Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Kim Komenich is directed by Tim Mantoani at Left Space Studios in San Francisco, California on January 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

When I first met San Diego based portrait and commercial photographer Tim Mantoani at spring training in Arizona 16 years ago I never would have guessed that he would become one of the most important photographers of the 21st century. Back in the glory days of the trading card companies there was a huge group of us who spent each March soaking up the Arizona sun shooting baseball games (on chrome of course!), playing over-the-line, and going out to fun restaurants. Our ring-leader was our good friend V.J. Lovero from Sports Illustrated. One particular spring V.J. brought a new photographer to the Cactus League to work his magic for Upper Deck. Any friend of V.J.’s was a friend of ours, so it did not take long for Mantoani to fit right in with our group, especially after he made on of the greatest catches in over-the-line history on a wet patch of grass in Tempe.

Jim Marshall and Michael Zagaris pose for Tim Mantoani and his 20x24 inch Polaroid camera at Left Space Studios in San Francisco, California on January 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

After our first meeting with Tim it was so much fun to watch his career rise as his portrait work started impressing more and more clients. In 1998 he came out with his first book: Mind Games: Explorations into the Mental Arena of Sport. I can still remember picking this book up at the Borders in my town and being blown away by seeing so many amazing portraits of athletes all together in one book. Tim wasn’t messing around. The Bay Area kid who grew up rooting for the San Francisco Giants, learned photography at Brooks Institute, and saw his future under the tutelage of Dean Collins was well on his way. However, many of us did not know where he would end up or how he would get there.

Tim Mantoani looks at Polaroid prints of Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice, along with the print of Jim Marshall and Michael Zagaris at Left Space Studios in San Francisco, California on January 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

At age 30 Tim was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. He did radiation, had ½ his femur and knee replaced and did months and months of chemotherapy. He realized through that process that life is short and you need to live now. It forced him to take a risk, and finally he just got off his ass and embarked on the personal project of a lifetime: Behind Photographs. Tim wanted to photograph photographers and their iconic images. Tim knew he wanted to capture the prints at close to actual size. He had heard about the 20×24 Polaroid and it seemed like a unique format to test out.  There are only two of these cameras readily accessible in the U.S, one in San Francisco and one in New York. He took a trip up to see his parents in San Francisco and booked some time with the camera. His first subjects were Jim Marshall and Michael Zagaris in December of 2006.

“At the end of the shoot I asked each of them to sign the bottom of their print and to write a short story about the image. There was something special in the resulting images, the photographer, their image and their story in one place. I felt like each image was a time capsule and that these images would be a way for future generations to be able to see these photographers and every detail in their face and eyes,” Mantoani told PhotoShelter in June of 2010.

Tim Mantoani watches Pulitzer Prize winner Deanne Fitzmaurice sign her print at Left Space Studios in San Francisco, California Janury 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

I visited with Tim during his trip, right after he photographed Marshall and Zagaris. I could tell how excited he was as we had lunch in downtown Pleasanton and talked about the possibilities of this project. There were so many photographers he just had to get, and so many iconic images that needed to be included to make this project relevant. It was fun to throw some ideas and names at him, some of which he liked and others that he probably didn’t. In the beginning it was hard to get some of the “big names” in the business to buy into this idea and really understand what Tim was doing. He was documenting the history of the photographers who documented history! As word traveled more and more of these people realized that they WANTED to be included, and soon some people were calling Tim and asking to be photographed.

Legendary Sports Illustrated photographer John Iacono poses for Tim Mantoani and his 20x24 inch Polaroid camera in New York City on October 22, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

I was thrilled to be able to help Tim out every once in awhile with an idea or a phone number of a new subject for his project. Luckily one of the cameras lives just an hour from my house at Left Space Studios in San Francisco, so I was able to watch Tim photograph several of my friends for the project in person. One of the most special days I remember was on January 11, 2008 when Tim was scheduled to photograph Bay Area Pulitzer Prize winners Kim Komenich and Deanne Fitzmaurice. Knowing he was in town Tim’s good friends, and original subjects Marshall and Zagaris dropped by the studio to hang out and give Tim a hard time. While there they posed together so Tim could shoot a portrait of these two long-time friends. Tim shot one frame (see above) and it was magical.

Tim has always been a big supporter of his alma-mater Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, so when he had a gallery opening of his project at one of their campus buildings in downtown Santa Barbara on August 6, 2009 I had to be there. My good friend and Brooks instructor Joe Gosen came along with me and I can honestly tell you I have never had more fun at a gallery opening of any kind. Having the chance to see life size prints of the photographers holding their images, and being able to read their comments in their own writing was a real thrill. They were also serving some very nice champagne.

Over the past several years I have also had the chance to see Tim photograph more luminaries in New York City during Photo Plus Expo. Watching John Iacono and Vincent Laforet pose for Tim was a blast. The project kept growing and Tim had photographed well over 100 different subjects. The cost of the Polaroid film kept rising and there had to be an end in sight so Tim could start thinking about the possibility of a book. One of the final legends Tim was pursuing was iconic sports portrait photographer for SPORT magazine in the 1950′s Ozzie Sweet. Once Ozzie was photographed earlier this year is was time to put the finishing touches on the edit of Tim’s book showcasing his project.

Tim Mantoani poses with his portrait of friend Michael Zagaris during his gallery opening at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California on August 6, 2009. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Tim’s dream has finally become a reality as his book “Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends” will be released in November in 2011. The book is 11×14 inches in size and 220 pages. To help fund this project Tim has posted a Kick Starter page to offer regular edition books, signed limited editions and prints. I just finished pledging to back this project and I encourage everyone else who loves photography to do the same.

With the publication of this book Tim has etched himself into history as one of the most important photographers of our time. The great thing about about Tim is that despite his new-found notoriety he is still just Tim. He can’t smoke ribs in his Big Green Egg as well as Chris Covatta and he dines with us common folk at Denny’s. Congratulations Tim! I can’t wait till we can celebrate your new book here in San Francisco.

(Above: My new website. 100% Flash-free.)

I recently made the decision to go in another direction with my website — away from an entirely Flash-based portfolio — to something done completely with HTML. In the past few years, I realized that I would be better served with a more flexible system that can grow with me, my business, and the evolution of technology. My Flash website, which at one time seemed like cutting edge stuff, was showing its age and limitations.

It was time to move on.

I am certainly no stranger to the web. In 1998, I used Adobe Pagemill to maintain my first website (built by life-long friend Joe Gosen.) This site did quite well in it’s time, but since it was entirely in HTML it was difficult to update. I needed an easier way.

In 2005 I moved away from HTML, and fully embraced Flash. I bought a liveBooks website, and was thrilled with how easy it was to update. The pictures were large, and the images moved on the screen. The interface seemed easy to use, and the people at liveBooks were (and still are) great, helpful people.

Within a few years, I started to see limitations. The first one being that I couldn’t integrate my online image archive. My archive, which as of this writing has 51,240 images in it, was awkwardly disconnected from my portfolio. I put so much effort into filling up my archive, and I felt it deserved to have more visibility.

In 2009 I started a WordPress blog, with the intention of using it to frame my PhotoShelter photo archive, and drive traffic to what is my biggest potential for online revenue generation. My archive is a huge asset for me. Hiding it made no sense.

Also around this time I started to grow concerned about Flash itself. It doesn’t work on iPhones or iPads. It was slow on some computers. There were SEO complications associated with Flash that required a complicated work-around. And Steve Jobs didn’t like it.

I began to doubt that my Flash-based website was going to be able to grow with me. I saw a time limit approaching, and didn’t want to wait until I had no time left.

So, the other day, I moved my portfolio website to WordPress as well. And, looking at it, you’d never think it was WordPress. Thanks to the brilliant helpful folks at Graph Paper Press, I finally have a website that can grow along with advanced in technology, and the changes in the photography business.

I am using a slightly modified version of GPP’s “Sidewinder” theme. The images are large, it loads quickly, and it’s easy to maintain. Best yet, every single image within my portfolio has a link directly to a page where they can be licensed. Finally, a revenue component within my archive!

My Flash-based website was fun while it lasted. We had some good times together. But recently we’ve grown apart, and I think it’s best that we go our separate ways. It’s not, you, Flash – it’s me. Actually no, that’s not true. It’s not me at all.

Brad Mangin started shooting for his archive back in 1987 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. This picture was shot by Mangin's junior college photojournalism teacher Gerry Mooney during Giants batting practice prior to a game in 1987 as Mangin was on assignment for the Contra Costa Times. (Photo by Gerry Mooney)

A few days ago I hit a magic number. I had been looking at 50,000 for a long time. After uploading 170 images from the August 7, 2011 game between the Phillies and Giants I surpassed the 50,000 mark for searchable, captioned images in my online archive powered by PhotoShelter. My friend Grover Sanschagrin has been giving me a hard time over the years telling me he would only be impressed with my archive when I hit 50,000. Well Grover, I did it!

I started shooting professionally in 1987, and that is when my archive starts. Need Dave Dravecky as a Padre or a Giant? I got him! Mike Aldrete? Done. How about Pete Rose managing the Reds? Got that too. I have everything in my archive from Greg Minton posing for a portrait in 1987 to Hideki Matsui connecting with a pitch yesterday in Oakland. Do you get the feeling that I am proud of my archive? You got that right. I work hard on keeping my archive up to date every day. I am constantly adding current images, as well as old ones when I have old chromes scanned from the 80′s and 90′s. As I look back on all my pictures over the years I am so glad I had some great friends give me terrific business advice over the years, and I am glad I have been able to keep my copyright for so many terrific images.

This could be image number 50,000 in my archive! Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants gets ready in the dugout before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park on August 7, 2011 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

It is our job as photographers to keep our copyright (unless we have a sweet staff job with benefits, etc.) and do a good job of marketing our images. You would be surprised how many image buyers LOVE dealing directly with individual photographers like me. Having my easy-to-use archive makes my editors happy, thus it makes me happy. And that is a good thing. Thanks for getting me off my ass Grover!

These scans of photographers Mickey Pfleger, Robert Beck, Jed Jacobsohn, Terry Schmitt, Bob Larson, Jose Luis Villegas, and Tony Tomsic will be online in my searchable archive in the coming weeks.

A few months ago I wrote about how I am always working on my archive. I have more time in the off-season to dedicate to this ever-growing monster, but I still need to keep working on it during the baseball season. Once I start shooting three games a week and keeping up with archiving my new stuff I still need to keep adding some older pictures in order to make my online archive as complete as possible. Before I went to spring training I sent over 500 chromes dating back to 1987 off to my terrific scanning buddy Dave Bonilla. I knew I would not have a chance to caption and upload the stuff till the season started, so I would have to find some spare time between watching the Giants on television and catching up with new episodes of 90210, Friday Night Lights, and Pawn Stars.

My 50 meg TIFF files come back from Dave Bonliia on DVD's like this. He can get around 90 scans on each DVD.

My online searchable archive of sports pictures now has over 46,000 images, and it is growing every day. I have done a pretty decent job of going through dozens and dozens of binders of slides in pages over the years looking for some gold nuggets to get scanned. I have also been getting some new returns of some real gems from the library at Major League Baseball Photos. When I went through everything in January I was looking for something else to add to my archive besides pictures of Wade Boggs, Darren Lewis and John Tamargo.

I decided to dig into my collection of chromes with candid images of other sports photographers, and include them in my shipment to Bonilla to get scanned. I am trying to do the best job I can in creating an online historical archive of A’s and Giants baseball dating back to 1987. I might as well include many of the photographers I have worked with over the years in my archive also.

This slide of Tai Pfleger and his father Mickey Pfleger from 2000 will be online in my searchable archive very soon.

Over the years I have run across these chromes many times as I searched for action pictures to get scanned. I always thought it would be fun to get them scanned, but I never wanted to spend the time and money. Well, now I do- so I did! Boy am I glad. Over the next week or so I will be busy captioning over 500 new scans that I just got back from Bonilla on DVD’s. Once I am finished uploading the files my archive will have nice pictures of Hall of Fame photographers like Mickey Pfleger, Mickey Palmer, Tony Tomsic, Jed Jacobsohn, Michael Zagaris, and others. If you ever need a picture of a photographer to go along with a story search my archive- I just might have one of the shooter you are looking for.

CLICK IMAGE TO SEE VIDEO: Kinda scary seeing myself interviewed on television for the first time, but I had tons of fun being on Chronicle Live.

Growing up my sister Paula and I watched way too much television- according to our mom. Paula was even a TV star at a young age when she appeared on the local Bay Area show Captain Satellite, broadcast on KTVU Channel 2. I remember crying in the studio so loud when I was watching with my mom and dad I had to leave. I was like four years old and I thought the make-believe space ship we were all in was really taking off into outer space! As we got older we became experts on every afternoon program from Kimba to the Jetsons to Speed Racer to the Flintstones to (of course) The Brady Bunch. My sister parlayed the knowledge of television and commercials she acquired laying on our couch in Fremont to a monster career in media and advertising. Me? Not so much.

This is the scene of the interview area behind the granstand down the right field line at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, AZ. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Over the last few years with the explosion of more and more sports networks on TV there are many studio shows featuring sports writers sitting in a studio talking about the news of the day and local teams. One such show made it’s debut in the San Francisco Bay Area around two years ago to help promote the new network Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area. Chronicle Live airs five days a week at 5pm and I rarely miss a show. Greg Papa is a terrific studio host and he usually has a great lineup of guests, most of them from the talented pool of Bay Area scribes. I watch the show quite often and have always wondered what it would be like to sit around the coffee table and be on live television. Little did I know, I would finally get a chance last week. Not in the studio, but on a patch of grass behind the Cactus League home of the Padres and Mariners in Peoria, AZ. Someone could have won a ton of cash if they would have picked PEORIA in the pool to guess where my first TV interview would take place.

This is the view I had sitting in the chair waiting to be interviewed for Chronicle Live. The sun was behind me, but that light was REALLY bright! (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Why in the Hell would anyone want to interview me? Well, TV stations love to promote their own programming, and I happen to have many of my photographs featured in a new CSN produced documentary about the 2010 Giants magical season entitled “Legends: 2010 San Francisco Giants” that was debuting on Saturday, March 12. The nice folks at CSN thought it would be fun to have me on Chronicle Live to promote the new show, and to also let me promote the new book that Brian Murphy and I have coming out in a few weeks about the 2010 Giants season “Worth The Wait.” They originally wanted me to appear in studio, but since I am entering my third week of covering spring training here in Arizona they wanted me to do a remote interview from down here last Friday afternoon.

Because of the bright sun and bright light I had to keep my sun glasses on until the interview in Peoria, AZ. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Ever since my good friend Matt Maiocco started working at CSN as their NFL Insider last spring I have given him a bad time about his sensitive eyes that make him squint every once in awhile when he does interviews outside. Well let me tell you, after my experience in Peoria on Friday afternoon I will NEVER give Matty a hard time again. Regular host Greg Papa was off on Friday, so I had the pleasure of having host Dave Benz ask the questions through my earpiece. What a unique experience sitting in  a chair staring at a camera with someone talking in my ear. This was the real deal, but I was not nervous. I was simply trying not to become the butt of one of Maiocco’s jokes because I squinted the entire time. Man it was hard keeping my eyes open!

The interview ended up lasting around five minutes and I felt good about it. Benz was terrific and easy to work with. He was very conversational and did his homework. He actually pronounced my name correctly and knew much about my background. By the time I started editing my pictures later at my hotel  that I shot earlier at the game between the Rangers and Reds in Surprise I started getting some text messages from friends who were watching the show back in the Bay Area. Most people seemed to enjoy it. I was very anxious to see the video myself, so I was pleased then they posted it on their website later in the evening. Once I saw the segment on my laptop I was happy with how everything came out. Check out the video of my appearance on Chronicle Live.

What a fun experience! I hope to have another chance of doing this again sometime. The best thing about being on this show was the compliment I got from my sister on Facebook. “Just watched with Randy, seriously, great job. You are a natural. We both were blown away. Who did your hair and makeup?” That made me laugh so much. Of course I was simply wearing a baseball hat and a t-shirt like I always do at the ballpark. There was no green room, no snacks, and no makeup! Maybe all those hours of watching TV with my sister on KBHK channel 44 after school finaly paid off.

These six images represent just a few of the 470 scans I need to caption in order to update my online archive.

People always ask me what I do once the baseball season ends after the final out of the World Series. I usually give them a generic answer about editing and captioning and working on my archive. Actually that is what I am supposed to be doing. The mean boss inside my head is always yelling at me. He is constantly telling me I need to get off my ass and work on my archive so it is as up-to-date as possible. The lazy side of me just wants to relax and get caught up on the latest episodes of The Jersey Shore, American Pickers, and Top Chef All-Stars.

This is where it all starts. This original slide of Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar is one of the 470 that were recently scanned for my archive. Now I have to caption them all. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Luckily I am not starting from scratch. That was many years ago when I was way behind and staring up and an ungodly pile of old slides and DVDs full of digital files. Happily my current archive housed on PhotoShelter consists of close to 44,000 images going back to 1987, most of them baseball. I had over 5,000 old chromes dating back to 1987 scanned into 50 megabyte TIFF files a few years ago when I did an initial edit through binders and binders of slides. Between getting the slides scanned and captioning them myself this project took about two years. It was not much fun, but it was very gratifying when I finished. Who else has a nice on-deck circle portrait in their personal archive of Todd Benzinger in a Giants uniform from the 1994 season?

This is scary. Most of the 470 scans I need to caption are staring me in the face here in Photo Mechanic. Yikes. Where do I start?

From the first pitch of spring training to the final out of the World Series I shoot close to 100 Major League games over an eight month period. I do a good job of keeping up with my editing and captioning during the season, but it leaves me little time to work on adding old stuff during this busy time. I got a big stack of DVD’s back from my terrific scanning buddy Dave Bonilla last spring and quickly came up with many excuses why I did not want to tackle the job. I figured it would be a great off-season project. Perfect. I could put it off for months! Suddenly the off-season was here and I wanted no part of doing this.

Starting is the hardest part, and typing my usual super-anal captions for all 470 images seemed like a very daunting task. I do my best to write full captions, naming both teams who played in the game with the correct year in which the picture was taken. If I can get the actual date the game took place it is even better. No “circa 1990′s” for me. I need to be exact, and luckily there are enough uniform patches and bizarre memories floating around my head to make this all possible. It just takes time and research.

Staring at a blank caption in Photo Mechanic is no fun. Luckily I remember shooting this at Candlestick Park in 1987 when Pete Rose was managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Not only is the off-season here, but the new year is here! Pitchers and catchers report in less than a month so I had to start captioning this batch of 470 scans. It finally happened last night. Before I went to bed I made myself get started. First I batch captioned all 470 images with one caption so every image would be formatted the way I wanted. Just for fun I made every image former Giants pitcher Bill Swift pitching at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1994. Since I had many images shot at Candlestick during this time already having the images captioned this way would save me time. I managed to crank through 100 captions in a few hours and was satisfied with the small dent I had put into this mess. I finally broke the ice and had a plan. I dove back in this morning and cruised through about 40 more before I took a break to write this blog post.

Some of my recent scans in Photo Mechanic.

My goal is to be finished captioning by tomorrow. It will take me several hours to upload my finished files to PhotoShelter, and once they are done I will double check all the captions before I flip the switch to make all of the images live in my searchable archive. Let me tell you- that is a GREAT feeling. Being able to take control my images is a truly special feeling. These are my images. They are available to be licensed by editorial clients, and no one can ever take them away from me.

I feel very fortunate that there is so much amazing technology out there right now to make my freelance business possible. If I was trying to organize my files for an online archive years ago it would not be possible unless I spent a ton of money and had some custom database program written for me. This would be a nightmare to maintain and would more than likely keep all my chromes snuggled in my old black binders, unable to generate any income. Thanks to the amazing technology offered by PhotoShelter freelancers like myself are able to keep control over our images and maximize every dime we can from the images we have fought so hard to keep the copyright to. More and more clients are avoiding the large corporations and coming to individual artists like me for images. This is a growing trend and one I am taking advantage of.

I better get back to my captioning. Only 330 more captions to write. If I can reach my goal I will be able to get caught up on all my DVR’d programs guilt-free in a few days.

This picture is featured in the film "The Tenth Inning." Nate Schierholtz of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the game at AT&T Park on September 13, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Tomorrow night is the big night! That’s right sports fans, “The Tenth Inning”,  a new two-part, four-hour documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick makes it’s debut on Tuesday night, September 28 at 8pm on a PBS station near you! The special part of the film (which runs for two consecutive nights) that has caused so much excitement in the Mangin house in Pleasanton will be the many photographs by me that will pop up during both episodes.

About 15 of my pictures are in the film, thanks to Florentine Films Associate Producer Michael Welt and my extensive online photo archive powered by PhotoShelter. Michael first contacted me way back in December of 2008 looking for pictures to help illustrate their new film. Obviously Michael was looking for pictures from the steroid era that the film would be covering (1994-present) including Barry Bonds. He came to the right place! Over the next 14 months Michael downloaded hundreds of images from my archive as they edited the film. Once the final edit of the film came together I found out I had about 15 pictures in the film and three pictures in the book they produced “Baseball: An Illustrated History.”

Mangin Images in The Tenth Inning – Images by Brad Mangin

I put together a little gallery above of most of my pictures that are in the film so you can look out for them while you watch it this week. Besides my pictures please watch for some great stuff by legendary Bay Area artist Michael Zagaris. You will know Z’s pictures when you see them. Just look for the best pictures in black and white that tell the story of the Oakland A’s led by the Bash Brothers Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. Finally, some of the coolest pictures you will see in part one of the film were shot by San Francisco Giants team photographer Andy Kuno’s father Takeo Kuno. I saw the first part of the film during a private screening in New York City two months ago and seeing Takeo’s rarely-seen and beautiful black and white photographs of Bobby Bonds in action, in the clubhouse, and with Willie Mays was a real highlight for me. You can’t miss Takeo’s pictures, especially his terrific action picture of Bobby batting at Candlestick Park on the only night the Giants ever wore white cleats at home during his era, a Saturday night against the Dodgers in 1973.

Get your popcorn ready and set your DVR’s. You won’t want to miss this incredible, story-telling film. Made all the better by the use of still photographs, of course!

Filmmaker Ken Burns, co-director of 'The Tenth Inning', PBS's newest production, poses with photographer Brad Mangin before the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on September 14, 2010 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Adm Golub)

Last night was a big night for baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Giants were hosting the Dodgers in the opening game of a huge three game series at AT&T Park in San Francisco. I went to the game with all my camera gear, which is rare for me during a night game in September. However, I was not there to shoot the game really, I was there to talk with and photograph filmmaker Ken Burns. Burns was in town to promote his upcoming film “The Tenth Inning” along with his co-director Lynn Novick. Burns and Novick created the film “Baseball” that was released in 1994 consisting of nine innings. This sequel to the original film takes over where the first film left off and makes it’s debut on PBS on September 28, 2010.

One of Brad Mangin's images is featured on the screen as San Francisco Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming, left, and filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, co-directors of 'The Tenth Inning', watch a clip from their new baseball film before the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on September 14, 2010 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

I really enjoyed the original film when it came out in the middle of the baseball strike in September of 1994, and I would normally be excited about the upcoming sequel. However, I am extra-excited about this new film because many of my photographs will be featured in the two-part, four-hour documentary. Michael Welt, an Associate Producer from Florentine Films found me and my online archive way back in December of 2008. Thanks to my extensive collection of baseball images in my searchable archive powered by PhotoShelter I was able to provide Welt with many pictures that fit well into the storyline of the film. That’s right sports fans- when the new film debuts in two weeks I will have over a dozen of my pictures featured in “The Tenth Inning!”

Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, co-directors of 'The Tenth Inning', PBS's newest production, celebrate with a forearm bash after being presented with San Francisco Giants jerseys before the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on September 14, 2010 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

I was invited to a private screening of the first half of the film in New York City at the end of July and was thrilled to see some of my photographs in the film. It was especially cool seeing the “Ken Burns Effect” applied on my pictures! After the screening I was able to meet Burns at the post-game reception and while we chatted he told me he was coming to San Francisco in September to promote the film. I knew I had to be there, and last night was the night.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre #6 talks with filmmaker Ken Burns, co-director of 'The Tenth Inning', PBS's newest production, before the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on September 14, 2010 in San Francisco, California. UPI photographer Terry Schmitt is in the background. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Giants team photographer Andy Kuno hung out with me before the game and was able to meet both Burns and Novick, first in the Giants dugout and later in a reception put on by local PBS station KQED. This was a super cool thing, because Andy’s father Tak Kuno has many terrific old black and white photographs of Bobby Bonds and Willie Mays featured in the film. Andy was able to talk with the filmmakers about his father, and thank them for using his father’s photographs. I was able to see Tak’s images in the first half of the film when I was in New York, and I know Andy will be so proud when he sees the film for the first time in two weeks.

I was able to get re-aquainted with Burns and meet Novick for the first time and talk with them about the film before the game. Last night’s excitement surrounding the film got me even more amped up for the release in two weeks. I know I will be in front of my television set on September 28th to watch the top of the Tenth Inning. Will you?

Brad Mangin shows off the menu from the OC Sports Grill with his photograph of Barry Bonds featured on the cover, along with the same image in his online archive on the screen of Dan MacMedan's iPad. (Photo by Dan MacMedan)

Like most freelance photographers I am very serious about retaining my copyright and licensing my images through my agents and through my online archive. I am always poking around the Internet looking for people stealing my pictures. Every once in awhile I will find something on a blog or a really lame website and I will send an email asking the person to take the images down. I have never really been taken advantage of and I am not paranoid about posting my photographs here on my blog or on my website promoting Brad Mangin Sports Photography. All of this makes my discovery at a sports bar in Anaheim, California a few nights ago so nutty, and after many beers, hysterically funny.

Brad Mangin's photograph of Barry Bonds from 2001 is featured on the front of the OC Sports Grill's menu.

I was in Southern California photographing the 2010 Major League Baseball All Star Game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Tuesday night. After a long and scorching hot day at the ballpark I gathered with a terrific group of friends in the parking lot after the game and enjoyed pounding some Budweisers that Scott Clarke had so kindly packed in an ice-cold cooler for us. Of course we had no snacks, and John McDonough needed Scotch. So after the 18-pack was quickly consumed we needed food and local shooters Lisa Blumenfeld and Kevin Sullivan knew just the place. The OC Sports Grill was down the street, they served food late, and they had Scotch!

This is the photograph that was stolen. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Oakland Athletics during a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on June 16, 2001. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

As soon as our large group of eight tired, hungry and slightly buzzed photographers and picture editors were seated I saw the garish blue menu placed in front of me and knew there was something familiar about it. There was a picture of a left-handed hitter on it and it looked like one of my pictures! I immediately showed it to my baseball picture editor from Sports Illustrated Nate Gordon. “Look Nate- this is my picture of Barry Bonds. They stole it!” I said. Nate agreed it looked familiar. Of course, there are thousands and thousands of pictures of Barry Bonds out there shot from the inside third base position at AT&T Park in San Francisco, but this was a very special image that was burned into my brain. I know my pictures. Jim Marshall once said his pictures were his children. I feel the same way.

Nate was very familiar with the picture and liked it so much he had a large print of it hanging on the wall of his office for a while back in 2001. He promised me he would try to get it published as Bonds was on his way to a record-breaking season of hitting 73 home runs.

Brad Mangin's image of Barry Bonds from 2001 was mocked up for a possible Sports Illustrated cover in September of 2001. It was never published.

I know my friends at the table thought I was nuts, so I needed to prove it to them. Luckily my good friend and USA TODAY contract photographer Dan MacMedan was with us and he had his new iPad. He immediately hooked it up to the wifi in the restaurant and I searched my online archive to find the picture of Barry Bonds that was on the menu. I found it quickly and proudly showed my friends. Now they really thought I was nuts. Of course, the ever-prepared MacMedan also had his Canon G11 with him so he documented the occasion with a picture to prove it (see top).

MacMedan went off to find the night manager and tell him about the picture. I was not mad. I was laughing too much and having so much fun with my friends. What were the odds of me ever seeing this menu? I gave the manager a bad time and told him he at least owed me a beer. He also brought over a gigantic plate of every appetizer they had all piled over a plate of nachos. It was nutty, and it took no time for Bob Binder to dive into the food.

After trying all season to get my photograph of Bonds published, Nate Gordon finally came through for me when it was published in the 2001 year-end issue in a really hideous design. This was not Nate's fault, and nine years later we can laugh about it. We sure did the other night in the bar.

By the end of the night I could not get over the odds of me ever seeing this menu. I know there are some people who would have gone nuts and demanded a bunch of money or caused a scene, but that is not me. I have no idea where they got the picture, and I really don’t care. This crazy occurrence just added to the fun I had with my friends during all star week. Shooting the game was great fun, but the best part of being at a big event like this is spending time with my friends.

The way I look at it, every time I am in the OC I have a free place to drink beer, and that is not a bad thing.

Jim Marshall signs his iconic Johnny Cash print for Brad Mangin in his San Francisco home on Feruary 11, 2009. (Photo by Grover Sanschagrin)

The voice on the other end of my cell phone had a sense of urgency. My friend Tim Mantoani was calling yesterday afternoon to tell me that his very good friend, legendary rock and roll photographer Jim Marshall died in his sleep Tuesday night in a hotel room in New York City. How could this be? We both had just seen Marshall at the 65th birthday party for Michael Zagaris (The Z-Man) last month in San Francisco. Many thoughts raced through my head. Tim told me to call the Z-Man to find out what had happened.

Jim Marshall flips off Kim Komenich as he photographs Marshall in front of his iconic Johnny Cash image hanging in Brad Mangin's photo gallery in Mangin's home during a party on July 11, 2009 in Pleasanton, CA. (Photo by Robert Seale)

Thanks to Zagaris I had the good fortune to meet Marshall and get to know him  a little bit over the past few years. The Z-Man and Marshall were dear friends who met while photographing the music scene in the 1960′s. They hung out together all the time, meeting for coffee on Fridays and spending time with each other on holidays like Thanksgiving. They knew everything about each other. There was no bullshit between them. Spending time with the two of them over dinner and listening to their stories was an unforgettable life experience.

Jim Marshall and Michael Zagaris pose for friend and photographer Tim Mantoani and his 20 x 24 inch Polaroid camera in San Francisco, CA on January 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

Zagaris and Marshall were the first two photographers to be photographed by Tim Mantoani with a 20 x 24 inch Polaroid camera for his Behind Photographs Project in December of 2006. It was only fitting that Marshall was the very first living legend who Mantoani documented. The larger-than-life Marshall loved Mantoani and would make it a point to come visit him at the studio in San Francisco whenever the San Diego-based photographer came to town to photograph new subjects for his ongoing project.

Kim Komenich, Michael Zagaris and Jim Marshall hang out and swap stories during a break in a photo session with Tim Mantoani in San Francisco, CA on January 11, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

After meeting Marshall several times at some of Mantoani’s photo shoots in San Francisco and some other events I finally had the amazing opportunity to attend a dinner with him, Zagaris,  my new friend Baron Wolman, and some other friends a few years ago in San Francisco. At this dinner I marveled at the camaraderie and respect between these three dear friends. They were all such amazing photographers who could spend all night telling the most exciting stories about the people they had met and the places they had been. There was no need to impress each other. There was also no need for me to say anything. I just listened. All night. It was amazing.

As Michael Zagaris looks on, Brad Mangin hands Jim Marshall $2,000 in cash to buy some prints in Marshall's San Francisco home on February 11, 2009. (Photo by Grover Sanschagrin)

Zagaris had always said he wanted to get me over to Marshall’s house so I could buy some prints for my growing photo gallery in my home. My gallery would not be complete until I had some signed Marshall prints on my walls. I finally had the amazing opportunity on February 11, 2009 when Zagaris arranged for Grover Sanschagrin and myself to join Marshall and him for dinner at one of Marshall’s favorite restaurants on Market Street, just steps away from his long-time him in San Francisco’s Castro District. What an great night! Marshall knew all the waitresses and they treated him like a king- and deservedly so! After dinner we walked to Marshall’s house for a tour of his collection and then got down to the business of shopping for prints for my gallery. His living room was set up like the most amazing store I had ever been in with Jim Marshall prints all over the room in custom racks arranged by size. 11 x 14′s over here on one wall and 16 x 20′s over there on the other wall. Where to begin?

With Grover’s help I eventually picked out the three prints I wanted: Johnny Cash, The Beatles and Miles Davis. I knew that Marshall loved cash, so I came prepared. We struck a deal that were were both happy with. Nothing could wipe the smile from my face.

As Michael Zagaris and Brad Mangin look on, Jim Marshall signs a 16 x 20 print of his famous Beatles picture for Mangin in Marshall's San Francisco home on February 11, 2009. (Photo by Grover Sanschagrin)

My three new Marshall prints were the key acquisitions to my updated photo gallery that I wanted to show off to my friends with a Gallery Opening Party in my home on July 11, 2009. I had friends flying in from Texas and driving in from Los Angeles for this event. It was going to be an amazing night. The only thing that could send this Opening over the top was to have Jim Marshall himself attend. Zagaris told he that Marshall wanted to come and he would bring him from San Francisco to my home an hour away in the east bay suburbs of Pleasanton. I wanted to make sure we had Marshall’s favorite drink, so Zagaris told me to get some Macallan 12. Done. When Marshall showed up a little past 6pm I could not believe it. As more and more photographer friends arrived to my opening they were astonished to see who was holding court in my living room telling stories. We made sure his glass was never empty.

“That was an amazing evening at your house listening to him (Marshall) talk about his photos. What an incredible body of work he left. My favorite is his Jimi Hendrix sound check photo but there are so many more,” said San Jose Mercury News photographer Patrick Tehan.

“I feel truly fortunate to have been at your home last July to hear Jim talk about his pictures in person. What an incredible life,” said Oakland Tribune photographer D. Ross Cameron.

“That was one of the greatest times meeting Marshall and your party Brad and getting the chance to talk with him. I loved the story he was telling me about hanging out with John Coltrane in Berkeley. Kim Komenich took a photo of me and Jim Marshall and gave it to me on my 59th birthday last summer. He had so many wonderful stories that night,” said Contra Costa Times photographer Dan Rosenstrauch.

Marshall hung out and told stories while going through all of his books I have in my collection for hours until he got tired and left around 11pm. There were three Pulitzer Prize winners in my house that night, but all of them were speechless as they listened to Marshall’s tales throughout the evening.

Jim Marshall shows his knife to Deanne Fitzmaurice as Andy Kuno, Bob Binder and Michael Zagaris look on during the Gallery Opening Party at Brad Mangin's house in Pleasanton, CA on July 11, 2009. (Photo by Robert Seale)

I got to know Jim the past few years through our personal meetings and his books. The more I learned from him the more I respected him as a businessman and someone who did things his way. I love that. He didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought. He lived his life the way he wanted and refused to conform to corporate America and the bullshit that comes along with it.

It was while reading his book TRUST that came out last year that I really began to be inspired by his words and actions and how his wisdom could help my own photography business. Marshall talks about the TRUST he had with his subjects:

“I don’t sign shit either, I own all of my photographs and no one I’ve shot, not Dylan, not Miles, not Cash, has ever complained about how my pictures of them have been used.”

Later in the book is my favorite quote from Marshall that he said when talking about Thelonious Monk:

“I pretty much have every roll of film I shot… I looked after my negatives and now they look after me.”

I have fought hard to own all or most of my images that I have produced over the past 20 plus years. The older I get the more and more I grow to appreciate Marshall and what he stood for. This man fought hard for everything he had, and no way in Hell was he ever going to let anyone fuck with him or his pictures.

This is the great man I called Zagaris about when I heard the news from Mantoani yesterday afternoon. Zagaris answered his cell phone immediately and I could hear the sadness in his voice. He was at Marshall’s house with Marshall’s assistant Amelia going through his things, answering phone calls and discussing plans for a memorial service. Before long Zagaris was telling stories about Marshall and laughing hysterically as only the Z-Man can.

One of Marshall’s closest friends in San Francisco was long-time Associated Press staff photographer Eric Risberg. Marshall had shot portraits of Risberg and his wife Elizabeth when they were married almost 19 years ago. Risberg kept in contact with Marshall over the years and last saw him in February at Zagaris’s 65th birthday party in San Francisco. “I am so glad I had one last chance to see him.” Risberg told me last night as he was on his way to meet a friend for a drink. “I am going to toast Jim with a glass of John Powers,’ he said.

There will be an upcoming event in San Francisco to honor and toast the great Jim Marshall. I will be there- and so will many others. He meant so much to all of us. Knowing Jim he will be pissed that he can’t attend.