The UNP Top 20 Sports Photographers

There was a time when every young photographer I met, wanted to be a fashion photographer. Today, its a sports photographer. Perhaps this is to do with the way in which sports are now presented, on television and streamed online. The narrative series focused on individual teams and sports on Netflix. I’m not sure, but either way, there is no escaping sports photography today, so here are my personal top 20, presented in no particular order.

Walter Iooss Jnr www.walteriooss.com

Gerry Cranham www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/225-gerry-cranham/

Neil Leifer https://neilleifer.com/

Hy Money

Eamon McCabe www.eamonnmccabe.co.uk

Bob Martin www.bobmartin.com

Lynne Cameron www.instagram.com/pappasnappa/?hl=en

Mike Carlson www.instagram.com/carlsonphotos/?hl=en-gb

Tom Jenkins www.tomjenkinsphoto.com

Elsa Garrison www.elsagarrison.com

Alex Buisse www.instagram.com/alexbuisse/?hl=en-gb

Oli Scarff www.oliscarff.com

Edgar Su www.instagram.com/edgarpix/?hl=en-gb

Carel du Plessis https://carelduplessis.com

James Gill www.jamesgillmedia.com

Tony Duffy www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/2/image?phrase=tony+duffy&tracked_gsrp_landing=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gettyimages.co.uk%2Fphotos%2Ftony-duffy

Tó Mané www.tomanephotography.com

Atiba Jefferson www.atibaphoto.com

Tristan Shu www.tristanshu.com

Vladimir Rys www.vladimirrys.com

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.