‘DON’T MISS’
the unrivaled volume of iconic images that have spilled from his camera over the years. Even people who have no interest in boxing or sports at all will light up with recognition when you describe “the one with Muhammad Ali standing over a guy while shaking his fist and yelling down at him.” That guy is Sonny Liston, of course, but Leifer’s fame is most deeply linked to Ali, whose own monolithic presence has in no small part been stamped into world history by photographs taken by Leifer. Leifer himself says that what distinguishes a professional photographer from an amateur is usually that the amateur just sticks everything in the middle of the frame, and that a sports photographer’s job in particular is “not to miss.” It’s well beyond that, though. His body of work shows that he has always been a seeker who will go to great lengths to see the pictures in his mind become reality. It’s what drove him to orchestrate the famous overhead shot of the knockdown (not knockout, as many assume) in Ali vs. Cleveland Williams in 1966, and to place a camera inside second base at Dodgers Stadium to capture the incredible photo of Willie Davis mid-slide in 1965. There are countless other examples. And there are very few disciplines in the sports world Leifer hasn’t documented (his upcoming book is about horse racing). At 83 years old, Leifer’s brain is still bustling with ideas and he’s still taking photos, though admittedly he’s much more selective in the jobs he accepts. In the past couple of years, he has
A CONVERSATION WITH PHOTOGRAPHER NEIL LEIFER By Brian Harty W hen you speak to Neil Leifer, you get the sense that his mind is a waiting room crowded with ideas, all of them pleading for the first available appointment. Hyper-detailed stories will often change direction mid-sentence to accommodate a new thought, and the narratives emerge like a bronc rider hanging on for dear life as Leifer’s rapid, New York-inflected voice struggles to keep up with six decades’ worth of being the world’s most famous sports photographer. For essentially everyone in his profession, their names are obscured by the athletes they photograph, but Leifer has become a brand through
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