These advertorial spots are a perfect example of where editorial is headed. That and I really enjoyed learning more about Jonathan Mannion.

thx, Addison for the link.

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18 Comments

  1. Mannion is an awesome photographer. It’s intriguing listening to him talk about the work, thanks for posting!

  2. Very nice work! I love the Eminem lyric shot.

  3. Mannion is cool, but the last thing that makes me want to do is buy a Leica. I like the Profoto vids better.

  4. Mannion was interesting to listen to, but the production quality sucked. A famous director once said: In the beginning I let the camera tell the story, now I let the story tell the camera. Get rid of the effing slider, gratuitous movement is the mark of an amateur. Camera movement needs to be motivated and getting a slider for Christmas isn’t motivation.

    Low key sponsored film will become more common as time goes by. Which isn’t a bad thing — without Leica there wouldn’t be interviews like this.

  5. It will be interesting to see what length of advertorial people are prepared to watch in these times of ultra-short attention spans. I liked listening to Mannion but didn’t see any reason to want to find out more about Leica.

    • this is verses a Leica ad placed in PDN (or a similar magazine) with no say over the editorial content for $10,000 a month. the argument for most traditional advertising is that it creates brand awareness not direct sales. I think they can achieve this at a much lower cost by woking directly with photographers to create compelling stories.

      • Yeah I think brand awareness is waaaay more important & effective than an ad trying to entice you to do something (go buy our product! It’s super awesome! …and this is why!). I mean, how many of you like it when someone tries to persuade you to do something. It can be obnoxious. That’s why companies like VW, & Old Spice are doing so well. Their ads are less about their products and more about stories. …memorable ones at that.

        I think Leica did a smart thing by not hitting us over the head with the S2. Most photographers who would/could buy an S2 probably already know about it. But I think they knew that hearing Mannion’s story was what their audience really wanted to know about.

        Leave the tech specs to photo.net.

      • I’m curious if Leica even spent $1000 on this video?

  6. Im so glad you put this up. His work is awesome but I love hearing him talk about it even more. He seems super down to earth and definitely a cool cat.

  7. Comparing Leica to Bentley was genius. It continues to push the brand as a symbol of luxury and status. Oh, yeah, and it can make really nice pictures, too.

  8. When I started the video I thought someone actually bought a S2.

  9. I looked at the S2 when it came out. It had a nice feel, like an Abrams tank, not a Bentley. I couldn’t see using it though, because it costs as much as an Abrams tank.

  10. The unfortunate part of the Leica S2 is that being a Leica it’s priced at a premium, like a Bentley, but it doesn’t perform as well as the BMWs and Mercedes that already have the market. As to the brand awareness, who doesn’t know of Leica or the S2?

  11. Also interesting is that they featured work that was presumably NOT shot with an S2 or even a Leica. He talks about being a Leica user from way back but many of the images on the walls were medium or large format polaroids.

    This is more of a portrait of the artist rather than the camera system and I think that it’s a smart move. He certainly represents a different demographic than the stereotypical Leica user and is a refreshing change that I think the brand could use.

    As an aside I wonder if they shot the video with a Canon 5Dmk2?

  12. @Matthew Rakola. I noticed the same thing. Plus at the end, Mannion talks about Leica sending him the cameras to use FOR FREE! Of course anyone would say good things about a product when it is free and of this caliber…
    I did enjoy watching the video…

    • Excellent point, C Rivera (about the free gear!). And yes, I also noticed –like you and M Rakola– that a lot of the work shown in the video were Polaroids. That said, Jonathan Mannion seems like a pretty cool guy, and it looks like he’s got a nice studio, too. And when Leica sends me my free S2 with a host of free lenses to go with it, I will say all kinds of nice things about Leica cameras in a video!! ;)

  13. […] :. The Leica Portraite of photographer Johnathan Mannion. […]

  14. Interesting video. I liked that Leica selected a 100% legit working pro with an amazing body of work, instead of someone that made it off an instructional website or social media.


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