Sports Illustrated Lays off Staff Photographers

On the eve of the Super Bowl, Time Inc. – the owner of the weekly magazine Sport Illustrated laid off the last staff photographers of the magazine. According to director of photography of Sport Illustrated, which has been in continuous publication for more than 60 years, the decision was made due to the “economic circumstances.” The publication is planning to use freelance services in the upcoming year.

Jordan Stead, staff photographer for Seattle PI.com has expressed his opinion on what will happen to the magazine, “Obviously the SI will be using freelancers and wire imagery but the whole beauty of a team of photographers putting out consistent work, working together, is that there’s a consistent look to the coverage. And when you start hiring different freelancers and using wire content that intermixes with everything else… there’s nothing wrong with that, but the sports coverage is going to start looking like everyone else’s. Because the guy who’s shooting for SI today might have shot for Getty yesterday, and another place the day before… The name of the magazine is literally “Sports Illustrated!” Who’s illustrating the sport? It’s the photographers.”