Lou Manna
October 8th, 1956-Present
1. Personal Background: Lou Manna grew up in New York City. The bright lights of the city, and the lust of winter snowfall influenced his photography career. When he was eight years old he took his first really good photograph. A picture of a tree covered in fresh snow. From here he took his talents to the Brooklyn streets, and the rich architectural history of NYC. He attended Stony Brook University, where he continued to work on his skills. While he was born and raised in the states, he has some Italian culture rooted within him, making him interested in photography from Italy and other countries overseas. He speaks english, along with Italian, and is currently working on learning French. His most important life event that has to do with his career is when he sold his first picture. A campus picture sold to the Stony Brook newspaper, for $5.
2. Style: He said that his style, “is clean and simple.” Like I tried to mimic with my photos, the angles, and lighting were the most important thing to focus on. He pays close attention to detail in highlights and shadows. Since he can not historically be compared to any previous styles, he has sort of developed his own. Being a food photographer, he likes to “Create spectacular highlights with mirrors” to get the best food shots possible.
3.Philosophy: Lou Manna’s work is how he makes a living. Food and drink companies such as Coca Cola hire him to show off their products. The ideas behind his work were mostly generated from what the companies asked for. His work is supposed to show off products, a form of advertisement. He also gets hired by top notch NYC restaurants to show off their menu items.
4. Influences: Lou Manna has given me a new way to photograph food. Lots of detail to the background. And how every item is placed. He carefully photographs his food to get the best shot possible every time. He has influenced me to take my time, and care about the photos I take. It is fun to take really good pictures.
5. Sources:
6. Compare and Contrast: The cheeseburger picture, overall I think the picture closest to the original. From the lighting, to the cropping, they are very similar. The berries are also similar. Manna however has much better lighting, and can focus better on one berry instead on all of them. The mushrooms picture I would say is the least resemblant picture. The lighting is completely different no matter how much I worked on it. Overall though I think they turned out very good.
7. Personal Artist Statement: These pictures were for sure the ones I tried my hardest on. To try and match the backgrounds perfectly, I set up a little white “studio.” I used the back of white paper plates, and white tissues to recreate the scene best I could. The color, and tone really stood out in the photos, especially after editing. My favorite photo is the cheeseburger.
October 8th, 1956-Present
1. Personal Background: Lou Manna grew up in New York City. The bright lights of the city, and the lust of winter snowfall influenced his photography career. When he was eight years old he took his first really good photograph. A picture of a tree covered in fresh snow. From here he took his talents to the Brooklyn streets, and the rich architectural history of NYC. He attended Stony Brook University, where he continued to work on his skills. While he was born and raised in the states, he has some Italian culture rooted within him, making him interested in photography from Italy and other countries overseas. He speaks english, along with Italian, and is currently working on learning French. His most important life event that has to do with his career is when he sold his first picture. A campus picture sold to the Stony Brook newspaper, for $5.
2. Style: He said that his style, “is clean and simple.” Like I tried to mimic with my photos, the angles, and lighting were the most important thing to focus on. He pays close attention to detail in highlights and shadows. Since he can not historically be compared to any previous styles, he has sort of developed his own. Being a food photographer, he likes to “Create spectacular highlights with mirrors” to get the best food shots possible.
3.Philosophy: Lou Manna’s work is how he makes a living. Food and drink companies such as Coca Cola hire him to show off their products. The ideas behind his work were mostly generated from what the companies asked for. His work is supposed to show off products, a form of advertisement. He also gets hired by top notch NYC restaurants to show off their menu items.
4. Influences: Lou Manna has given me a new way to photograph food. Lots of detail to the background. And how every item is placed. He carefully photographs his food to get the best shot possible every time. He has influenced me to take my time, and care about the photos I take. It is fun to take really good pictures.
5. Sources:
- : Mushrooms on a white background - loumanna.com/fruits-vegetables
- Strawberries and Blueberries on a white background - loumanna.com/fruits-vegetables
- Cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato - loumanna.com/main-courses
6. Compare and Contrast: The cheeseburger picture, overall I think the picture closest to the original. From the lighting, to the cropping, they are very similar. The berries are also similar. Manna however has much better lighting, and can focus better on one berry instead on all of them. The mushrooms picture I would say is the least resemblant picture. The lighting is completely different no matter how much I worked on it. Overall though I think they turned out very good.
7. Personal Artist Statement: These pictures were for sure the ones I tried my hardest on. To try and match the backgrounds perfectly, I set up a little white “studio.” I used the back of white paper plates, and white tissues to recreate the scene best I could. The color, and tone really stood out in the photos, especially after editing. My favorite photo is the cheeseburger.