Inside Neil Bedford’s Iconic Shot of Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant, 2015

As I sat on the plane from London to LA I couldn’t stop wondering why I’d been commissioned to shoot Kobe. I kept thinking: surely there’s someone in LA who would do a better job than me and cost considerably less in travel. As those thoughts played on my mind, I took out my notepad to start sketching and writing my ideas down. I had already been told by the producer that I’d be given 25 minutes with Kobe, so I knew I had to make each one count. Various thoughts were going through my head but the one that stuck with me wasn’t the fact I was to shoot Kobe, but more why I was shooting Kobe and why Kobe was who he was. He was, of course, one of the most famous athletes on the planet, but it wasn’t his face or the way he looked that made him that, it was his craft. With that thought I turned my attention to his hands, the tools of his trade. I remember thinking ‘if I could take a portrait that somehow involved his hands but without his face that could be really powerful’ – keeping his hands central to the viewer, allowing just enough of his profile to keep him recognisable. I pulled down the back of his t-shirt to create more of a neckline and show that little bit more skin, allowing the hands more space away from the density of the black fabric and drawing the viewers eye back towards his hands.

Following the session and back at the hotel I started to edit. I hadn’t really been looking back at the screen during the shoot as I didn’t want to waste time or lose momentum, so I didn’t know 100% what I’d captured nor how it looked. It was one of those moments that don’t happen too often – for me at least – where I had to close the laptop and walk away; I knew I had the image. The image I wanted to portray of Kobe for the cover was there, in front of me and it scared me, as now I knew that I was going to show the world Kobe my way. That’s when I knew I had probably taken my favourite photograph.

Neil Bedford is a traditional portrait photographer whose work spans fashion, sport and music as well as advertising. He has over 15 years experience in the industry.