Marilyn Monroe to Elvis Presley: Tim Mantoani turns the lens on the photographers behind the most celebrated pictures

PUBLISHED: 17:34 EST, 21 October 2012 | UPDATED: 03:30 EST, 22 October 2012

Photographer Tim Mantoani has turned the artist into the subject in a collection of pictures that feature famous shutterbugs displaying their most famous pieces.

Mantoani included all genres from paparazzi, to fashion and nature photographers to Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalists to portraitists in his book, Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends.

The book reveals the faces who captured some of history's most memorable images like the wind blown hair of Jackie Onassis in a 1971 street shot, the chilling sight of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11 and Muhammad Ali's victorious fist in his momentous win over Sonny Liston in 1965.

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Iconic: Ron Galella captured this candid and stunning shot of Jackie O in 1971 in New York. 'This was my lucky day!' the photographer said, calling the picture 'offguard, spontaneous, unreleased ... Da Vinci had his Mona Lisa, I got it in my Mona Lisa smile'

Dancing shoes: Karen Kuehn chose a unique angle for a National Geographic photo spread. The magazine 'did not want it to be typical! The Russian Blue Cat and Ballerina legs was inspired by George Balanchine, he used the idea of cats landing always on their toes to teach his dancers'

The King: Alfred Wertheimer photographed the wild ways of Elvis Presley romancing an admirer backstage at the Mosque Theater, Richmond, Virginia on June 30, 1956

Hail to the Chief: Bob McNealy chronicled the Clinton White House. 'One day following him into the Oval Office he spun in front of me to speak to someone behind us... It is the best picture I made of him while he was President,' McNealy said

Phil Stern

Arthur Elgort

Beautiful ladies: Phil Stern (left) poses with his shot of Marilyn Monroe in 1953. 'I don't know what she was thinking,' he said. Arthur Elgort (right) displays his 1988 shot of supermodel Christy Turlington at Parisian hotspot La Coupole for a spread in British Vogue

Howard Bringham

Neil Leifer

The Greatest: Howard Bringham (left) displays his picture 'Two Fighters' featuring Nelson Mandela (left) and Muhammad Ali (right). Neil Leifer (right) captured the Ali's moment of victory in 1965 over Sonny Liston

He has compiled his collection of 153 portraits into a coffee table book, that was released last year, and now an e-book edition is set to be released.

For the project, Mantoani traveled across the country to photograph the artists in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston.

'In each case, the photographer is holding one of their favorite or most iconic images ...I think for all of us, as you grow up, there are just certain images that linger,' Mantoani said.

'My hope is that this project will become a way for future generations to not only appreciate the photography of our time, but the photographers as well.'

'Cameras did not make these photographs, the photographers did. Without the dedication of photographers, like these passionate men and women, history would not have been recorded through their eyes and these moments they hold would not exist for our observation. Some of these photographers not only documented their generation but, their photographs have defined it.'

Victory: Allen Tennenbaum captured the moment anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, with his wife Winnie, was released from prison after 26 years in 1990. 'His walk to freedom was very short, and the scene got very chaotic, but I was one of the only photojournalists to capture the event that changed history,' Tennenbaum said

Striking: Steve McCurry captured the piercing green eyes of this young girl in Peshawar, Pakistan in 1984. 'I looked for this girl for 17 years and finally found her in 2002. Her name is Sharbat Gula,' he said

Terror: Photographer Lyle Owerko holds his 20x24 photograph of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. 'No one knew such a beautiful warm day would serve as the backdrop to one of the most painful and confusing events to the heart of mankind,' Owerko said

Snug: Mary Ellen Mark holds her picture of elephant trainer Ram Prakash Singh with his friend Shyama in 1990. 'Ram Prakash Singh was the ringmaster of the The Great Golden Circus. The photograph was done in Ahmedabad India,' she said

Legend: Bob Gruen was commissioned to photograph John Lennon at his penthouse apartment in New York. 'After we took a series of portraits for the record cover we took some informal shots to use for publicity. I asked him if he still had the New York City t-shirt I had given him a year earlier and he went a put it on and we made this photo,' Gruen said

The man behind the project: Photographer Tim Mantoani stands before some of his portraits. He compiled the shots into his book Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends

Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends Book by Tim Mantoani