Legendary sports photographer Dave Cannon has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in Photojournalism by the PGA of America.
In honour of his achievement, Cannon and his work will be celebrated on May 18 in the cup up to the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Cannon, 66, who lives in Sussex, has worked for Getty Images since 1998, when the media company purchased Allsport, where he began working in 1983 and was elevated to director and part-owner three years later.
Jim Richerson, President of the PGA of America, said: “David Cannon’s choice images have long served the game of golf as historical markers that allow the greatest stories to be shared in the visual form in perpetuity. His technical mastery and artistic proficiency are renowned, but it is his warm smile and enthusiasm for his craft that made him an institution in major championship golf circles. On behalf of the PGA of America, I salute David for his career achievements in the area of photojournalism and look forward to more in the years to come.”
A high-level amateur golfer during his late teens and early 20s, Cannon competed against the likes of Sir Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle and, in 1974, was selected for the English youth squad training programme.
His interest in photography began on November 18, 1978, when he was invited by a close friend, Neville Chadwick of the Leicester News Photo Service, to work a Midland Counties-New Zealand All Blacks rugby match in Leicester. Using his first professional-grade camera – a Canon AE-1 – Cannon’s initial foray resulted in the Sunday Express using one of his images to anchor its sports section.
“From that second onward, I basically stopped playing serious golf and every bit of spare cash I had went toward buying camera equipment,” said Cannon, who has travelled the world ever since covering every sport imaginable.
The first golf event Cannon “shot” was the 1981 World Match Play, while the 1982 Open Championship was his Major Championship baptism. He hasn’t missed an Open Championship since, with his current tally standing at 39.
According to Cannon, football (soccer) is “the best sport to learn photography on. If you can shoot football, you can photograph any sport in the world. In any one game, there are no predictable plays on the pitch.”
Originally his work with Allsport focused on football, leaving his summer’s open. Golf photography would never be the same.
Cannon said: “To jump from football to golf is liberating with all of the space to manoeuvre, but you are quickly reminded just why golf is also so hard. It is played over around 200 acres and the range of most top cameras is 40-50 yards. If you are not in range, good luck!”
By 1986, Cannon began working for Golf World in the UK, a relationship that continued until the publication’s recent closure. He has carried out instructional shoots with Golf World staff players like Faldo, Bernard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam and Ernie Els, building familiarity and trust along the way. But he formed a special relationship with one Golf World player: Seve Ballesteros.
Cannon had a preexisting ‘soft spot’ for Ballesteros, beginning when the two played together in a May 1976 pro-am at his home club, The Leicestershire Golf Club. after a nearby European Tour event.
“In 1984, when Ballesteros won the Open for the second time, I got what has become an iconic sequence of him holing that famous putt on 18, which I presented to him. He was really appreciative of those pictures and what they represented.”
Cannon added another iconic image to his portfolio two years later with his shot of Jack Nicklaus with putter raised on the 17th green at Augusta and on the precipice of history at the 1986 Masters.
Cannon photographed every Ryder Cup from 1985 to 2018, with travel restrictions precluding him from attending last September’s renewal at Whistling Straits.
“I have come to understand that the Ryder Cup is the most exciting event in golf for me to photograph,” said Cannon, who served as the official European Team photographer from 1995 to 2018. “It’s the way the players react, their emotions. You get more celebration and emotive moments in three days than you do in 12 months on tour.”
Cannon cited his 1991 shot of José María Olazábal jumping up and nearly over the back of Ballesteros ー his fellow Spaniard and playing partner ー as his all-time favorite Ryder Cup image.
So far, Cannon has covered more than 700 events around the world, including 121 men’s Majors, 71 women’s Majors, 17 Ryder Cups, 17 Walker Cups and 15 Solheim Cups.
Cannon estimates he’s taken over 3.4 million frames either on film or digitally, flown 2.6 million miles while visiting 115 countries, walked 13,000-plus miles on golf’s greatest courses and slept 5,000-plus nights in hotel beds.
“Over the last forty years, my ambition has been to leave an important legacy to the sport. And while I am not done just yet, I hope this award serves as an annual reminder that (photographers) put an awful lot into the game of golf.”