Gerry Cranham, who has died aged 94, was a pioneer of modern sports photography and one of its leading exponents. He was as adept at seeing the beauty in an anonymous fell runner jumping a drystone wall in Cumbria as capturing the greats of the 1960s and 70s, such as Muhammad Ali, Olga Korbut, Billie-Jean King, Lester Piggott, Bobby Moore and Arnold Palmer. He was an innovator whose work transcended the sports pages by revealing, through his composition and framing, human endeavour, and the poetry of motion.
His talent could not be contained by the back pages. His first page-one picture in the Observer came in 1962, depicting well-to-do diners in the middle of a velodrome in Antwerp, as cyclists hurtle by. He produced magazine features and was published in Sports Illustrated, the Times and many others. His work was recognised in 1971 with a solo exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was only the second time a photographer had been honoured that way: the first was Henri Cartier-Bresson.
