About Neil Leifer

From sports to politics and from celebrities to wildlife, Neil Leifer has traversed the world since 1960, capturing major events for Sports Illustrated, Time, Life, Newsweek, and other leading publications.

With more than 200 covers of Sports Illustrated and Time to his credit, Neil Leifer is one of the world's great photographers and his artistry, composition and instinct for capturing just the right moment also make him one of the world's most accomplished.

Among the many highlights of Neil's illustrious career are memorable photographs from fifteen Olympic Games (Summer & Winter), as well as numerous Kentucky Derbies, Super Bowl matches, World Series Baseball games and World Cup Football finals. Neil also has had fifteen books of his photographs published to date. Many of Neil's best known photographs are those of the world's most recognisable sports hero, Muhammad Ali. Neil photographed thirty-five of Ali's fights and conducted another thirty-five studio sessions with "the greatest of all time". His photo of Ali standing over a prone Sonny Liston in the 1965 World Heavyweight title fight is one of the most iconic sports photographs ever taken.

In 2003, a special issue of the London Observer newspaper chose two of Neil's photographs of Ali as the number one and number two respectively "best sports photographs" of all time.

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Neil Leifer has personally selected his top twenty shots from the project. You can find out his selection plus his thoughts on sports photography in a series of audio visual interviews on display at the exhibition.