Walter Iooss Jr. ( /ˈjoʊs/; born May 15, 1943 in Temple, Texas) is a professional photographer.
He is best known for his work with Sports Illustrated magazine, which has featured his photos on its cover several times and for his portraits of famous athletes such as Michael Jordan, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Ken Griffey, Jr.. He has produced photographs for the Swimsuit Issue for more than 30 years.[1][2]
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Born in Temple, Texas, Walter Iooss moved at the age of five from Temple to [[East Orange, New Jersey]]. In 1959, at the age of 16, he shot his first roll of film at a professional baseball game with a camera his father bought him.[2] The following year he attended the German School of Photography in New York City during the summer. One year later, at the age of 18 years old, Walter got his first assignment from Sports Illustrated—-the same year he graduated from East Orange High School. Two years later he shot his first cover for Sports Illustrated, but five more years would bring about a change of pace for Walter. Contrary to the sports images that he had been shooting, he then became an in-house photographer for Atlantic Records. Several years ago in 2004, he was awarded with the LUCIE Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports Photography, and he is said to be the foremost sports photographer of his generation and a fixture in American journalism.
From 1968 through 1972, Iooss was an in-house photographer for Atlantic Records in New York, where his subjects included performers like James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
In 1982, Iooss was recruited by Fujifilm to work on an extended study of athletes who were working their way to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The two-and-a-half-year project required him to leave his position on the staff of Sports Illustrated (though he continued to contribute) and resulted in the publication of the book Shooting for the Gold.[3]
In the late 1980s, Iooss was commissioned to photograph advertising campaigns for Camel cigarettes.
In 1993, Iooss' work was featured on 27 baseball cards in an Upper Deck set dubbed "The Iooss Collection."[4]
Though he has worked with the most renowned athletes and models of his time, Iooss also has photographed Cuban kids playing ball in the street[5] and captured the raw desire of Thai kickboxers.[6] According to Iooss, "The real joy of photography is these moments. I'm always looking for freedom, the search for the one-on-one. That's when your instincts come out."
Iooss' photographs have been exhibited numerous times, most recently at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., in a show titled "Athlete: The Sports Illustrated Photography of Walter Iooss," and at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, in a show titled "SPORT: Iooss & Leifer."
His work has also been published in a number of books, including Heaven, in 2010.His work has also been published in a number of books, including Heaven, in 2010.
Walter Iooss is represented by Stockland Martel. He has a wife named Eva and two sons, Christian and Bjorn.