Michelle Ann Laner
Michelle Ann Laner (born October 1959) is an American born, Canadian commercial photographer. She has done product and event photography for businesses, head shots for executives and food photography for numerous cookbooks. Being a foodie herself, her true passion is for food photography.
Early life Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 19 1959, Michelle Ann Laner is the second of five children of Frances Esther Laner (née Blakeny) and John William Laner. She is a second generation American; her father's parents were English/ Irish/ German. Her mother was raised on a farm and later became a real estate secretary. Her father was enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Korean war. When she was very young the family moved to Ontario, Canada settling into the Hamilton area.
She took her first pictures as a child having received a Kodak camera on her 12th birthday. The family was not well off so the cost of film and development had to come from babysitting. Manzoni said, "At an early age I learned to plan my shots and set each one up perfectly. This was the days before digital so every shutter click had to count because each one cost money."
At Delta Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario she became interested in music and the arts, yet maintained her love for photography.
She formally studied photography at Mohawk College Of Applied Arts And Technology in Hamilton where she graduated with honors in Photography and Event Planning. One of the most inspiring moments for her was watching an image develop for the first time before her eyes in the college dark room. This gave her further motivation to pursue photography as her career and life-long ambition. The works of Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz and various food photographers also fueled her enthusiasm to pursue photography.
Career
For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while holding various jobs and raising a family. In 2002, together with her husband Mike Manzoni, she co-founded FloodGate Marketing Inc. where she took pictures for clients for use in magazine ads, brochures and websites. What initially began as marketing related photography developed into a business unto itself. This created the need for a dedicated website for her food photography – www.photosplash.ca and eventually a second site, www.michellemanzoni.com for her commercial related photography.
Her Work
In 2017 Michelle went on to win an International competition held in China – the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Her food photography shared the prize with author and chef Amy Stopnicki for her book "Kosher Taste" in the category of Jewish cuisine. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. "Every year, they honour the best food and wine books, printed or digital, as well as food television.”
Canadian Tire Financial Services Ltd specified the services of Michelle Manzoni to capture images for their charity golf tournament in Welland Ontario in 2010.
Golfers had the opportunity to meet hockey legends Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson at the 7th hole. Michelle photographed the celebrities with the golfers. Images were printed on-site, framed and ready for guests upon their return to the clubhouse.
Television station Cable 14 in Hamilton Ontario commissioned Michelle to provide an image representative of the city of Hamilton (Ontario). The image was used for the backdrop in the 2015 season of "Hamilton Life" hosted by Linda Rourke. Linda's stipulation was that it had to be creative, avoiding the typical cityscape photography.
Her work has been on display in various galleries. Two of the notable galleries are Hamilton Artists Inc. where her work was featured with two other artists in a show aptly called "A Calamity of Uncommonality". The other was the McMaster Innovation Park where her work was displayed in a number of their exhibits.
17th Exhibit 18th Exhibit 21st Exhibit 22nd Exhibit
Michelle has produced a series of destination photography portfolios. She has traveled to Northern Ontario, Quebec, Calgary, Banff, Cape Cod, Venezuela, England, Spain, Morocco, New York City, New Orleans, Florida, California, Cuba, Belize, Mexico and Italy. Her Italian tour focused on capturing the culture, food, activities and environment of Rome, Venice, Tuscany, Florence, Verona, and Sienna.
Michelle has taken photos of local celebrities, entertainers and has done private assignments for clients’ home interior artistic décor.
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