=Exhibits&venueid=791999 Jonathan Mannion: Photographs: Exhibitions on washingtonpost.com's City Guide ] ] [ [http://yourhere.mtv.com/clip.aspx?key=89092D3AD99391D5&ctx=feat Jonathan Mannion's Jay-Z portrait at Planet Hollywood's Sapporo event | MTV News You R Here ] ] [] [ [http://video.aol.com/video-detail/jonathan-mannion-photographs-best-bet-at-art/4016823631 Jonathan Mannion Photographs - Best Bet - AT Art - AOL Video ] ] . Mannion has gone on from that first assignment to photograph ten years of hip hop performers: Aaliyah, Eminem, Nas, Busta Rhymes , Lil Wayne and others. [ [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1588638/20080603/lil_wayne.jhtml Photographer Jonathan Mannion Dishes On Lil Wayne, DMX, More - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News ] ]

Album photography by Mannion

* Jay-Z - "Reasonable Doubt" (1996); "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1" (1997); "Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life" (1998); "Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter" (1999)
* Aaliyah - "Aaliyah" (2001)
* Nas - "God's Son" (2002)
* DMX - "Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood"
* Eminem - "The Eminem Show"
* Lil Mama - ""

Notes

References and links

* [http://www.jonathanmannion.com Mannion's site]
* [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1588638/20080603/lil_wayne.jhtml MTV News Segment, June 2008]
*http://www.dotspotter.com/news/788761_Aaliyah_In_a_Jonathan_Mannion_PhotoShoot
*http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1299131135&channel=196565916
*http://www.rebrand.com/page372.html
*http://www.videostatic.com/vs/sugar_management/index.html
*http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1138575&categories=Exhibits&venueid=791999
*http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.1085/title.jonathan-mannion-desire/p.2
*http://www.freshnessmag.com/v4/2006/06/26/jonathan-mannion-222-gallery-la/