Leo Mason - Forty years of sporting images and anecdotes

When Leo Mason traded a career in advertising for a shot at becoming a professional photographer in 1974, he set four goals for his new life, declaring that it should be both fun and financially viable; that it must involve travelling the world, meeting interesting people; and that his photography must be just a little better than average. Leo was aiming high, yet in his own words: ‘That’s pretty much how everything worked out.’

Leo’s love for photographing the sporting world’s greatest moments is plain to see – from a surreal experience with Sir Richard Noble’s Thrust 2 team out on the Bonneville Salt Flats and shooting US Open tennis from a never-before-seen overhead viewpoint, to capturing dramatic America’s Cup racing from a helicopter and spending a career-defining week with Muhammad Ali.

Not only filled with famous faces from the sporting world, this book is also a visual record of Leo’s creative and technical journey, his transition from film to digital, as well as his recollections of the times spent capturing these moments. He has led an extraordinarily interesting life, as many of the stories and anecdotes behind his images attest. Leo’s passion, craft and creative eye for the unusual are evident on every page, and his hugely significant contribution to the historical sporting record is his enduring legacy.

● A collection of striking images from award-winning photographer Leo Mason’s long career, spanning both film and digital eras and the fascinating stories behind the pictures.
● Jacketed hardback, featuring more than 120 photographs, including a handful of the author’s BTS Polaroids.
● The chapters cover the full spectrum of the sporting world, including Adventure Sports, Olympics, Watersports, Motorsport, Cycling, Tennis, Equestrian, and more.
● Includes iconic photographs of legends such as Muhammad Ali, Diego Maradona, Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, Ayrton Senna, and many more.
● Foreword by two-time Olympic 1500m champion, former Member of Parliament (UK) and current President of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe.

The author

Leo Mason began his professional photography career working at The Observer and other national newspapers before forming the Split Second Photo Agency. Over the next 40 years he contributed to Sports Illustrated, Time magazine, GQ, USA Today, Stern, Paris-Match, Life magazine, L’Equipe and many other international publications. He has covered sporting events from the obscure to the Olympics and everything in between, is an Associate of The Royal Photographic Society and has collected 18 major photographic awards. His images have been exhibited in many of the UK’s most prestigious galleries. Since 2009, Leo has photographed most of the world’s top principal male dancers and ballerinas. He is a specialist in 360-degree panoramic photography and multiple exposure images.

Reviews

'Some amazing pictures and anecdotes in the book Leo.' Roger B.

'Leo, love the book. Congrats, so many iconic images that I remember well. I loved the Daley Thompson story, I'd never heard it before. Well done, an important book from a golden era.' Steve P.

'Finally this beautiful book shows the world what a true genius can do with a camera. Very few sports photographers have crossed so many genres in sport and taken such astonishing pictures...' Duncan Raban