Russ Isabella
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 p.3 #7 · favorite sports photographer? | |
This is an interesting thread because it's got me to thinking about the question, the answers, and the reasoning behind both. For me, no doubt, guys like Iooss, Black, Mangin, Miller, Miralle and Seale are phenomenal. I see their work and I shake my head thinking about how they got to where they are with their skill, creative eye, and access. Their photos WOW me, consistently. But if I'm honest, I realize that I don't learn much from them, and in some ways I'm more inspired by their biographies than their photos. Might just be they're so far beyond where I'm at that the leap is too great to contemplate. And then there's guys like Max (pshizzy), Paul and Dennis, in order of my acquaintance with them, their work and, more importantly, what they've offered me through this community. Max is the first guy whose stuff I saw here and did the WOW thing, but somehow, I felt I was looking at something I could aspire to. On top of that, Max is possibly the smartest guy I've ever met (though Dennis could tie for that title), and so willing to share his knowledge and his insight that I don't know how he ever manages to get his own work done. And Max is the guy I can always count on to look at my best work from a shoot and tell me where I should be thinking about going from there. Humbling and inspiring. Paul is just plain inspiring. Watching him shoot Little League baseball, I learned about the role of passion in photography, and I must admit I was a bit surprised to realize that passion could play in to shooting sports. But damned if it doesn't, and for me, Paul's work is the very best example of the places passion can take you when you also have great skill and vision. The kids that Paul shoots love him. The parents of those kids who Paul sells photos to love him. Which tells you a little something about the person behind the inspiring and beautiful work. Dennis is a freakin' genius. If I could talk to Dennis for an hour each day, I'd be a much better photographer for it. And the most remarkable thing is that Dennis would be willing to talk to me for an hour each day if I had the balls to ask him to. As was pointed out in a previous post, Dennis's photography speaks for itself. It's as good as sports photography gets. But it's what Dennis knows that inspires me, not only to become better at this, but to be more knowledgable about what I'm doing.
Finally, just being here, on this board, is something of an inspiration for me. The give and take, the generosity and the knowledge, it's all good. Except when it's not. 
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