About the Bloggers
Rebecca Butala
While dancing with a Los Angeles-based dance group, Rebecca took a “day job” at Allsport/Getty Images in 1994. With the continued monotony of re-filing some of the best sports photographs in the world, she eventually landed ringside assisting a staff photographer at the Holyfield-Tyson II, The Bite Fight. She was hooked.
Little did she know the day job would take her around the world to Olympic Games, tennis and golf championships, world championships of hockey, swimming and athletics as well as yearly trips to the World Series, Stanley Cup Finals and the Super Bowl. The highlight being following the 2004 Olympic Torch relay which brought her to 26 countries in 34 days.
“Despite all the travel, what really drives me are the pictures. I am fortunate to work with some of the finest sports photographers with whom I have made friendships over the past 13 years.”
Harry How
With a bachelor’s degree in economics, Harry put his skills to work as a bicycle courier in Toronto, then as a roller blading teacher in Taipei. But his love for sports and photography lead him to the California sunshine when he joined Allsport/Getty Images in 1997 and has been living out of a suitcase ever since.
Like his contemporaries he has worked at the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, World Series, The Masters and his work has appeared in all of the leading publications: Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, and Time. His most satisfying moment as a photographer came when he was mistaken as a competitor at the Ironman race in Hawaii.
Harry’s run from immigration authorities and his pursuit of food, wine and another stamp in his passport lead him to the Getty Images London office where he spent a year honing his photography skills. When he is not on the run, Harry enjoys figuring out where he wants to live while passing time with his favorite person, Becky.
Donald Miralle
Donald Miralle began his photography career freelancing for portrait and architectural photographers while at art school at the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon completion of his B.A. in Fine Arts in 1997, he landed a job with the world-renowned sports imagery agency Allsport.
For nearly a decade he has had the opportunity to cover sporting events around the world including the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, The Super Bowl, The World Series, The Stanley Cup Playoffs, The US Open of Golf, the World Swimming Championships and the Indianapolis 500.
Since Allsport became part of Getty Images, as a staff photographer, Donald has experienced shooting commercial print ads for Nike, Gatorade, Toyota, Addidas, Titelist, Visa and Wheaties and has had the chance to travel extensively and branch out into nature and travel photography.
Donald currently resides in San Diego, California with his wife Lauren and their dog Leo.
Jonathan Daniel joined the staff of Getty Images/Sport 3 years ago as a full-time staff photographer after a 17 year career as a free-lance sports photographer based in Chicago. Daniel spent the early part of his career as an award-winning photographer for a suburban Chicago newspaper. An original contract photographer with Allsport USA, now Getty Images/Sport, starting in 1988, Daniel covers all major sports
including the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NHL, the MLS, the PGA and WPGA, World Cup Soccer, NASCAR and a wide variety of collegiate, Olympic and amateur sports. His clients have included Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Sport and Inside Sports magazines, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Time, Newsweek, the Upper Deck Company, the New York Times, ESPN the Magazine, The National Sports Daily and many others. His work has appeared in electronic media and advertising as well as hundreds of national and international publications all over the world. In addition, Daniel spent three seasons as the team photographer for the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer and also spent 12 years as the photographer for the athletic department at Northwestern University.
Daniel was the photographer for two-best selling books chronicling the Chicago Bears during the 1985 and 1986 seasons, co-authored by Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune. Daniel was also the principle photographer for a book on the amazing run for the Rose Bowl by the 1995 Northwestern football team.
Daniel was born in Lynchburg, Virginia but has lived the majority of his life in Chicago. He attended the University of Tennessee, majoring in Theatre, with other primary studies in journalism. He and his family, wife Jinger, son Luis and two Whippets, currently split their time residing in New Berlin, Wisconsin and Chicago.
When not working on sports assignments, Daniel and his wife enjoy gardening, as well as garden photography, attending live theatre, working on their house, raising Luis and enjoying as much time together as possible despite vastly different careers.
Jed Jacobsohn
Jed Jacobsohn started interning for Allsport while still in college at Syracuse University back in 1992. Jed has always had in interest in baseball, starting back in his youth in Northern California playing on various little league teams. His interest in photography started while in high school at Berkeley High when he had an opportunity to cover sports in the Bay Area with the news agency United Press International. Jed worked his first World Series in 1990, mostly developing and printing news photos for the UPI wire as the Oakland Athletics were swept by the Cincinnati Reds. Jed later joined Allsport/Getty full time in 1995 and will be covering his 10th World Series.
“The thing that is special about shooting baseball, especially at the World Series, is that any moment within the 3-4 hour span of the game can be the most telling, important moment that has to be captured and conveyed to the reader. As a baseball photographer, you have to be ready at all times and even sometimes go beyond that, and actually anticipate what may happen and where.”
Jed has won numerous awards in his career including taking third place last year in the Baseball Hall of Fame contest. His baseball World Series photographs has appeared in many publications over the years, including the cover of Sports Illustrated for the White Sox in 2005 and the cover of Time magazine for the Red Sox in 2004. He currently resides in San Francisco.
Vladimir Rys
Vladimir Rhys was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1978. He developed an interest in photography as a teenager while spending evenings photographing fascinating people and sights in Prague’s old town. A self taught photographer, Vladimir was particularly interested in black and white photography which he used to develop in his dark room at home. He was also an avid football player, but having suffered a severe knee injury he hung up his boots and turned his energy to sports photography.
In 1996, Rys joined Sport, the Czech Republic’s leading daily newspaper as a staff photographer where he stayed for two years. In 1998, he moved to join the monthly football magazine, Hat trick, before transferring to Bongarts Sportfotografie in Germany. Vladimir has won numerous awards for his work at sporting events including Wimbledon and the 2004 Athens Olympics and joined Getty Images Germany in January 2005.
Shaun Botterill
The World Cup, Germany, 2006 will be Shaun Botterill’s seventh major football tournament.
Shaun Botterill has covered several major football tournaments during his career including the World Cup tournaments in 1994, 1998 and 2002 and the European Championships in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Botterill’s team will be based in Berlin, capturing football images during the group stages. He is looking forward to working with the team of Getty Images’ photographers and technicians and Botterill’s ultimate highlight would be if England won the 2006 World Cup!
Botterill believes the 2006 World Cup will be his most challenging to date, due to the 150 photographers who will be present at the biggest games during the tournament, all vying for the best position to capture great pictures.
Botterill, who has been with Getty Images since 1998, began his career in 1984 in the darkroom at Bob Thomas Sports Photography and has traveled the world covering major sporting events including the Rugby World Cup in South Africa and the 1998 World Cup in France.
Botterill also shot images for Canon’s latest advertising campaign and is co-author of a number of books.
Shaun Botterill is based in Northampton, England.
Stuart Franklin
Germany 2006 will be Stuart Franklin’s second World Cup. His role in Germany will be to follow the Brazilian team, capturing all the action as the tournament progresses.
Franklin is really excited about being embedded with Brazilian team, because it’s “everybody’s favourite team no matter which country you are from.” He’s also looking forward to capturing the carnival atmosphere.
During his sports photography career, he has covered numerous top UK and international events, including all the winter and summer Olympic Games since 1992, two rugby World Cups and four golf Ryder Cups. Franklin brings with him 25 years of photographic experience. Of those, he’s worked the past six years at Getty Images.
Ross Kinnaird
Germany 2006 will be Ross Kinnaird’s fourth World Cup. His role in Germany will be to follow the England team, capturing their story as they progress throughout the tournament.
On a personal level, Kinnaird hopes Beckham is destined to lift World Cup in July and is praying another penalty shoot-out is definitely not in the picture!
Kinnaird has worked for Getty Images for over 10 years. During his sports photography career, he has covered numerous top UK and international events, including three Olympic Games, three football World Cups, three rugby World Cups, three cricket World Cups, three football European Championships and five golf Ryder Cups. He has also won and been highly commended several times in a number of the industry’s top photographic competitions.
Bryn Lennon
Tour de France 2006 (1 - 23 July 2006)
Bryn Lennon will be covering Tour de France for a second time. He’ll be snapping all the biking action on a daily basis throughout the race.
Lennon has worked for Getty Images for over five years. Before embarking on a sports photography career, he studied the subject at The London College of Printing. Lennon has since covered a variety of events including, the winter Olympics (Salt Lake and Turin), the summer Olympics (Athens), the World Cup (Korea), 75 Formula One races, Le Mans, Moto GP and the World Rally.