'Showtime' through the lens of Andrew D. Bernstein

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2005-04-12

'Showtime' through the lens of Andrew D. Bernstein
By Brad Mangin, SportsShooter.com

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE / Getty Images

Kareem and the Lakers share the 1985 NBA Championship with the city of Los Angeles.

An exhibit of 42 photographs by NBA senior photographer and SportsShooter.com member Andrew D. Bernstein, many of them celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles Lakers' 1985 NBA Championship season will be unveiled at 7pm on Saturday night, April 16, 2005 at Gallery 319 in Santa Monica, California.

Bernstein has been shooting the NBA since 1981 and has photographed every NBA Finals and NBA All Star game since 1983. His company, Bernstein Associates, Inc., has served as the official photographer for most of Los Angeles' professional sports teams, including the Lakers, Dodgers, Clippers and Kings. In addition, Bernstein holds the position of Director of Photography for STAPLES Center, the sports and entertainment complex in Los Angeles.

Putting together the 42 photographs for the show were difficult for Bernstein. "It was like trying to choose between your children editing for the show. There are iconic images that had to be in the show. I was trying to get a feeling for the "Showtime" era by representing the excitement of the era. We had to have everyone from Chick Hearn to Dr. Buss along with Magic and Kareem," said Bernstein.

Of all the players Bernstein has photographed over the years Magic Johnson is his favorite. "Magic was the most photogenic guy. Every night it was a joy and an adventure to photograph him. Preseason games, meaningless regular season games, it didn't matter. You could always make a picture of him. It was always a challenge and always motivating getting the chance to photograph Magic," said Bernstein.

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE / Getty Images

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson battle for position in this iconic Bernstein image at the fabled Boston Garden.

Of all the current day players, Lakers star Kobe Bryant is the one Bernstein likes shooting the most. "Kobe is without a doubt my favorite current player to shoot. He is a mixture of Magic and Jordan. I find him extremely motivating and challenging to shoot even after seven years," Bernstein added.

The show of 16 x 20's and 30 x 40's contains 21 prints from the "Showtime" era, 15 prints of current NBA stars including Yao Ming, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Shaq and others, and six prints from sports like football, hockey, baseball and boxing. All of the printing was done by Nardulli photo lab in Hollywood. "These are the most incredible prints of my work I have ever seen. They are printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper. They are type C silver gelatin prints, made with a Lightjet printer. The prints are absolutely stunning- my breath was taken away when I first saw them," said Bernstein.

Bernstein's former boss at the NBA, Senior Director of NBA Photos Carmin Romanelli (now working for Getty Images as Vice President, Sports Business Development) is a big fan of Bernstein and his photography. "The thing that's always amazed me about Andy is his love for the game of basketball and his passion for photography. After more than 20 years of photographing NBA games he is always excited and ready to go before every game and I think that passion, excitement and love shows in his pictures,” Romanelli said.

Romanelli, who curated Bernstein's gallery show "20 years of All-Star Photography" in 2004, first met the photographer in 1990 when Bernstein paid a visit to the offices of The National Sports Daily in New York to show his work to assistant managing editor Neil Leifer and Romanelli, who was the photography director for the now defunct sports daily newspaper at the time. Based in New York, Romanelli will be on hand Saturday night in southern California for the opening so he can see the man he nicknamed "Machine Gun". "I am always interested in seeing his photographs in different combinations and presentations," Romanelli said.

"Andy Bernstein is THE true documentarian of the modern NBA. He not only makes wonderful images on the court, but he takes viewers behind the scenes as well. The NBA is often-maligned as a league of punks and thugs, but through Andy's lens one sees the beauty, grace and sheer athleticism of modern basketball," said Seattle Times staff photographer and SportsShooter.com member Rod Mar.

Over the years Bernstein has been able to develop some special relationships with his subjects. "By getting the chance to be a part of the 1992 dream team every day I was able to be one of the guys and document a historical event from the inside by not abusing the situation. I respect these guys as people and I would hope they would respect me. This leads to a nice personal/professional relationship with the players I cover. I would not have been able to get many of the pictures if I didn't have these relationships. Like getting Shaq and Kobe to pose together during their three year championship run, this would not have happened if we didn't have mutual respect for each other," said Bernstein while talking about his photographs.

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE / Getty Images

Kareem sky hooks over Robert Parish at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood.

One of Bernstein's favorite recent photographer/player relationships he has forged is the friendship he has with Houston Rockets center Yao Ming. "I didn’t know Yao at all. I had a 10 day assignment from ESPN The Magazine his rookie year for a cover story and I came away from that assignment with a career lasting friendship with him. I believe that respect goes both ways. If we are respectful of the athletes it will come back to us." Bernstein added.

Reflecting back on his career Bernstein said, "I wish I would have been able to photograph Bill Russell in his playing days. He was such a dynamic player. He had several different aspects to his game it would have been great to photograph him."

Bernstein, a single dad (Michael, 10 and Juliet, 9), is able to spend more time with his children these days by curtailing his regular season traveling. He is doing more assignments in the Los Angeles area before hitting the road for the upcoming post-season.

The show kicks off a new relationship for Bernstein as he has started working with Limelight agency. "Limelight is representing me for limited edition prints - they have an NBA license so they are able to sell prints," said Bernstein. He signed with Limelight in January of 2005 and launched the line of prints in March. This is Bernstein's first venture into licensed limited edition prints of work, all of which are numbered and signed by Bernstein.

The invite list for the event on Saturday night is an illustrious one consisting of such names as Kareem, James Worthy, Phil Jackson, Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, Jack Nicholson, Dyan Cannon, Andy Garcia and others. The Lakers are off that night so many of the current players might attend.

The show will be up in it's entirety through April 27, 2005. Gallery 319 Director Melissa Menard says after that date visitors can view Bernstein's work online (http://www.gallery-319.com/bernstein.html) or in person by viewing as many as ten pieces at a time as he is a permanent artist for the gallery. "He is a new artist with us. He is a wonderful compliment to the other sports artists we have like painter Stephen Holland," said Menard.

Gallery 319 is located at 319 Willshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. 310-899-1499

Related Links:

Bernstein's member gallery

Limelight Agency

Gallery 319