The fair was held in December at the Limited Edition Gallery in Miami. Miami Photo Fair started with the exhibition opening party and The Vision Excellence Awards Ceremony .

The Miami Photographic Center presented the Exhibition of the 30 finalists and the 4 winners of the Vision Excellence Awards 2019. The winners received their awards in presence of the master photographers present for the fair: Mark Mann and Vincent Versace .

The 2019 winner for each category are:

Fine Art Exhibition : In the Mangroves Hilda Champion
Shooting the World Exhibition : Mjolnir Ronan Colin
Unleash Your Creativity Portrait Exhibition : L’Individu Photography
Unleash your Creativity Series : Elizabeth Bourne

Artist talk: An Evening with Mark Mann.

For all of us who love photography Mark Mann is an inspiration. His very unique way to capture portraits stays with you from the first time you see one of his iconic images. From every day people to the most famous celebrity Mark’s style is unique and got him the fame and endorsement he deserve. An Evening with Mark Mann during Miami Photo Fair 2019 was an inspiring experience.

Mark Mann is a celebrity , advertising photographer and Leica Ambassador. He was born in Glasgow, where he lived until he went to study in the prestigious photographic program at Manchester Polytechnic.

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 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 president Obama as well as former President Clinton.

Artist talk: An Evening with Vincent Versace.

When it comes to photography Vincent Versace masters an incredible range of genre. From Portrait to Landscape and from Street photography to B&W. Vincent masters every theme to the perfection from the point of shoot to the print with an incredible attachment to the smallest details to get at the end the perfect print. The way he masters the light of each one of his photographs is unique to Vincent work and hearing him talk about it during Miami Photo Fair 2019 was a real delight. No wonder he is a Nikon and Epson Ambassador.

Vincent is one of Nikon’s 16 founding Nikon Ambassadors and is a recipient of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award in Media Arts & Entertainment and the Shellenberg fine art award as well as the 2019 Photo Mentor award and his work is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History.

Vincent’s work has been highlighted in American Photo, Popular Photography, The New York Times, Shutterbug, Outdoor Photographer, Pro Digital Imaging, PDN, What Digital Camera, Petersen’s Photographic, PC Camera, Studio Design and Photography, Professional Photographer, Digital Imaging and many more. Nominated multiple times to the Photoshop Hall of Fame.
He is the author of the best selling books From Oz to Kansas: Almost Every Black & White Technique Known to Mankind and Welcome to Oz 2.0: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop . His book, Welcome to Oz has been selected as Shutterbug Magazine’s best how-to book of the year. Vincent was the original host of the Epson Print Academy and is a founding member of the Epson Stylus Pros.In addition to being a Nikon Ambassador he is also a Nikon Legend Behind the Lens, an Xrite Colorotti, Hivelight Light Master, Sunbounce Enlightner, Lexar Elite Photographer, Team NiK Elite Photographer, BenQ Ambassador, an American Photo Magazine Mentor Trek and Master Class instructor and a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals Instructor Dream Team. He teaches regularly at Photoshop World, B&H, the FBI, US Navy Combat Camera, US Coast Guard, Maine Media Workshops and Palm Beach Photographic Workshops.

Workshop: Mastering the Portrait with Mark Mann.

Spending three days with celebrity portrait photographer Mark Mann’s process from start to finish was not only an amazing experience but also a lot of fun. The students got their hands on and one-on-one experience working in a high-end photography studio, with step by step instruction on Mark’s signature lighting techniques, approaches to interacting with talent, and a candid look at Mark’s post production work flow designed to produce high quality printed images.

Everything was covered from conception of the image with the client, working with the production team, to the perfect Lighting for the scene.

We also went over Mark’s very unique photographic techniques to create and retouch the image for a stunning look of the subject’s portrait to finally printing the image to see the final Vision.

On the First Day of the workshop we spoke about and practice: Pre-Production A-Z, Developing concept with client, Marks signature look, The Importance of Shooting Images with the Intent to Print, Organizing crew and production team, Developing a production strategy with crew around art direction, Production (Mark Mann style), Lighting – using simple studio lighting techniques to create stunning portraits, The secret sauce : how Mark interacts with talent on set to achieve his signature looks, Adding positive/negative fill, using modifiers, and adding additional light sources in order to more effectively construct your visual narrative, Ringlight :Getting up close and personal with your subject

On the 2nd Day : Production Continued, using the lighting and image capture techniques discussed previously in conjunction with available light to create unique environmental portraits, Making a Unique Portrait.

Students got the opportunity to make a set of portraits in a style of their choosing while utilizing Mark and Alex to help light their visions.

Students did their own art-direction with with an end use in mind : News Editorial and Mark, along with fellow students will helped each other plan and execute the shoot.

For the post production, image processing for print, Mark show the group his digital editing process and non-destructive workflow, step by step editing of the images captured earlier in the workshop, the students had for homework to select and edit images of their choosing in preparation for day 3 : Printing.

On the 3rd Day Mark explained his personal philosophy and approach to printing based on his 30 years of professional experience. Students had the opportunity to print a number of images from the workshop on Epson and Hahnemuhle Fine Art paper on an Epson SureColor P800 Printer .

Making Test Print(s) / Making Revisions / Making Final Prints

In addition to printing, on the third day, students had the opportunity to seek additional guidance relating to any topics covered throughout the seminar in a one-on-one basis with Mark and Alex. This was a great chance to get clarification and request any additional information that participants were looking for, every participants left with a wealth of new knowledge.