Posts Tagged ‘Who Shot Sports’

Media Center: ‘Who Shot Sports’ by Gail Buckland

June 15th, 2016

WHO: Gail Buckland

WHAT: WHO SHOT SPORTS:
A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present

WHEN: Published by Knopf July 5, 2016

WHERE: The author lives in Brooklyn.

WHY: “A collection of superlatives, with both subjects and artists in the finest of forms.
“Superb anthology of sports photographs, coupled with an illuminating text exploring the making of images both iconic and unknown. Of the iconic imagery, most readers of a certain age can conjure in their minds a facsimile of, say, Olympic athletes raising clenched fists on the podium, Muhammad Ali smacking Joe Frazier, or American women’s soccer player Brandi Chastain raising her jersey to celebrate her team’s World Cup victory. ‘The missing link…is the photographer,’ writes photo curator Buckland, who remedies that by including biographical and critical sketches of the photographers behind the lens at those climactic moments.
“Some of her choices are comparatively unknown, however, such as a wonderful image of two young players, shrouded in dust, sliding into home plate in the 2006 College World Series. If carved into marble, it might have been a study for the Laocoön Group, but as it is, Damian Strohmeyer’s photograph is a perfect capture of bodies in motion, shot ‘high enough to show the gradations of color, textures, and markings on the field, but close enough for the viewer to feel part of the action.’ That photograph is followed by one just as impressive, this one taken by ‘the only official Austrian photographer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics,’ Lothar Rübelt, who preceded that accomplishment with a stunning image of Jewish runners crossing a finish line in a 1921 contest. There’s also a great shot of a young Cassius Clay emerging from the ocean like Poseidon, caught by Flip Schulke, a Sports Illustrated photographer who never caught on that Clay/Ali couldn’t swim.
“It’s difficult to single out highlights, but one surely is David Burnett’s diving photographs, some taken with an old Speed Graphic camera ‘like the press photographers of yore used.’ Essential for all students of sports history and of photography and a fine gift for buffs as well.” –KIRKUS, starred review

“An irresistible compendium…enjoyable and extensive.”
—Alan Moores, BOOKLIST

Jacket photo
Photo collageMedia Resources:
About the book and author | Download the jacket | Download Mohammed Ali’s photo (Miami FL, 1961. Photo by Flip Schulke.) | Download soccer photo (Netherlands vs Brazil, World Cup, July 2, 2010. Photo by Mark Leech.) | Download swimmer photo (Australian Matthew Dunn, 1993. Photo by Tim Clayton.) | Download Ted Williams’ photo (1939. Photo by Arthur Griffin.) | Download the author photo

Knopf. 283 full-color and b&w photos. 330 pages. $45 ISBN 978-0-385-35266-6


Publicist for this title:
Jordan Rodman | 212-782-9714 | jrodman@penguinrandomhouse.com