Pictures that tell more than just the story

From basketball to football, from America to Australia: the year's best photographs

Paul Newman
Monday 11 December 1995 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sports reporters can disagree with their photographic colleagues on any number of issues, but even the most grudging wordsmith would agree that the best pictures can tell as much as any number of the best crafted words.

The art of the sports photographer is now recognised in a number of award schemes, one of the most prestigious of which is the International Olympic Committee's annual "Best of Sport" competition. The best photographs from this year's contest - the seventh - are published in a book, IOC Best of Sport Photographic Contest/Best 7 (Kensington West Productions, pounds 19.99).

The book is a wonderful collection of pictures taken all around the world. It proves that the importance of an event need have no effect on the quality of the phot-ographer's work. College basket- ball might raise little interest outside the US but the drama and bea- uty of John Biever's photograph reproduced here is undeniable.

One of the most crucial qualities a sports photographer needs is an eye for the unexpected, plus speed of thought and action. The photographs reproduced here are all colour, but the book has a strong black and white element; indeed, the Independent's Robert Hallam won the black and white portfolio section.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in