All newspaper photographers will tell you that they haul all their camera gear and work out of their car trunk.  Myself included.  I shoot a variety of assignments from sports, portraits and nature so I pack and carry specific lenses according to the lighting situations and needs of the assignment.  For that same reason I have an assortment of Lowepro camera bags and backpacks.  My assignment starts with the best designed Lowepro bag that will help me do my best work for that particular photo shoot.  I love the design, sturdiness and build quality of Lowepro.  I know and trust that once my  gear is safely in a Lowepro bag it will be protected.  "Lowepro is The Trusted Original".  

Some of my favorites are the Pro Messenger 200AW, Magnum 200AW and 650AW, Vertex 300AW, Pro Runner 450 AW, S&F Series and my overall favorite...the Pro Roller x300. 

Shop Lowepro at link below and use code LP20 at time of purchase for discount.

A tribute to a great friend that I would introduce as my second father. He touched many peoples lives with his words, photography and how he lived. Ron had a huge impact on so MANY people including myself. It is an honor to say he was a friend.  Read tribute here.

Why?  My First Sports Illustrated Cover

I had lunch with an old friend and we were discussing Sports Illustrated celebrating Michael Jordan's 50th birthday by placing MJ on the cover a record 50th time.   It is huge to be on the cover as an athlete as well as being the photographer who took the photograph especially in the days before internet.   Sport Magazine and Sports Illustrated were the main source for sports coverage on a national level.  Being on the cover brought national attention.  They didn't have regional covers as they do now and SI only used their own elite photography and photographers.   To get a cover as a photographer is really special.  To get a cover as a freelance photographer is huge.  I am honored to say that one of my photographs is included in the fifty MJ covers.   How it happened...

THE PHONE CALL

Michael Jordan had just announced his retirement for the first time from the Chicago Bulls and I received a call from the basketball photo editor at Sports Illustrated.  He was looking for a specific image of Michael walking away.  He asked me if I had any shots like that and I immediately said yes.  The editor was surprised that I answered so quickly and wanted to know how I knew I had the shot.  He asked several times... "Are you sure.   "Are you positive?"  I said "Yes, I am positive." Then I explained how I knew I had the shot.  It was Friday and Sports Illustrated needed the color transparency ASAP so it went federal express for Saturday delivery.  The editor said he would call me Monday night if I got the cover.

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH                                                                                                                            

I was photographing the Bulls against the Cavaliers.  Michael Jordan and the Bulls were having a rare off night and Jordan tried to take over the game in the fourth quarter.  Jordan was called for traveling as he made a move to the hoop.  During the stop in action Jordan held onto the ball so play could not resume.  This also gave him a chance to have a one sided conversation with the referee.  The other  players were down court as Jordan finished speaking with the ref.  Michael then started to walk away from me and the referee as he dropped the ball.  I noticed that it was a nice clean shot and thought it would be a great photo when he retires and walks away from the game.  I actually envisioned the layout as I took the photo.  Not a great action shot but one that tells a story.  Something that no one actually thinks of shooting.  Right after that play Ed Nahra, (aka the "Super Fan")  who was sitting court side holds up a Michael Jordan Wheaties box and yells with his big deep opera voice "What's the matter Michael...Didn't eat your Wheaties?  Jordan still steamed from the traveling call yells back at him to sit down and be quiet.  (Not the actual terminology).  This fueled Jordan's competitive nature and Michael being Michael dominated the game in the final minutes.  Bulls win again.

MONDAY NIGHT

True to his word I get a call Monday night from the Sports Illustrated photo editor... "You got the cover!" 

I have had numerous photos published in SLAM over the years and enjoy there publication and website.   But I never thought I would see the day that I would be a subject of one of their stories.  Check out a great article by Peter Walsh  HERE!  

"SLAM has published 155 issues in its history, and has featured the biggest names in basketball on its cover, in articles, and on its famous SLAMups posters".  (Wikipedia)

"Bear Claws"

I have always enjoyed western shows and the history of the old west.  The other day I was watching the movie Jeremiah Johnson, (I saw this movie for the first time in theaters in 1972) one of my favorites, a classic western about a mountain man living isolated in the Rocky Mountains during the Mexican War.  I can't count how many times I watched this movie, but I got a good laugh when I realized the character 'Bear Claws' reminded me of one of my good friends and mentor, Tony Tomsic.

Both in looks and personality, Tony and Bear Claws are strikingly similar.  My relationship with Tony  also happens to be very similar to the relationship between the Main Character and Bear Claws. 

As I watched the movie I thought of Tony every time I heard Bear Claws call Jeremiah Johnson "Pilgrim" in a sarcastic tone.  Tomsic has his own special term of endearment that is infamous among his friends.

The more I worked with Tomsic the more I respected him.   He is the ultimate team player. The kind of guy that would always have your back. Similar to Bear Claws, he gives you advice and creative suggestions, but also let you learn from your mistakes.   When you receive a compliment from Tony...it means something.

Tony, like Bear Claws, is one of the originals.  Tough guy on the outside, great guy on the inside.  A pioneer in sports photojournalism from the old days of all manual film cameras.

I had a chance to work with some of the great legends in sports photography, and I am honored to still be one of the Tomsic's "pilgrims". 

I still have lunch with Tony every other month, and I called him immediately after watching the movie Jeremiah Johnson. "I have a new nickname for you that's meant with respect and affection..."

"What?  The big (expletive)?". He asked jokingly. 

"Nope,  Bear Claws". 

Tony laughed, "the guy from Jeremiah Johnson movie?" 

"Yes!"

"I love it!  I just finished watching that movie!" he exclaimed. 

I received a letter from him a few days later with a bumper sticker inside.  It said....Have a Nice Day "ELOHSSA"

Bear Claws meets Jeremiah Johnson video.
Tony Tomsic

"In Yo Face"

In 1992 I left my staff photography position with the Sun Newspapers to be a freelance photographer.  At this time I was a contract photographer for the Cleveland Cavaliers and also breaking in with Sports Illustrated.  I also contacted the photo editors at SPORT Magazine and another monthly sport magazine, at their request I sent them my portfolio. 

Photography is one of the few careers where people look at your work first, not your resume.  There were several options to present your work.  Not like today, where editors just look at your website.  Photographers always wondered how many images to send.  Should I send slides in pages or in a slide tray so they can just pop it into a slide projector?  Or send tear sheets?  I opted for approximately thirty images with a variety of work from action to feature.  I made my images into slides and put them in a slide tray, then put the tray in the original Kodak box that came with the carousel slide tray.  I sent the exact (duplicate) portfolio to both magazines and waited for a response.

The one monthly sport publication was an average magazine but SPORT Magazine was highly respected and did a great job with photos and layouts.  The following is a quote from the from The Sport Gallery-History of Sport Magazine website. "SPORT magazine was America’s first significant general interest sports magazine. By the time of its closing, SPORT was an American institution. The formula was simple: combine terrific editorial features with generous presentations of photography, particularly full-page color imagery. It was born as a novel idea and grew into a cultural icon. But it was SPORT‘s groundbreaking use of color photography which captivated sports fans, many of whom wallpapered their bedrooms with the exquisite full-page photos that were the magazine’s signature item. SPORT used many of the nation’s top shooters"

My portfolio was quickly returned from the monthly magazine.  I anxiously opened it and unexpectedly read an angry letter from their photo editor.  He was very upset and thought I sent him too many slides.  He also wrote  some other choice comments. I obviously caught this editor at a bad time. Then I noticed the Kodak slide box I shipped the carousel slide tray in said "140 slides" on the outside of the box.  I realized that he probably saw 140 slides and assumed I sent him that many, got mad and never even open the box.  Now I wondered what was going to happen with SPORT Magazine.

A few weeks later I get a phone call from Ira Gabriel, the Picture Editor at SPORT Magazine.  He had just viewed my portfolio and loved it.  He told me that after viewing it several times he called in his assistant photo editors and they viewed it several more times! 

Sport was working on their next issue about dunking in the NBA and after reviewing my portfolio, Ira asked me if I had any NBA dunk images.  Of course I had several.  One of my favorites is of Larry Nance of the Cleveland Cavaliers dunking on seven foot six center Manute Bol.  The ball went through the net and I captured the moment when it hit Manute square on his face.   I had also written on the slide mount..."In Yo Face". 

I received my next issue of SPORT magazine. Ira ran the "In Yo Face" dunk photo two full pages in the center spread and also used the title "In Yo Face".  SPORT also ran several other full page dunk photos of mine. 

The next time Manute and his team came to town, Cavaliers trainer Gary Briggs is on the sideline during warm ups holding that issue of SPORT with my "In Yo Face" dunk photo spread wide open.  As Manute trots by him during warm ups, Gary points to the photo spread with a smirk on his face.  Manute laughs, he was a good sport. 

"Steamed"

I have photographed numerous sports assignments over my thirty plus years as a photojournalist and have been slowly going through some of my old images. This photo still seems to get the most attention for one of my unusual feature sports photographs. I was on assignment for Sports Illustrated shooting the NFL Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Browns Stadium in the early nineties.   It was a cold but sunny day when I noticed steam coming off the head of Philadelphia Eagles football player Antone Davis after he removed his helmet as he left the playing field. Nothing really uncommon from a heated lineman under the right conditions in Cleveland. The light and positioning at that moment was not conducive to a good photograph so I waited until the next time Davis came off the field and positioned myself so the light would be back lit with the dark shadows of Cleveland Stadium as a clean backdrop. As luck would have it Antone Davis actually walked toward me and looked up at the scoreboard. I photographed this image with my Nikon F3 film camera and manual focus Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 lens wide open at 1/500^th shutter speed on Fujichrome Provia 100 pushed one stop. My equipment was four Nikon F3 camera bodies with 50mm, 300mm f/2.8, 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4 Nikkor lenses. My other gear such as film, light meters and rain gear were safely in my Lowepro fanny pack. Technology has obviously changed over the years. Zoom lenses have replaced the need for numerous lenses and camera bodies and the Lowepro S&F series has replaced the fanny pack. Through all the years of shooting I still trust my Nikon and Lowepro camera gear.

David Liam Kyle

Nike and Cavs congratulate Kyrie on his 2012 Kia Rookie of the Year honor with national ad featuring one of my photos of Irving. A well deserved honor to a nice young man. The Cleveland Plain Dealer also ran the same full page Nike ad on page D8 of today's paper congratulating Irving. Click here to see Nike ad.  The Cavs also ran opening page using beautiful graphics with my action photos of Kyrie on Cavs.com.

Sports Illustrated recently released a special addition book "Joe Paterno" that ran a stock image of mine as a double truck for their opening section on the 90's. Photo was original published in Sports Illustrated August 24th, 1994 issue as opener on the Table of Contents page and also ran as a double truck in "Sports Illustrated Presents Penn State - A Celebration of Nittany Lions Football" in 2008. The photo is of Penn State's quarterback Kerry Collins dropping back for a pass in a snowstorm against The Ohio State in 1994. Collins threw for 5,304 yards passing and 39 touchdowns in his college career. Original image was shot with a Nikon FM2 camera and Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 lens on Fuji Film.  Love the space payments.