Tremendous stuff from Walter Iooss Jr

Right, but I think that just means "see if he still does the same thing." Not "Tell a player to pose this way after hitting a home run."

 

Saw an incredible exhibit of Iooss's work at the Newseum in DC last spring, not sure if it's still there. Amazing to see some of those shots blown up almost lifesize....also a great video of him explaining how he got the shots.

 

I've long felt that few of the ethical rules of journalism are intuitive. It's difficult to explain to people without a journalistic background why we can't pay for interviews or root for the teams we cover.

Iooss began with Sports Illustrated as a teenager. I couldn't find any evidence he went to college. (If there's one disappointment I have with this story, it's that there wasn't a little biography box explaining Iooss' [Iooss's in Sports Illustrated-ese] career path.) As I understand it, he started with SI as an 18-year-old and never went to college and really only left SI for one period, when he worked for a music studio shooting bands and singers such as James Brown.

It's entirely conceivable that the editors at SI never thought twice about his educational background and didn't bother explaining ethics to the kid, in which case I'm sure some would be a little taken aback by some of these stories. It's also possible that they knew Iooss' process and didn't mind it because the results were so stunning.

Even his story about asking Jordan to tell him which angle to shoot from at the dunk contest would give some pause in a journalism classroom setting, though I don't particularly mind that example because he didn't ask Jordan to change his routine. The Reggie Jackson and Earl Weaver anecdotes were more troubling. Iooss, if he is to be believed (I'm not saying he's lying, but I am questioning whether his ego made him feel as though he had a bigger role in some of these events than he necessarily did), would have manufactured the news to some degree.

 

The dunk contest doesn't matter, because it's not real.

 

Maybe that's because some of the rules don't really make sense and are in place, more cynically, for reasons other than "ethics".

 

hi, i would like to clear up a few facts. i started at s.i. at 17. i did not attend college. i worked at s.i. throughout my career, except from mid '82-'84, when i worked with fuji, documenting the us athletes training, and competing, in the olympics. the earl weaver story is true. he is the one who volunteered to get into the argument, not me. i showed reggie the photo from 1967, where he stood watching the flight of his home run. he knew the mag was doing a cover on him, and wanted to do this, and pose after he hit a homer. i can only ask a player, they must comply. this is not done to stroke my ego, but to take an interesting photo. it is always better when the person your shooting is working with you. i am as surprised as anyone that these incidents happened. i also don't believe i am breaking any unwritten rules of journalism. i just want to work with the athletes, not betray them, or waste they're time, but what's most important is to take a photograph that we both are proud of.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Finally read the piece, great stuff.

A few years ago my wife's employer hired Iooss to take a picture of the family's kids. My wife does not know anything about sports or SI and when she said the name I went, "Wait, Iooss?" She said yes. And she was right, and the picture, of course, is very cool. Huge copy of it hangs in their entryway.

The Leifer stories are great. There's a story of his famous Ali-Liston pic of a rival photog who is pictured between Ali's legs. I think the story was the guy - and Leifer - both knew Leifer had gotten the shot because of perfect positioning.

 

...with Larry Merchant, who can be spied in the crowd over the photog's left shoulder with his mouth open.

 

Great call.

We were all younger, then.

 

Speaking of which ... I'm nudging the top end of the age demographic here, I have to believe some younger folk are thinking this too --- that Iooss piece was great and all, but does it seem like more and more, what SI has to sell is nostalgia?
There's even a line in there somewhere, where he says something about being a young guy working for the greatest sports organization in the world. I read it thinkiing, "not any more, for better or worse..."

 

the photog between ali's legs is the late herbie scharfman. mr lo