It came as a shock a couple weeks ago to hear of the passing of Peter Read Miller, a legendary former Sports Illustrated photographer. He worked for the magazine, both as a contractor and a staffer for 35 years, garnering more than 100 covers, as well as covering 9 Olympic Games and 41 Super Bowls. Iconic doesn’t even begin to describe Peter and his craft.
I first met Peter in 2008, during my assisting years with SI. He traveled to Athens, Ga. with two assistants to photograph University of Georgia standouts Matthew Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and Dannell Ellerbe for a cover. I was the local assistant — the one responsible for picking up the grip gear and restaurant recommendations. So me and my Chrysler Town & Country minivan (an absolute beast for transporting gear) loaded down with C-stands and sand bags met the crew at UGA.
This was my largest shoot to date — I had assisted on simple, one-light portrait setups, but this one involved at least half a dozen lights and modifiers. I learned so much just helping Peter and his assistants (Max Morse and Jeff Botari). For one, I learned how crucial music can be in setting the tone of the entire shoot. That simple ingredient can really elevate the entire shoot.
Watching Peter work with those athletes, directing them for the pose you see on the cover below, made quite the impression on this young photographer. He was obviously a master at his craft.
The next time I worked with Peter was in 2013, when he brought his world famous sports photography workshop to Atlanta. He hired me to help with logistics and just assisting with anything that needed to be done (including restaurant recos). I was ecstatic. I was going to be hanging and working with Peter for nearly a week as he coached aspiring sports photographers to the next level.
The participants were shooting pee-wee football, horse polo, soccer, and other sports, all while getting feedback from Peter and sports editors in real time on how to improve. Here’s a photo I have of him from that workshop (standing in orange hat), listening with the rest of the students on the rules of polo before a match:
The attendees (and myself) just wanted to be in the orbit of such a legendary photographer, hoping just a smidge of his talents would rub off on us. But we also loved his stories. One of which that sticks with me to this day is how he captured LaDainian Tomlinson leaping over the Buffalo Bills during a 2005 game. It was on the cover of his book, On Sports Photography (below). Spoiler, it was an accident.
He didn’t intend to drag the shutter — the shutter speed on his camera had been inadvertently moved to something really slow, like 1/30th or 1/15th of a second. These things happen in face-paced environments like an NFL game — running from one end zone to the next with cameras dangling off the an assistants shoulder can easily spin a dial on the camera.
I didn’t at the time, but I know that feeling all too well now — that pit in your stomach as you realize the shutter is way too slow and there’s nothing you can do about it but keep shooting through the play. And pray. Pray you got something in focus (or that the play was a bust and you don’t need those photos!). But Peter made an incredible frame, where Tomlinson is in focus as he leaps over the line while the rest of the frame is blurred. And the starburst on the helmet is just icing on the cake.
It was a lesson for me, and still is, that legends make photos and moments happen, even when plans are derailed. It reminded me of the magic of photography, that sometimes you can make something of nothing. And Peter was a genius at finding that magic.
