We just released the second in our “About A Photograph™” video series.  Sports Illustrated staff photographer Simon Bruty narrates the events behind his London Olympics’ image of German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner barely escaping injury when he dropped a 432 pound barbell onto his neck.  The video can be found at http://blog.thinktankphoto.com/about-a-photograph/

Said Simon, “The thing about being a sports photographer, it wasn’t like I created everything.  What it is down to is me getting there early, me getting a decent spot, and then paying attention and concentrating.”

During his career, Bruty has traveled extensively to work on feature stories as diverse as soccer in Zambia, golfers in Greenland, and badminton in Indonesia. Somewhere along the way he learned how to make people sit still and developed a diverse archive of portraiture including Michael Phelps with his eight Olympic gold medals, Lance Armstrong, Ben Bradlee, and David Beckham, among other modern luminaries. In 2003, The London Observer chose one of Bruty's photographs to be included in their list of the World's 50 Greatest Sports Photographs.

Think Tank Photo’s “About a Photograph™ video series features some of the world’s leading photographers recounting the stories behind their images that captured global attention.  Each short video focuses on the forces that led up to that perfect moment in time when subject, story, setting, equipment, and photographer converged. 

 “About A Photograph” is being produced by Kurt Rogers and Deanne Fitzmaurice, Think Tank Photo’s co-founders and award-winning photojournalists.   The video series will feature current as well as classic and historic photographs that span a range of styles, including documentary/photojournalistic, fine art, nature/environment, sports, and politics.