In this third installment of our four part series on Neil Leifer, we will feature an exhibit at the Annenberg Foundation in Los Angeles, California. Neil shares the limelight with a colleague. The exhibit honours and showcases the achievements of probably the two best sports photographers of all time, Neil Leifer and Walter Iooss, Jr. The name of the exhibit is ‘Sport: Iooss and Leifer.’ It runs from 12 November 2009 to 7 March 2010.

Being honoured is not something new to Neil. Honour comes with being good at what he does and for having done it for so long. It must be wonderful for one to love doing what one is so good at. Such a combination can only lead to greatness. We can only wonder if Neil knew that he was on to something when he started in sports photography as a teenager. Neil must have realized that people were responding positively to his images. But he might not have had any idea yet back then of the heights to which he would soar as a sports photographer. He probably did not seek out greatness. One day greatness just came and found him.

‘Sport: Iooss and Leifer’ is the first exhibit that features both Iooss and Leifer. It is not everyday we get the chance to appreciate and admire two lifetimes of classic sports photography all rolled into one exhibit. We cannot help but get that rich sense of sports history going through the several hundreds of sports photographs between Iooss and Leifer. It is a rare opportunity indeed to see fantastic sports images of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali side by side.

Through their photography, Iooss and Leifer enable us to walk through time with the giants of the sporting world in their moments of triumph. They seem nothing less than gods in their moments in the sun. Iooss and Leifer’s gift is to capture these moments and preserve them for us and perhaps even for those who will come after us. With a measure of surprise, we find the experiences of our star athletes to be inexplicably exhilarating at the same time deeply personal.

‘Sport: Iooss and Leifer’ includes interviews and commentary from athletes and artists. A lecture series accompanies the exhibit. The two sports photographers themselves along with athletes and sports commentators serve as the lecturers. Other side events include a children’s photography contest, a themed group slideshow evening, photography workshops and a family event.

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