Inspiring Photo
With the end of my season of shooting college football coming to a close this weekend I thought that I would post this photo of Dwight Clark making ‘the Catch’ during the 1982 NFC Championship game. This moment is an NFL classic moment. One play signaled the end of the Dallas glory days, and the beginning of a run for San Francisco. This image is the most famous from that moment. It was taken by Sports Illustrated’s Walter Iooss Jr. His capture of the moment works much better than the others for some reason. In 2011 Paul Lukas ran a story on the photo on his Uni Watch blog. The article shows how the photo works with both the rule of thirds as well as the golden ratio. It really is a great photo on so many levels. Walter Iooss Jr. has taken many great photos during his career. I am sure that this is not the last time that his name will come up during this segment.
One question I think about every time that I see this photo is how would this photo be received today? With all of the advances in photography in the past 30+ years would this photo still hold up? This was a grab camera shot that was not composed in camera I would assume. The space at the top and the cut off foot at the bottom look to be evidence of that. You also cannot see the subject of the photos face. Even with that stuff supposedly working against it the photo still holds up over time. I have always said that it is just about capturing the moment. This photo has helped turn this moment into one of the most memorable in NFL history.
Dave Wegiel Photography 