Be Inspired: Walter Iooss
by Cody Johnson | Nov 9, 2011 | News
Walter Ioss was one of the big reasons I got into photography. I saw his book "Diamond Dreams" one day while at a local bookstore and my jaw hit the floor. I had no idea sports photography could look like this. Iooss probably one of the most famous Sports Illustrated photographer...ever. You have no doubt seen his images on their pages. He is known for his iconic portraits of Michael Jordan and for SI swimsuit covers. But what I love about Walter Iooss' photos is his point of view. When you look through his body of work you typically see photos that are shot from a perspective that no one else thought of. I remember seeing one of his photos of a World Series celebration and his photo so clearly illustrated the "agony of defeat" as it showed the dejected losing team ballplayers heading to the dugout with the celebration of the winning team happening in the background just out of focus. I thought that was brilliant and I was even more hooked with his work. Take a look at just a sampling of his work by googling is odd greek name to see more what I am talking about.
Here is another of my favorite shots of his that he took while he was doing a story of Cuban baseball in Havana. Really take a look at the photo. You will notice that he took this shot at the absolute critical moment and every single eye in the photo is focused on that ball. Iooss says, "even the dog is looking at the ball". Awesome! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
