Richard Mackson is an award-winning sports photographer whose career has spanned more than thirty years, and taken him around the globe. His professional career began at age 16 at the Santa Monica Evening Outlook, covering general news and sports. At age 19 he started a continuous relationship with Sports Illustrated, and was under contract to them for 20 years. He covered everything from archery to yachting and all sports in between. Additionally his work has appeared in Time Magazine, People Magazine, Newsweek, National Geographic, Volleyball Magazine, NFL publications, and countless other books, magazines and newspapers.
His photos have appeared on the cover of dozens of issues of Sports Illustrated, and he has photographed the Olympics, the Rose Bowl, the Oscars, the Kentucky Derby, NCAA Final Four, BCS Championship, the Superbowl, Stanley Cup World Cup Soccer, America’s Cup Yachting, boxing and countless other national and international sporting events. One of his pictures from the 1991 World Series was named one of the “sports shots of the century.”
A licensed pilot, Mackson is often called upon for his skill as an aerial photographer, including being one of the photographers chasing O. J. Simpson down the freeways of Southern California during the infamous “slow speed chase.”
Richard founded and owned Westside Processing, Inc., a highly successful photo processing lab in Santa Monica, California for over twenty years. He was the CEO of the business and also invented many of the patented processing machines for the lab.
In 1980 with one day’s notice he designed, built, and operated a “flying photo lab” for Time Magazine to process the color film of Ronald Reagan the night he won the election.
A visionary, he began his work in digital photography by conceptualizing and helping construct the first remote digital editing system in late 1987.
In the early 1990’s he approached Eastman Kodak with a revolutionary idea to re-engineer the venerated Kodachrome process. His work led to the creation of the K-Lab process. He later joined Kodak in 1996, where he has helped bring a vast range of new products to market spanning traditional films to digital products. He is currently employed as an executive at Kodak in Rochester, New York as the Director of External Relations and Vice President, Office of the Chief Technical Officer.
Richard is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Greater Los Angeles Press Photographers Association. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial arts education from California State University, at Long Beach. In 2005, he was inducted into the Santa Monica High School’s Hall of Fame, where he graduated in 1972.
