BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Newseum -- Exhibits -- (C) Photo Finish

DC -- Newseum -- Exhibits -- (C) Photo Finish:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer
Nov. 18, 2011 through Aug. 12, 2012
“Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer” featured nearly 50 of the celebrated sports photographer’s best-known images, including the one of boxer Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out in the first round of their title fight in 1965.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 18.191.223.123 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] NEWSPF_111119_001.JPG	[2] NEWSPF_111119_006.JPG	[3] NEWSPF_111119_012.JPG
[4] NEWSPF_111119_019.JPG	[5] NEWSPF_111119_027.JPG	[6] NEWSPF_111119_033.JPG
[7] NEWSPF_111119_041.JPG	[8] NEWSPF_111119_048.JPG	[9] NEWSPF_111119_054.JPG
[10] NEWSPF_111119_059.JPG	[11] NEWSPF_111119_069.JPG	[12] NEWSPF_111119_074.JPG
[13] NEWSPF_111119_082.JPG	[14] NEWSPF_111119_095.JPG	[15] NEWSPF_111119_102.JPG
[16] NEWSPF_111119_106.JPG	[17] NEWSPF_111119_112.JPG	[18] NEWSPF_111119_118.JPG
[19] NEWSPF_111119_128.JPG	[20] NEWSPF_111119_134.JPG	[21] NEWSPF_111119_141.JPG
[22] NEWSPF_111119_147.JPG	[23] NEWSPF_111119_155.JPG	[24] NEWSPF_111119_162.JPG
[25] NEWSPF_111119_168.JPG	[26] NEWSPF_111119_175.JPG	[27] NEWSPF_111119_179.JPG
[28] NEWSPF_111119_183.JPG	[29] NEWSPF_111119_192.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NEWSPF_111119_006.JPG: Vince Lombardi, Super Bowl II, 1968 Rumors were circulating that Vince Lombardi would be coaching his last game with the Green Bay Packers at Super Bowl II. Sports Illustrated decided that Lombardi would be its cover subject if the Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders, which they were heavily favored to do. I had photographed Lombardi many times, but I really wanted to get him in the moment when his players carried him off the field. Sure enough, the Packers were well in front as the final seconds of the game ticked away. And Lombardi was the prime target of every photographer on the sidelines. When the gun went off, ending the game, I positioned myself right in front of Lombardi. My picture of him on Jerry Kramer's shoulder appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and has always been one of my favorites.
2. NEWSPF_111119_012.JPG: Muhmammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, 1965 I took my most famous picture on May 25, 1965, when Muhammad Ali stopped Sonny Liston in the first round of their heavyweight championship fight in Lewiston, Maine. It's the best example I can give of how important luck is in sports photography. I must have been the luckiest guy at ringside, since Ali knocked out Liston in the best possible sport for me. Look between Ali's legs and you'll see the other ringside Sports Illustrated photographer, Herb Scharfman. Obviously, he was not so lucky. It all happened in an instant, and I had only one chance to get the picture. I didn't miss. Believe it or not, the picture didn't make the cover of the magazine, and it didn't win any awards that year. Zero! Its reputation grew over time. In 1999, when Sports Illustrated published a special issue, "The Century's Greatest Sports Photos," my picture of Ali standing over Liston was the cover. The image represents the way people want to remember Ali: strength, confidence and showmanship.
3. NEWSPF_111119_019.JPG: President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Opening Day 1961 There was an old Washington baseball adage that went "First in war, first in peace, last in the American League." Nevertheless, the old Griffith Stadium, home of the Washington Senators, was still the place where politics and baseball came together on Opening Day. I was only 18 years old, and the idea of spending three hours just 20 feet from President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson was thrilling. I had never seen, much less photographed, a president. Once I got over the excitement, though, one thing became clear: I wasn't getting very good pictures. Johnson ate a hot dog and jumped up once or twice, but the president just calmly watched the game and carried on conversations. Late in the game, the weather turned chilly. Kennedy put on his overcoat and a hat. I got my best picture when a foul ball came dangerously close to the presidential box. The president, vice president, Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress -- all leaning to the left. Surely it was the most bipartisan moment of 1961.
4. NEWSPF_111119_027.JPG: Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992 Kristi Yamaguchi had just won the US figure skating championship and would soon take Olympic gold in Albertville, France. When I posed her for a Newsweek cover, I suggested a jump for her to do, and she laughed because it's one of the simplest. She suggested a few more difficult jumps that she thought might make a better picture. I explained that while a difficult maneuver might look awesome from the stands or feel wonderful to her, it doesn't necessarily make the best picture. I wanted Kristi to look beautiful. She agreed to do the jump I wanted, so I showed here where to land. She scratched an "X" on the ice with her skate, did a couple of practice jumps, and we began to shoot. During out 20-minute session, she completed 20 jumped and hit her mark almost every time, right on the money. She made it easy for me to get my picture.
5. NEWSPF_111119_033.JPG: Super Bowl I, 1967 People talk a lot about the changing face of sports, but for me, the proof is in this picture. If it weren't for the NFL logo on the grass, this could easily be mistaken for an unimportant high school football game. Believe it or not, this was the coin toss before the opening kickoff of Super Bowl I. There are only five people on the field: two captains for the Green Bay Packers, two captains for the Kansas City Chiefs and the referee. When I photographed the Super Bowl again in 2005, almost 40 years later, I shot the same picture. But now there were approximately 80 people huddled around the coin toss: players, referees, honorary captains, mascots TV cameramen and still photographers. When the mob finally left midfield so the game could begin, I found myself reflecting on a simpler time when the game itself was the highlight of Super Sunday.
6. NEWSPF_111119_041.JPG: Secretariat, 1973 Kentucky Derby If you asked me to pick the second greatest athlete of all time, after Muhammad Ali, I might surprise you by choosing a horse: Secretariat. Watching Secretariat run away with the Triple Crown races in 1973 is something I will never forget. I took this picture at the finish line of the Kentucky Derby, using a camera I mounted under the infield rail. Have you ever seen a more powerful athlete, or should I say horse? This picture shows how convincing Secretariat's Derby victory was -- and it wasn't nearly as convincing as his victory at the Belmont Stakes five weeks later. It was hard to believe that any athlete could be so much better than his his competition. But what was equally enjoyable for me at this Kentucky Derby was that, for once, I had bet my money on the right horse.
7. NEWSPF_111119_048.JPG: Arnold Palmer, 1966 US Open The first time in my life that I set foot on a golf course was to photograph Arnold Palmer. Forget about setting foot -- I had never even seen a golf course! I first photographed Palmer in 1962 for what was to become my third Sports Illustrated cover. By 1966, when I got this picture, I had shot a fair amount of gold. This picture was taken at the US Open in San Francisco, which was probably the most disappointing loss of Palmer's career. This is just a fairway shot, but it captures Palmer's intensity and the adoration of his fans, known as "Arnie's Army." Fans back then used periscopes to watch the action. For whatever reason, the periscopes are no longer allowed, but I miss them because they made a great background. As for Palmer, you couldn't take a bad picture of him. He was not only one of my favorite subjects, but also one of the nicest guys I met in my years as a sports photographer.
8. NEWSPF_111119_054.JPG: Star Sprinters The 100 meters is a race that everybody runs flat-out. Freeze athletes in a photograph at any moment during the race -- especially at the finish line -- and most of the time you can see the pain in their faces. For example, take a look at the Soviet sprinter whom Wilma Rudolph has just beaten at the 1962 USA-USSR track meet. Now look at Wilma. She is as graceful and as gorgeous as a fashion model. Her stride is perfect. Even at the finish of the most grueling 10 seconds in track and field, she looks beautiful. It was the same with Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Flo-Jo was the favorite to win the 100 meters. When I heard the lane assignments, I lay flat on the track at the end of Flo-Jo's lane, and I focused my camera on the finish line. By doing this, I was guaranteeing that if another sprinter upset Flo-Jo, I wouldn't get the best picture. I was literally betting with my camera that Flo-Jo would win and, lucky for me, she did.
9. NEWSPF_111119_059.JPG: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1992 As a six-time Olympic medalist in the heptathlon and long jump, Jackie Joyner-Kersee may be the greatest female athlete of all time. She was one of my favorite subjects, truly a lovely lady. I photographed her on two or three different occasions. What I remember about those posed sessions is that Jackie would show up with her fingernails done and with lipstick and makeup on. She looked like she had just come from an hour or two at the spa -- not like she was about to compete. I said to her, "Jackie, you look terrific, but the lipstick and the makeup..." She said, "This is exactly what I'll wear in the Olympics. This is the way I compete." I did watch her during the Olympics and, sure enough, she had told me the truth.
10. NEWSPF_111119_069.JPG: Vasily Alexeev, 1970 When I took this picture of the Soviet super-heavyweight weightlifter Vasily Alexeev, he was virtually unknown in the West, despite being a champion in Europe. He wasn't a physically attractive subject, but if beauty is in the eye of the camera, Alexeev was almost as good a subject as Muhammad Ali. He had great visual charisma. I was the only Western journalist at the European weightlifting championships in Hungary. While working, I was standing in a well at floor level, 15 feet in front of the weightlifters. A couple of lifts before I took this picture, one of the lifters dropped the weights. They rolled toward me -- and kept coming and coming. I barely got out in time, or I would have been crushed. When I began shooting again, I caught this world-record lift by Alexeev.
11. NEWSPF_111119_074.JPG: Sandy Koufax, 1963 World Series Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the best pitcher of his time and probably the best left-handed pitcher in the history of baseball. I was a Dodger fan, and I loved photographing Koufax. But he was not exactly the most charismatic subject in baseball. Even when he won a big game, he rarely showed emotion. All you might get was a little smile as he walked off the mound. This picture was one exception in all the times I photographed Koufax. He has just completed Game 4 of the 1963 World Series, a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees. The Dodger Stadium scoreboard tells the whole story. Koufax couldn't contain his emotion. He must have forgotten who he was because he leaped up in the air with a huge smile on his face.
12. NEWSPF_111119_095.JPG: Koji Gushhiken at Mount Fuji in Japan Olympic Preview, 1984 A year before the 1984 Summer Olympics, I went to Ray Cave, the managing editor at Time magazine, with a grand idea for the Olympic preview issue. I wanted to shoot athletes from around the world in front of the picture postcards of their countries -- a Greek athlete in front of the Parthenon, a Chinese athlete on the Great Wall, a Japanese athlete at Mount Fuji. Ray took one look at me and said I must be out of my mind. He asked, "Do you know how much that's going to cost?" I suspected it would probably be the most expensive photo essay Time ever tried. But we talked about it for a little while. Ray hadn't said no yet. I knew that he really wanted to beat Newsweek and even Sports Illustrated by putting out the best Olympic preview issue. After rethinking it, he said, "OK. Go out and show me. Shoot three countries and let's look at the results." When I returned to New York and showed the first pictures to Ray, he loved them. I spent the next nine months traveling the world and completing the issue.
13. NEWSPF_111119_106.JPG: The Miracle on Ice, 1980 Winter Olympics Contrary to what many sports fans remember, the US hockey team did not win the gold medal by beating the Soviets 4-3 at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The US beat Finland two days later to lock up the gold. Yet on that memorable night in Lake Placid, NY, nobody seemed to care it was only a semifinal. We had just won the only game that really mattered, upsetting the Soviet "Red Machine." I took this picture just seconds after the final horn sounded. I believe it's absolutely vital for a sports photographer to cover every event as a neutral observer. But as a proud American, I wanted to put my cameras down and cheer with everyone else.
14. NEWSPF_111119_112.JPG: Joe Namath, 1974 There are subjects who make good photographs whether they are in action, on the sidelines or having a cup of coffee. I've always called this quality "visual charisma." Joe Namath had more visual charisma than most other athletes I photographed. I took this picture during a muddy afternoon at Shea Stadium. Namath's New York Jets were in a close game, and the clock was running down. I looked over and there was Joe, talking on the phone to his coaches in the press box -- or perhaps he was setting up his date for the night. I shot the picture and knew I had a winner.
15. NEWSPF_111119_118.JPG: Juan Marichal and John Roseboro, 1965 By the third inning of this matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, the game had gotten tense. The teams were locked in a tight pennant race, and both the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax and the Giants' Juan Marichal -- probably the two best pitchers in the game -- had brushed back hitters from the plate. Nothing would have prepared me, though, for what was about to happen. Marichal was at bat. Dodgers catcher John Roseboro whistled the ball past Marichal's ear when he returned it to Koufax on the mound. Marichal became enraged. All of a sudden there he was with his bat up high, having just bopped Roseboro on the head. It happened so fast that I didn't know if I had gotten the picture. In fact, I was very lucky. I had taken what is probably the best spot news picture of my career.
16. NEWSPF_111119_128.JPG: Casey Stengel, 1960 I like to say you don't have to be tall, dark and handsome to be a great photo subject. Casey Stengel was 70 years ago and had one of the best faces I've ever seen. Even arguing with an umpire he made great pictures. This is a simple news picture, but it's a very good one. Any photographer or writer who ever worked with Casey had to love him. He always had something interesting to say to a writer -- even if he was impossible to understand. To a photographer, just look at his face and tell me how you can miss. Casey never seemed to tire of having his picture taken.
17. NEWSPF_111119_134.JPG: Muhammad Ali, 1970 My favorite subject -- everybody's favorite subject -- was Muhammad Ali. Ali transcended boxing. He understood the power of the camera, the notebook and the microphone. He had a job to do, and that was to sell the fight. He was a genius at it. Ali would whisper to a writer that he was giving him an "exclusive," and then he would make up a story. He had just told somebody else the exact opposite. But the writer got off and write a piece based on his "exclusive" with Muhammad Ali. Ali made me love to photograph boxing. How could any sports photographer dream of a better subject? Everything he did made good pictures. He's a fabulous-looking guy. In the ring or in a studio, you couldn't miss with him, and he knew it. People have asked me many times about my personal relationship with Ali. It didn't happen until 20 years ago, long after he retired from boxing, but I'm proud to say that I have become very good friends with Muhammad and his wife, Lonnie.
18. NEWSPF_111119_141.JPG: Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, 1992 Newsweek assigned me to shoot the cover of their preview issue for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. They wanted Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson, the three greatest players in basketball, to appear on the cover All three were playing on the first US Olympic "Dream Team." I had photographed Magic twice before and had a good relationship with him so I called his agent first. Magic was really revered by other players, including Michael. Having him on my side was a sure way to get the other two to cooperate. Once Magic said "yes," I knew Michael and Larry would agree. The photo session for this picture was only 20 minutes long, but with these three, it was more than enough time.
19. NEWSPF_111119_147.JPG: Muhammad Ali vs Cleveland Williams, 1966 I was certainly not the first photographer to mount a remote camera over a boxing ring. You had to attach your camera to the lighting rig, which was usually about 25 feet above the canvas. Even with the widest-angle lens, you couldn't capture the whole ring from 25 feet up. But the Muhammad Ali-Cleveland Williams heavyweight fight was scheduled for the Houston Astrodome, a new kind of stadium where the lighting rig was 80 feet over the ring instead of 25. I realized that you could get the entire ring into the picture from that height. I mounted a remote-controlled Hasselblad and pointed it straight down. I got lucky. Ali knocked Williams down, and Williams was looking straight up at my camera when I clicked the picture. When I first saw the developed film, I knew immediately that I had something very special. This is my favorite photo from my career, period, and the only one of my pictures that hangs in my house. There isn't a single thing I would change about it. And I appear in the picture! I'm in the first tow in the left corner of the ring, wearing a light blue shirt and leaning under the ropes with my equipment.
20. NEWSPF_111119_155.JPG: Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts vs Washington Redskins, 1964 Inclement Weather Every photographer, on any assignment, would prefer to work on a warm, comfortable day. The easiest conditions to shoot in are the Kodak moments, with the sun over your shoulder and your subject beautifully lit. No photographer looks forward to working in bad weather. Given a choice, you wouldn't choose to shoot in rain, or when your fingers are frozen. It's uncomfortable, and trying to keep the camera and lenses dry can be a nightmare. I still don't understand why, but for some reason over my years at Sports Illustrated, I managed to get assigned to every freezing-cold football game. If the two NFL conference championship games were in Miami and Green Bay, I was sure to go to Green Bay. I hated it at the time, but as I look back over the pictures that I took on days of horrible weather, there's no question that rain, snow, mud and fog all add up to drama. Bad weather makes for good pictures. The worse the weather, the better the pictures.
21. NEWSPF_111119_162.JPG: Jim Taylor, Green Bay Packers vs Cleveland Browns, 1968
22. NEWSPF_111119_168.JPG: Steve Cauthen, 1978 I first photographed Steve Cauthen in 1977 for a Sports Illustrated cover. A big part of his appeal was that he was just a kid. As a 17-year-old jockey, Cauthen won over $6 million in purses. A year later, he was riding Affirmed, a horse that had won the Kentucky Derby and was a heavy favorite to win the Triple Crown. I had just moved from Sports Illustrated to Time, and Time decided to do a cover story on Cauthen if Affirmed won the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. A few days before the Preakness, I posed Cauthen in the silks he would be wearing to ride Affirmed. Affirmed won the Preakness and went on to win the Triple Crown. I like to call this my Norman Rockwell moment. I used to study Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers in a book that I have.
23. NEWSPF_111119_183.JPG: Bear Bryant, 1980 This photo is a great example of learning from your mistakes. Back in 1964, I was assigned to cover Don Shula, who was coaching the Baltimore Colts, the favorites to win the NFL championship. I came up with the idea of photographing Shula through a blackboard. I posed him with Johnny Unitas, the Colts' great quarterback, and shot them through a plate of glass. Shula had painted the Colts' offensive plays onto the glass. The picture was nice, but the Colts lost and so it never ran. I also realized there was a better way to shoot it. I tried the idea again a few years later. Each time I tried, the picture got better. I had it figured out by 1980, when I was assigned to shoot a Time magazine cover of Bear Bryant, the great Alabama football coach. I shot the picture as a double exposure. The first image was of Bryant. The second image, on the same piece of film, was of the plays. Bear Bryant had a face that you couldn't miss with. He was the perfect subject, and this picture -- after 16 years of tinkering with a good idea -- is the best portrait I ever took.
24. NEWSPF_111119_192.JPG: Tennis Rivals Chris Evert jumped out at you when you watched her play tennis. She was a beautiful woman and a beautiful player. She was the best in the world when I took this picture of her at a tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Then Martina Navratilova came along, a little stronger and bigger, and she eventually surpassed Chrissie. I took this picture of Martina on Court 1 at the US Open in Flushing NY. From the top row of the main stadium, next to Court 1, you could look right down on the service lines in Court 1. This was during Martina's opening or second-round match. I know it was early in the tournament because the star players, like Martina, play their later-round matches in the main stadium. With Martina, I had to work especially quickly because she usually won her early-round matches 6-0, 6-0. You never know when a player's forehand or backhand will make a great picture. The one tie you know that you'll get a great picture is the serve. The serve is the photographer's "ace".
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].