Point. Squeeze. Click.

No this writer is not referring to the sweet science of letting off a couple of metal lungies from a cannon, but rather the seemingly intrinsic yet wholly complicated world of photography. It’s one thing to simply point and shoot a low-megapixel camera phone, but today’s high-tech devices are a far cry from the pinhole cameras of centuries past, with photographs becoming the preeminent cornerstones in nearly every prominent profession.

Pictures have always been the most powerful tools for propaganda as they bring an even greater life to the record hidden behind it, and without them albums from AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted to Nevermind may have a lesser impact. Amazingly, photography gets virtually no recognition in hip-hop, despite the fact that it is as essential and ubiquitous for an album cover as a sample clearance. As powerful as the symbolism behind the Tyrian purple that housed the tape containing Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Linx..., the image of the Wu-Tang chef standing behind his tools with Tony Starks riding shotgun is perhaps more emblematic. For a dozen years Jonathan Mannion has been at the forefront of Hip Hop photography.

From Pharrell Williams to Snoop Dogg, the Notorious B.I.G. to Aaliyah, to Lebron James and Lance Armstrong, this Cleveland, Ohio native has left an indelible imprint in the world of photography, forever changing the game. Sitting down with HipHopDX, he divulges on staying grounded and remaining innovative, convincing a bark-happy rapper to jump into a vat of blood and the worst shoot he’s ever done.

HipHopDX: It’s interesting to see someone from a town not really known for Hip Hop become such a heavyweight in rap.
Jonathan Mannion: Cleveland isn’t really known as a hub of Hip Hop, but I did come from a very artistic family. My mother’s from London and my father’s from Brooklyn, and a variety of music was played across the board in my household. I was always inspired by music, whether it’s Genesis and Phil Collins or Depeche Mode or Big Daddy Kane. I really explored music to find what my place was, so now I have a hugely diverse set of influences from different moments in time that I sometimes go back to for comfort. That was the beginning of me training my eye. I just felt that photography is an incredible way to deal with people, and to have a dialogue and create something. I’ve fallen in line more with the great portrait photographers versus following a fashion thing. I like what makes people tick; the guts and the heart of people, and what the content of their character is.

DX: How do you manage to keep your cool around so many high-profile celebrities? I’m sure there are so many people out there who wish they could be in your shoes.
JM: I’m not really star struck at all, and there’s only been a handful of people that kind of take your breath away like, “Oh my god, I’m in front of Rakim!” It’s not in a corny sense though: it’s more like, “What do I say to this person that they haven’t heard before?” I’m a fan of these musicians, and to be able to work with them and have a dialogue is something that is truly amazing in my eyes. In the beginning I really wanted to deal with these artists, and feeling comfortable around them I really felt I could make a strong visual contribution to everybody’s movement.

DX: How would you describe your style, and what makes it unique from the typical run of the mill photography?
JM: I consider it to be “music portraits” in a way. I really like to go to the roots of the person I’m shooting; I want to find out what makes them go. And a lot of times I try to go to the location that they either grew up in or whatever’s important to them. I can put you on steps anywhere across the United States and make it look cool, but if I’m putting you on the steps of the home where you grew up with your grandmother in Brooklyn, it’s going to mean something to the artist. And I feel that that is what makes the pictures go one level deeper than the standard photographer who wants to shoot you standing next to an expensive car or surrounded by models.

DX: What exactly goes into a shoot? I know that the sessions tend to take a life of their own, but where do those concepts originate?
JM: Most of the time I try to get an idea from the songs off the album. I recently did a conceptual shoot with Lil Wayne [for the upcoming Tha Carter III] where he was playing both a psychiatrist and patient. But for every shoot is different; there’s no set formula. A lot of it is the process, though. You allow the subjects to stop thinking about how nervous they might be in front of the camera, and you allow them to be themselves. Putting people at ease will allow you to get the pictures that you want. There’s people that micro-manage the shoots, which can be frustrating but also great that you know you’re giving the artist exactly what they. Sometimes I’m just given a title, and I work off of that.

Like DMX: I was given the title of for his second album, Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood, and I came up with the concept for the shoot. He let me do whatever I wanted, and I was like, “Okay, get in that blood.” [Laughs]

DX: [Laughs] How long did it take you to convince him to actually do that?
JM: Man, like 20 minutes. I basically was standing in front of about 15 people and took off my pants because he didn’t want to get in with his own jeans on. I was basically walking around in my boxers until the end of the day [Laughs].

DX: Something a lot of people probably don’t know is that you helmed the covers of Jay-Z’s first eight albums. How did you score an opportunity like that multiple times over?
JM: This woman worked for the Fugees as a PR person, and she’d left that job to work for Roc-A-Fella. She asked me to come over when they were working on the cover for Reasonable Doubt. I talked to Dame [Dash, former CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records], and he asked how much I was going to charge. I told him, “Whatever the expenses are, which will be minimal, I’ll do it for $300 less than your lowest bid.” The money didn’t matter: once you get your foot in the door the money’s going to come. After that, it was a wrap. From that album on, Jay was hugely loyal because he saw how hard I went to be able to work with him.

DX: Speaking of artists, what were among some of your favorite targets to work with, so to speak?
JM: It’s endless, man, but it’s especially the ones with those who aren’t with us now that I hold dear to me. Jam Master Jay, Left Eye, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Notorious B.I.G.. Aaliyah, I did her last ever photo shoot, so that was a real treasure and a real gift. I look back all the time and think, “Wow, I really must be doing something right because I keep on getting these gifts.”

DX: And what was your worst ever shoot you’ve ever done? And feel free to drop any names.
JM: [Pauses] I'll be honest: Akinyele was my worst shoot. [Laughs] It was all bullshit: I shot him in the Warehouse District in New York, and in the past the district was known for hookers, drugs, all kinds of alternative lifestyles. So I took him down there because of the textures of the walls, but he just thought I was taking him down there. He was just really uncomfortable and a little on edge, and it just made the shoot a little difficult the entire time. [Laughs]

DX: Do you have anything bubbling in the near future?
JM: I have a book deal now with Simon & Schuster, Inc. called Signature. Basically throughout my journey of taking pictures, at the end of every shoot I have the artist sign Polaroid picture. Everybody that I’ve ever shot has signed one, from Puffy to Busta Rhymes to David Beckham to Dave Chappelle. It’s a compilation of these Polaroids. Obviously there will be bigger, larger, coffee table-style books, but this one now is going to begin the brand and begin awareness, and really allow me to start telling my stories.