Artist: Michael Muller

Michael Muller is an American photographer made famous by his advertising and celebrity photography. His list of celebrities includes Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Downey Jr, Shepard Fairey, Hugh Jackman, and Alec Baldwin. He has also taken shots featured on movie posters such as Iron Man and X-Men Origins. 

As a child, Michael and his family were based in Saudi Arabia, but traveled to 40 different countries. During these trips, Michaels father would take a lot of photos. With this influence constantly around him, he found himself drawn to photography. As a teen growing up in North Carolina, Muller became involved in the snowboarding scene. This led to the beginning of his professional career. In fact, the first 5 published photos Michael ever had were of snowboarders. After this initial success, he spent the next 5 years traveling the world and photographing the sports best athletes. 

Michael made his way back to Los Angeles where he began to experiment with portraiture. In the years since, his photos have been seen on magazines and album covers, ad campaigns, fashion editorials, and gallery exhibitions. "I take photos becuase it is my purpose," Michael said. "My personal mission every time that viewfinder meets my eye is I set out to pull as much energy, personality, and true soul that every person possesses. The word "pose" is not in my dictionary."

Artist: Jonathan Mannion

Jonathan Mannion is a Photographer from Cleveland, OH. He is known for the many album covers that he has shot for hip hop artists over the years. His professional career started in 1996, when he shot the cover of Jay-z's "Reasonable Doubt." From that point on, Jonathan's career has grown with the culture of hip hop music. He has been the main contributor to the visual documentation of era of music. DJ Quik was once quoted saying "the world sees hip hop through Mannions eyes."


"I'm just a messenger, and I¹ve been given a talent to document an extremely important era of music history. I have a love for hip-hop that goes back to when I was a teenager, and I feel blessed to have had the chance to shoot the artists I've worked with. I've had the opportunity to grow with them and the photos I've shot over the years have become visual bullet points of their creative evolution and mine."

Mannion's prides himself in finding new ways to push the boundaries of photography. It is his mission to constantly re-examine and redefine the art of celebrity portraiture. "My work is very intimate. I want people to feel like they're being let in to these superstars' lives through my pictures." Jonathan has also shot with athletes such as Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and 7 time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong. Mannion has an undeniably impressive way of blending the super-stardom with the personal. His images help to define an entire generation.

Artist: Sam Jones

When Sam Jones was growing up, he never thought he would be a photographer. His only real interests were playing guitar and skateboarding. Eventually, after his second year of college, he chose communications as his major. He soon found out that photography was a required class, so he borrowed his friends camera and went out to take pictures of his friends skateboarding in the streets. It wasnt long until he realized that he had discovered a hidden talent. Sam took a few more photography classes in college, but it wasnt until his last one that he realized what he wanted to do with his life.

The class was called Advanced Photojournalism. It was taught by Mark Boster, a photographer for the Los Angeles Times. Mark was his first insight to what it meant to be a real photographer. During college Sam took thousands of photos, and then he got his big break. During his senior year, he was photographing a school basketball game when a man in the crowd suffered a heart attack. Sam was able to snap a couple photos while UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian helped the man. After the game a member of the Associated Press approached Sam and asked to see his photos. after looking through his shots he said "You shoot basketball better than most of our staffers. do you want a job?"

Sam worked at the Associated Press for the next three long years. Eventually Tim Robbins saw his work and asked him to come to Pittsburgh to be his photographer for Bob Roberts, a film he was directing. While in set, Sam would ask celebrities if he could photograph them in between scenes. This is where he got into the photography that he does today. Soon after, Sam landed a job with Entertainment Weekly. He eventually worked his way up to his own shoots with some of the worlds biggest celebrities.

These days Sam Jones is considered one the most loved and talented celebrity photographers in the world. He has the unique ability to humanize these people who are so often idolized throughout society. If you get a chance, check out w=his work. Its very refreshing to see celebrities shown in a different light.