Elliot Mandel is a Chicago-based photographer specializing in live music performance, artist portraiture, events, and editorial projects. His passion for music began in childhood with cello lessons and school orchestras, and has led to a robust clientele that includes many of Chicago’s finest ensembles, Grammy-winning and nominated artists, elite concert presenters, universities, and non-profit organizations.

His photos have appeared as album artwork for the Cedille, Naxos, Sono Luminus, and Okeh record labels, and in Gramophone Magazine, Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, and Chicago Magazine. His jazz portfolio has been shown at the University of Chicago, PurePoint Financial Gold Coast (Chicago), and the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

Aside from client work, Elliot enjoys photographing the night sky in some of the darkest parts of the country. He has traveled to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Rocky Mountains, and far West Texas to create images of the Milky Way, star trails, and the moon.

He and his wife, mezzo-soprano Bridget Skaggs, live in Chicago’s South Loop with their retired racing greyhound, Iris.

Exhibits and Events

Upcoming

Rendezvous Arts - Featured Artist, with Black Oak Ensemble and Goran Ivanovic. Dixon, IL, October 9, 2024. Lake Forest, IL, October 11, 2024. Chicago, October 13, 2024.

Past

Chicago Jazz & Blues: A Photographer's View - Juried Group Exhibition, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, September 27 - December 8, 2019.

A Command Performance - Jazz photography, with paintings by Arthur Wright. PurePoint Financial, 852 N. State St., Chicago. September 2018 - August 2019. Learn more.

Chicago Jazz & Blues: A Photographer's View - Juried Group Exhibition, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, September 22 - December 8, 2017. Awarded "Best Image at a Club."

Black Music in Chicago and Vienna: Roots & Routes - Featured Artist. Symposium presented by the U.S. Embassy Vienna, University of Vienna, Austria, and Fulbright Austria. AmerikaHaus Vienna, Austria. June 27, 2016.

Chicago Jazz: A Photographer's View - Juried Group Exhibition, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, September 23 - October 25, 2015.

Chicago Distance (solo) - Pianoforte Chicago, November 6, 2015 - January 6, 2016.