Last Updated on 11/09/2023 by Chris Gampat
“A standard headshot or portrait from a shoot are never my favorite,” says photographer Levi Manchak to the Phoblographer in an interview. “I tend to prefer selecting a photo that’s original, something I haven’t consciously seen before or had some emotional effect on me when I took it. A moment of levity or utter captivation between me and the subject.” That’s how he determines what goes on his website or social media pages.
All images by Levi Manchak. Used with permission. Please visit his website, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Sometimes it’s the most minute details that he loves. Here’s an example straight from Levi’s mouth:
For example, I was shooting outdoors with a stunning indigenous model once, and I took some photos of her lying in the grass with a lovely scoop collar shirt. When I was processing one of the photos I noticed that there was a mosquito on her chest. Very small and very subtle barely visible detail, yet my favourite photo from the set.
Levi Manchak
How Levi Manchak Got Into Photography
“In my 20s, an old girlfriend’s portrait photography assignment for art school coincided with me having been mugged outside our apartment so she took a bunch of shots of me with a gross black eye,” he tells us very plainly. “The photos turned out funny and amazing and something clicked. I could make conceptual visual art without having to draw or paint! I bought my first camera shortly thereafter.” It’s quite the story, and one that we’ve never heard before.
To shoot his photographs, Levi prefers his Nikon D810 over his Z6 — but he uses both with a 35mm and 85mm lens. “I only use prime lenses, so I switch lenses frequently and in strange conditions (dusty, sweaty music fests, extreme cold in northern Canada, etc.)” he tells us. “I’m also not precious with my gear at all, so mainly my gear helps me achieve my creative vision by being durable and forgiving. All the weird effects in my photos are done on camera via multiple exposures or creative filters.” In fact, Levi has been looking for a glass blower to make his own custom filters.
Additionally, he shoots with a lot of film from various cameras that he’s gotten from thrift stores. He only does this is he’s got the budget though. Additionally, he was compelled to mention the Sigma DP2. He describes it as “…so wretched ergonomically and functionally that it’s wildly impractical to use but I do, and it makes photos that I absolutely love.”
The Creative Vision
Levi’s creative vision comes from daydreaming and buying a lot of photo books. Specifically, he’s into Yousef Karsh, Guy Bourdin, Chris Buck, and Ryan McGinely. “My favorite photos are relatively formal but with some sort of subtle, irreverent twist,” he relates. “Sometimes it’s a very thought out preconceived idea but often the person I’m photographing and I conjure some notion of a place and ‘look’ and then I improvise, drawing from the mood and surroundings during the shoot. I’ve been very lucky that almost all the people I’ve shot have been willing to indulge in my odd imagination and sense of humor.”
The thing that does bother me about AI is that it’s creating all these terrible poems and images while I’m busy with spreadsheets and sending invoices and things like that. AI should be making my boring spreadsheets and dealing with the numbers while I go out to write bad poetry and make photos.
Levi Manchak
In the end, his work is both simple, but incredibly well done. It combines softness with contrasting colors, fascinating visual effects, and conceptual ideas that you don’t often see in the rest of the work that one finds on online platforms.
This, in essence, is part of what makes Levi so different from an AI and AI imagery. In fact, he doesn’t even “worry about it. “AI will never eclipse human imagination, so it doesn’t really bother me,” he says. “It seems like a natural progression for tech and something that I’m sure someone will use to manifest some thoughtful art. It won’t be me, though.”