Walter Iooss • Profile

Walter Iooss Jr.

Artist, Storyteller, Legend. The G.O.A.T of Sports Photography.

Widely considered the world's most influential sports photographer and dubbed "the Rembrandt of sports photography" due to his use of light, shadow, color, and composition, Walter Iooss Jr.'s images transcend the fame of his subjects and have come to represent modern sports culture.

But the secret to his success is a carefully crafted rapport with his subjects. As a result, his work has forever changed the definition of what a "great sports photograph" should be.

Born to a family of sports fans in Texas in 1943, Iooss discovered photography at age 15 when his father gave him a camera. Within a year, he had begun photographing professional football games. At just 17, he got his first assignment for Sports Illustrated. By 20, he was shooting the magazine's covers.

Iooss's images have appeared on over 300 covers of Sports Illustrated—more than any other photographer in the world. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he has worked with almost every athlete at the top of their game, including Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Kelly Slater and Kobe Bryant.

Iooss has photographed every single one of the first 52 Super Bowls; published a book on the 18 months he spent following U.S. athletes as they prepared for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles called Shooting for the Gold; created a New York Times bestselling photo essay, Rare Air, with Michael Jordan; and shot campaigns for the likes of Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, and more.

In recent years, his pictures have been the subject of several gallery shows and a solo artist auction at Christie's New York in 2020 called Athlete: Photographs by Walter Iooss, Jr. The exhibitions include Athlete: The Sports Illustrated Photography of Walter Iooss at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. in 2009; Sport: Iooss and Leifer at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles in 2009; and LEGENDS: The Sports Photography of Walter Iooss at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in Connecticut in 2019-2020.

In 2018, Iooss was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.

Recent News

10.27.24 l The Catch l NBC Sunday Night Football Preview

Starring Walter

Behind The Scenes

Stories

7.16.24 l In 1976 I went on trip to East Germany, with 12 other journalists, to cover the E. German athletes. We had to go through check point Charlie, which was frightening. But then there were the beautiful children athletes, like this gymnastics contest in Leipzig. It’s long been one of my favorite photos, and wanted to share it, 48 years later.

1.12.24 l “Michael’s hand”. The only print in the world with the inked hand and signature The hand print was done after a game, in his hotel room, in Atlanta in 1998. I asked to do another but he declined. One of my favorite possessions. #michaeljordan

12.17.23 | Diary spread of Michael in Miami, the day we shot the cover of “Rare Air” in Coconut Grove, Fl. 3/93. #michaeljordan

2.7.22 | "Broadway" Joe Namath is seen here poolside at the Galt Ocean Mile Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 9th, 1969—the Thursday before Super Bowl III, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

8.10.20 | This shoot was my first time working with Michael. Leading up to this, I had been doing these ad jobs for the European sports drink, Isostar, where we would shoot athletes from above, in late daylight, utilizing their long shadows to illustrate what sport was being played. It was the start of a great idea, but we never had any real athletes, and the final execution was pretty commercial, so I wanted to try this for myself and do it right. When this shoot with Michael came up for @sportsillustrated, I now had my ideal opportunity.

8.10.20 | This was an important moment in fight history because Muhammad Ali had just changed his name from Cassius Clay. Ernie Terrell, his opponent, refused to address him by his new name. So, Ali beat the crap out of him the whole fight and kept yelling, “What's my name?!” Needless to say, Ali won the fight.

8.9.20 | "Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles, CA, 2000" Kobe knew how to pose and would always give you an attitude and emotion. Ultimately, he had a sense of the picture and made the process an equal collaboration. These are 20x24" Polaroids, which come from one of my favorite cameras, which is the size of a small fridge. There are only a few of them in the world. This camera we had driven down from it's home in San Francisco with its operator. You would frame, conduct, and shoot the picture - but someone else operated it. Because of their size and incredible detail, the prints are almost life-like.

8.6.20 | I was following the @lakers during the 2002 season when @sportsillustrated asked me to shoot a portrait of @Shaq for a story. I had been doing this series of hand and footprints over a couple of years with athletes like Ali, Jordan, and Pele. I purposefully shot Shaq on a clean white background, knowing I wanted to include his size 22-foot print. Three days later, I had 20x24" Gelatin Silver prints made and delivered to me.

7.1.20 | I had planned this picture for almost a year. The dugouts at Dodger Stadium were this fantastic baby blue color, and I wanted to pair that with a visiting team uniform that was similar in tone. I had initially tried this with the @Phillies but decided to come back when the @cardinals visited, as their uniforms more perfectly matched. I sat on the dugout steps for close to an hour, just shooting anyone who was on the bench. The colors paired with their lack of interest made for a great picture - Tony and Gary could care less that I was there. Baseball is the best sport to shoot when nothing is happening.

7.31.20 | The genesis of this photo came from when I grew up in East Orange, NJ. There was this lobby in an apartment building that had these huge mirrors on each side of its entrance, and I'd stare into the reflection, which would go on forever. As a kid, it fascinated me. Decades later, I thought of this idea for an upcoming shoot with Michael. I shot this image on a rooftop outside of Chicago, with three 4x8' mirrors on a 4-foot high platform. I once asked Michael, if he remembered any of the pictures we have done, he said, "Of course I do! That mirror one was pretty good."

5.4.21 | Kobe Bryant, San Pedro, CA 2000 “I made this photograph of Kobe for Adidas. Leading up to the shoot, our producer had scouted a group of locations, one of which was this great basketball court hanging over the Pacific in San Pedro, Palos Verdes called Angel’s Gate Park — which takes on a new context now. At this point in 2000, Kobe and I had already worked with each other many times and were comfortable together. He was like Jordan when it came to being photographed. He always looked good in pictures.

5.4.21 | I made this portrait in a vestibule of Michael's home in 1998. I was shooting on 4x5 sheet film, and the double exposure was actually a mistake. I wanted to try it again to see if I could do it any better. Michael said, ""You'll never do that again; you're not good enough!"" This was the kind of competitive banter we always had. I, of course, attempted, and it wasn't very good, to which he said, ""You see."" He was right.

7.27.20 | Verified "Joe Montana, San Fransico, CA, 1991." I needed to wait for twilight to make this shot work, as I wanted to do a "slash and burn" with the strobe to achieve this ghosting effect. When @joemontana showed up, it would still be too early, so I needed to, somehow, keep him occupied and kill an hour to get the right light. Knowing this, I brought a six-pack of beer to help facilitate, and we fell into a wonderful 45-minute conversation. In the end, Joe stayed until dark, and we created this shot.

7.23.20 | "The Slam Dunk, Chicago, 1988." Before the contest, I asked Michael if he could tell me which way he was going to dunk. This was either the dumbest or smartest question I've ever asked. He said, "sure I can." I didn't think he would remember. On his second-to-last dunk, he landed in my lap, under the hoop. On his next and final dunk, from the other end of the court, Michael signaled me to move to my right. That's how "The Slam Dunk" was created.

Collections

All publications and collections available to order︎︎︎

Sporting Life: The Journals of Walter Iooss

Walter Iooss: A Lifetime Shooting Sports & Beauty

Articles

Client List

The New York Times
Sports Illustrated
Time Magazine
GQ
Esquire
ESPN

Life Magazine
Golf Digest
Fortune
Kodak
Canon
Fujifilm

Nike
Adidas
Reebok
Umbro
Pepsi
Coke

Sprite
Gatorade
Champion
Marlboro
Camel
Upper Deck

Celebrity List

Michael Jordan
Muhammad Ali
Shaquille O’Neale
Tiger Woods
Jack Nicklaus
Kobe Bryant

Björn Borg
Aretha Franklin
Janis Joplin
Jimmy Hendrix
Cal Ripken
Willie Mays

Reggie Jackson
OJ Simpson
Serena Williams
Magic Johnson
LeBron James
Wilt Chamberlain

Private Auctions

2020 Christie’s, The Athlete: Photographs by Walter Iooss, Jr., New York, NY

Museum & Gallery Shows

1984 Shooting for the Gold, Washington DC, San Diego, Chicago, New York, San Francisco
1998 Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Sport: Iooss & Leifer, Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Athlete, Newseum, Washington, DC
2015 Open Air, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL
2017 Who Shot Sports, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
2019 Legends: The Sports Photography of Walter Iooss, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT
2020 City/Game: Basketball in New York, Museum of The City of New York, New York, NY
2024 The Perfect Shot: Walter Iooss Jr., and the Art of Sports Photography, Ellen Noel Museum of Art, Odessa, TX

Permanent Collections

National Museum of African American History and Culture - 60 images

Honors

1999 Pictures of The Year, 2nd Place, Magazine Division / Portrait and Personality
2004 The Lucie Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award
2018 Inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame

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