When deciding whom to select for my
photographer, I wanted to select a photographer who covered many famous
athletes. I looked around the Internet at many iconic pictures and found out
that a famous photographer named Walter Iooss was well known for taking famous
pictures of many famous athletes in a wide variety of sports. Walter Iooss was
born in Temple, Texas in 1943, but moved to East Orange, New Jersey at the age
of five. “At the age of 16, he shot his first roll of film at a Chicago
Cardinals vs. New York Football Giants professional football game. The
following year he attended the German School of Photography in New York City,”
(Walter Iooss Biography par. 3). Walter’s school and early practice was just
the start of one of the more famous careers in sports photography.
After graduating from the German
School of Photography in New York, Walter’s career began in 1961. “In 1961,
Walter was assigned to Sports Illustrated as a photographer and later took a
job as an in-house photographer at Atlanta Records from 1968-1972, covering
famous athletes,” (Walter Iooss Career par. 3). Iooss was assigned to cover the
1968 Mexico City Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics. Walter Iooss worked for
Sports Illustrated for over fifty years as the company’s main photographer. “They
might be forgiven, although Iooss’s shots have graced the cover of Sports
Illustrated over 300 times,” (Walter Iooss par. 3).
However, Walter’s best known for
his award-winning images of sports’ greatest athletes, including, Michael
Jordan, Tiger Woods, Scottie Pippen, and Muhammad Ali. In 1992, Iooss
approached Michael Jordan and had the idea of writing an essay and following
him around his games with the Chicago Bulls. “The results show the god of
basketball in full flight and, perhaps more importantly, as an earthling, a
human after all, amid the rapping of the upper-class athlete,” (Walter Iooss
Career, par. Biography par. 12). Another famous photo that Walter captured was
one of the more famous sports pictures were you see Muhammad Ali, the greatest
boxer of all time, standing over Sonny Liston after he knocked him out in the
championship. After researching the works of Walter Iooss, I was fascinated and
shocked that two of the most known sports pictures were taken by the same
photographer, even though the two photos were taken two decades after one
another.
After reading Walter
Iooss’s biography and accomplishments I was very interested in finding out how
he managed to get his career started. It started just as a curious hobby as he
took pictures on his own, and then he graduated in a top tier photography
school. What started off as a hobby, quickly flourished into one of the most
prestigious photographers for the most known sports magazine in the world,
Sports Illustrated. Walter is still known as one of the greatest photographers
of this generation, and it is due to his hard work, and capturing some of the
most celebrated athletes in their prime.
Works Cited
"Biography - Sports Photography Walter Iooss." Biography - Sports Photography Walter Iooss. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
- "Career - Sports Photography Walter Iooss." Career - Sports Photography Walter Iooss. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
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