Sir Stirling and a Blonde

A great story of the "my best shot" variety, over on Jalopnik—U.K. shooter Neill Watson tells how he got a popular shot of racing legend Sir Stirling Moss. "What makes it a winner? The ingredients. A world famous racing driver who is a household name globally, a bright red Italian racing car, a gorgeous blonde, lingerie, sunshine and blue skies."

The article concludes with a sentiment I've seen echoed so many times. "The reason why this image has proved to be popular, apart from the obvious successful ingredients of a pretty blonde and a famous driver, is that everyone else got the standard shot and turned away. I was the only person with a camera to his eye at that instant...."

Mike
(Thanks to Tom Brenholts)

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

[Johan Verhulst]

All my interests in one photo: blondes, cars & formula 1.

[John W]

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting a photographer named Ted Grant. He's an old newspaper guy and a wonderful fellow to talk to. I'd seen many of his amazing images over the years but never knew who he was. He passed on a simple piece of advise that makes sense and resonates with Neill Watson being the only one to get "the shot" - "come early and leave late". Early get's you into a good position and late means you are there when the subject starts to let their guard down and unwind. You can see more of his work here
http://tedgrantphoto.com/

[Stephen Gilbert]

An iconic image of Stirling Moss, from back in the day: http://www.autoevolution.com/news-image/top-5-formula-one-lieutenants-7025-1.html

[John]

Important reading from the photographer who took the above photo, regarding the Jalopnik article: http://blog.neillwatson.com/opinions/sir-stirling-moss-and-the-blonde-the-sequel/

[Mike Johnston]

John,
Important, true, but the problem was with an earlier version of the story. The story as we linked to it was fully vetted by Neill to the best of my knowledge.

Mike

[Dillan K]

I (of all people) managed to shake Sir Moss's hand at the 2000 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was quite an honour! Unfortunately, the blonde was not in attendance.

[John]

Sorry, I had meant that the article I linked to was important reading because of its importance to photographers (specifically Flickr issues and image theft). In no way did I mean to imply that your reporting of the case or Jalopnik's handling of the matter were in any way suspect, I just wanted to provide some further reading.

Dillan, perhaps you are not from the UK so you will be unfamiliar with the convention but the title Sir is followed by the first name or full name of the recipient, in this case Sir Stirling or Sir Stirling Moss but not Sir Moss. Sorry if that seems pedantic.

[Dillan K]

Thanks John! I am Canadian. I believe Sir Sterling is the only person holding the title that I've ever met. Now I know how to use the title appropriately.