Walter Iooss photography (Sport) - LO1

A: Photographic Category
Walter Iooss specialises in sport photography.

B: Purpose
Walter Iooss' photography would be used in magazines for the most part as he has few photos of sports during games, rather the athletes in places that would fit for advertisements ,  magazines, biographies, athlete's websites etc.

This photo in particular was taken for the New York Times magazine cover, to connote the significance of the two tennis players. It could mean they just won a big game or are about to play one, promoting the players and it takes advantage of stigma from the players for the New York Times as people will pay for the magazine.









C: Image Analysis

Walter Iooss' style varies from his photos but commonly he uses lighting that's quite dynamic as there are different light sources around some images with shadows used in different places, depth of field isn't used commonly but when it is used, it's used for the sake of the photo's meaning (such as one photo that denotes two photos of Kobe Bryant put together as if there's two of them; has one in the background out of focus, and the one in the foreground is in focus), but depth of field isn't used too commonly as the backgrounds in some of his photos are just as important as the athletes themselves  as when a non-static background is used it is usually in the place where the athletes would play. Framing in Iooss' work has been used to optimise the photo's purpose. If there is a background then the photo would be framed to show the athlete with the background together, sometimes interacting. If an athlete is performing an action like being about to score a touchdown then Cropping in Iooss' photos tend to have everything centred as well as it can while including everything significant like a ball (and the only things cut are small things like people's backs). In photos of more intense moments that are quick, the use of a fast shutter speed will be present.

In terms of composition, there is the proportion which features the player on all four of the focal points for the rule of thirds, The player is wearing his helmet, his protection armour, his shirt, his tracksuits, and his gloves. The location is not completely known, but it is not made to as the focus here in on the clouds in the backgroumd, as they get darker the higher up, to the point where his ball looks like it is controlling the darkness. The clouds (that get darker) and the buildings are what frame the image. The lighting here is natural, but in a more low key way. This could be to connote a negative emotion, as it looks like he is touching down onto something in anger. The depth of field is deep in this picture, and the picture is fairly dark making it easy to see that a small aperture would have been used.  Since there are overcast skies in this image and it is dark, it is safe to assume an ISO of around 1200 may have been used. In terms of shutter speed, it seems like the image wouldn't have been taken by someone who is actually scoring a touchdown so a slower shutter speed could have been used, but I believe it is either a 1/60th of a second speed, or a 1/125th of a second speed. The orientation is portrait as there is an emphasis on the player and the ball which are vertical, so the portrait orientation helps connote the significance of this action. The shot type is a mid shot as the action the player is doing is a lot more significance that his facial expression.

D: Meaning

The meaning of this particular photo is to connote the art of boxing. It denotes two boxers in the middle of the fight in a low angle shot. The low angle could connote the sense that these are two huge figures fighting as the low angle makes things look much bigger than they actually are, almost like Godzilla fighting an equally big monster in this case. This increased looking size of the boxers could create a sense of scale and therefore possible narrative to the photo, as if this is at the final fight of a tournament or something similar. Both of the faces of these boxers are shown, the one in red engaged in the fight with a somewhat look of pain (despite the fact he is the one punching, which could connote taking a hit and giving a hit is pain regardless), the one in blue who looks like he just took a punch has his face looking like it shifted position from the right to the left a slight bit because of his reaction to the punch. The fact both faces are shown connotes they are both equally important in this fight, no bias, and the angle isn't focus on one over the other either. A deep depth of field is denoted to connote everything shown is important, background included, which could tell that the ring itself is just as important as the fighters, as you can tell this by the background obviously, but also the foreground having the barriers of the ring in front.