Oh, Mann

Adventure and ocean photographer Andy Mann is putting the farthest reaches ofEarth on the map with his jaw-dropping images

- Keith Gordon

At its best, photography allows the artist to transport his audience to wherever he can carry his camera. Some destinations are so remote, or so dangerous, that photography is perhaps the only medium through which others can learn about those places and experience them vicariously. This is why the world needs people like Andy Mann. Scratch that: The world needs Andy Mann. If some people go to extremes to get the perfect shot, Mann seems to go beyond them.

Growing up in rural Virginia, the 38-year-old Mann didn’t find his calling until 2003, when he moved to Colorado and discovered rock climbing. He began hanging out with now-famous adventure photographers like Keith Ladzinski and Cory Richards, and the group sustained its mountain-based habits by selling photos to niche magazines, and eventually to National Geographic. “It was a tool to not only tell the stories of what I was doing but be able to fund the passion, to just stay on the road,” he explains to Maxim.

Stay on the road he did, as he spent the next decade traveling the world, photographing some of the most challenging walls in climbing. As big companies like the North Face and Red Bull began pouring money into outdoor adventure campaigns, Mann knew he had the skill set to balance his art with commerce. “I’ve always had a knack for pitching and working with brands to create a campaign around authentic expedition storytelling,” he says. “I think that’s what brands want, but it’s also the hardest thing to create.”