A Salute to the Masters: Ice Skating (A Tribute to Monte Fresco)

This article is dedicated to one of the finest British sport photographers, Monte Fresco. In his 30 years of reportage for the Daily Mirror, he took some of the most iconic photographs in sporting history. He covered football, tennis, and boxing. But it is his ice skating pictures that I am most fascinated with. Using my own lens, I give him a modern tribute.

Monte Fresco (1936-2013) was one of the finest sport photographers ever. Awarded in 1995 by Queen Elizabeth II as an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his services to sport photography, he is considered a legend in his field. He left school when he was only 14 years old to work for a press agency as a runner. Here he graduated to darkroom assistant before becoming a junior photographer after a few years, on his 18th birthday. He joined the Daily Mirror staff in 1958. As a football photographer, he covered seven World Cups, many European Championships and more than 40 FA Cup Finals. He also covered many important boxing matches like this one between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971 and many important tennis matches at Wimbledon, including the year Artur Ash won. Fresco retired in 2004.

One of his famous football photos was taken at a match between Wimbledon and Newcastle (1987), showing the “decisive moment” when the Wimbledon’s player Vinnie Jones grabbed Paul Gascoigne by his testicles. However, I prefer other images of showing this great artist’s grace and elegance, notably his ice skating championship coverage.

For this tribute, I have chosen a photo series I took at an Italian juniors championship in Como.

It may be a surprise to some people that Monte was almost blind in one eye. As reported by his friend Bob Thomas (another great sports photographer), Fresco only used his left eye to take photos.

Some other anecdotes about Monte Fresco:

• Daily Mirror photographers did not have accreditation to photograph the 1966 World Cup Finals from the Wembley Stadium sidelines, so he bought a ticket from a spiv and took wonderful images from the stands. (See the full story here.)

• During the 1978 World Cup final in Buenos Aires, he thought he had taken a great picture of the Argentinan player Mario Kempes’s first score. But as he began to rewind the film roll, he found the rewind knob too loose..there was no film in the camera! Luckily he managed to document the remaining part of the match. (See the full story here refers to the 1978 World Cup final in Buenos Aires.)

Fresco is a great source of inspiration for my sports reportage. I consider him a great master. Thanks for your wonderful images!

A Salute to the Masters is a series dedicated to great photographers that I like. I posted other tributes for Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Ernst Haas, Stephen Shore, Gabriele Basilico, Robert Adams, Thomas Struth, J.H. Lartigue, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, Gianni Berengo Gardin, André Kertész, Willy Ronis, Brassaï, Rodchenko, Dan Graham, Henry Grant, William Eggleston, Dennis Stock, Juergen Teller, Martin Parr, Peter Mitchell, Mario Giacomelli, David Burnett, Michael Williamson, Bernard Cahier, Harry Gruyaert, Bruno Barbey, Paul Strand, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Lothar Rübelt, David Goldblatt, Henry Cartier-Bresson, Raymond Depardon, Aaron Siskind, Mario de Biasi, Sabine Weiss, Jack Delano, Bill Eppridge, Édouard Boubat, Serge Moulinier, George Krause, Robert Doisneau, Ferdinando Scianna, Robert Capa, Alexey Brodovitch, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Christopher Williams, Pepi Merisio, Josef Koudelka, Christopher Anderson, Renè Burri, Mary Ellen Mark, Marc Riboud, Cornell Capa, Roger Mayne and Izis Bidermanas. I especially love street photography and urban architectural photography.

written by sirio174 on 2016-01-09 #lifestyle #ice-skating #regular-contributor #salute-to-the-masters #monte-fresco #sports-photography