Al Bello graduated with a Liberal Arts degree from the University of New York at Stony Brook in 1989. In 1993 Al landed a position as a junior photographer at Allsport which is now a part of Getty images. Since Joining Getty, Al has become Chief Sports Photographer in North America on a very talented staff.
He has worked on editorial assignments for Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Time, Maxim, and The New York Times. He has also worked on commercial assignments for Everlast, Canon, Discovery Channel, Nike, Sandisk, TYR, Speedo, The UFC, and Spike TV.
On this episode I chat with my good friend Al Bello, who’s been a staff sports photographer with Getty Images for over two decades. On top of being one of the greatest sports photographers, Al is one of the nicest photographers you could ever meet in our industry. We connected at this year’s Eddie Adams Workshop in Upstate New York where he and I both led the orange sports team along with Brad Smith of Sports Illustrated. We talk about how he got into sports photography as a “darkroom boy” for a magazine called The Ring, his lengthy career at Getty, the difficulty of balancing a career traveling the world and family life, his advice to the next generation of photographers, and much more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy our pond-side chat on this episode of The Photo Brigade podcast!
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About the writer: Robert Caplin is an editorial and corporate photographer based in Manhattan who specializes in documentary, travel, celebrities, portraiture, and events. He’s a regular contributor to The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal and his work has been published in National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, TIME, and Newsweek. His clients include individuals such as Justin Bieber, Tiki Barber, and Victoria Justice and organizations such as The International Emmy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, and American Electric Power. His photographs were honored at the 2010 Clio Awards for advertising, and HarperCollins published his long-term documentary as part of Justin Bieber’s New York Times Bestselling visual autobiography, First Step 2 Forever, which has sold over a million copies in 25 languages.