Walter Iooss (American, 1943)
A highly influential sports photographer, Walter Iooss Jr.’s images transcend the fame of his subjects, showing the trust they feel with the photographer. Born to a family of sports fans in Texas, Iooss discovered photography aged 15. At 17, he got his first assignment for Sports Illustrated, and by 20, he was shooting magazine’s covers. Today Iooss’s images have appeared on over 300 covers of Sports Illustrated, including of athletes like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams. He also photographed the first 52 Super Bowls, created a New York Times bestselling photo essay with Michael Jordan, and shot campaigns for Nike and Adidas. Before his prolific career in sports photography, from 1968 through 1972, Iooss was an in-house photographer for Atlantic Records in New York where he photographed many rock-and-roll stars.
