Aflevering #233 Eng - Seven Minutes With Elon Musk: Mark Mahaney On Pressure, Portraits, And Meaning

In this episode, I’m joined by American photographer Mark Mahaney, whose work spans major editorial and commercial clients including Time Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Nike, Levi’s, and more. We recorded in New York City, inside the studio of legendary portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, where Mark once assisted and absorbed lessons that still shape his way of working today. We talk about photography as a human practice, about respect, communication, and integrity on set, and why those values matter just as much as technical skill. Mark reflects on how publishing his book Polar Night and the forced pause of COVID fundamentally changed his approach, pushing him toward a more intuitive, varied, and story-driven way of working. The conversation moves between extremes: from seven intense minutes photographing Elon Musk to weeks spent editing, because for Mark, the real creative work often begins after the shoot. We explore the tension between developing a recognizable voice and staying creatively alive, the blurred line between assignment and personal work, and what it means to photograph powerful figures without simply reinforcing their mythology. This episode is for photographers and creatives who sense that their work wants to be more than a style, and who are searching for a way of working that aligns with who they are: artistically, ethically, and personally. You can explore Mark Mahaney’s work ?here? If this conversation resonates and you feel called to go deeper into your own photographic core, you’re warmly invited to join my upcoming five-day retreat in the French Alps (June 2–6), co-hosted with renowned Dutch photographer Awoiska van der Molen. This retreat is not about producing new work, but about discovering and defining the essence that already runs through everything you’ve made, creatively, intuitively, and professionally.You can sign up ?here? or get all info.