Who spent that evening with Marylin? Who captured the Tank Man in Tienanmen Square? Who took Kurt Cobain’s portrait two months before his death? For his book Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends, photographer Tim Mantoani tracked down the masters behind some of our visual history’s most iconic images to rescue them from anonymity. Highlighted in Wired, here are just a few of the 150 portraits of famous photographers holding their famous photographs and sharing stories, like Steve McCurry searching for 17 years to find Sharbat Gula, the young, translucent-eyed girl from Pakistan, the star in his famous Kodachrome. Find out more about the project, but first, sift through these intentionally analog, enormous 20×24 Polaroid portraits and… respect!
Mark Seliger with his portrait of Kurt Cobain for Rolling Stone. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Jeff Widener with his photo of Tank Man in Tienanmen Square from 1989. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Harry Benson with a photo of the Beatles, after Brian Epstein just told them they were number one in America in 1964. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Steve McCurry with his 1984 Kodachrome of a young refugee from Afghanistan in Pakistan. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Douglas Kirkland with his portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Lyle Owerko with his photograph of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Mary Ellen Mark with her photograph circus ringleader Ram Prakash Singh and his elephant. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Neil Leifer and his photograph of Ali vs. Liston, May 25, 1965. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Elliot Erwitt with his 1974 photograph taken in New York’s Central Park. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani
Bill Eppridge with his photo of Robert F. Kennedy after his assassination on June 5, 1968. Photo credit: Tim Mantoani