Julio Cortez (Poyter Institute)
The photo was taken by Julio Cortez who grew up in the San Fernando Valley but is of Mexican origin. His footprints are in the metropolitan area in Los Angeles.
He attended UC Northdrige and trained as a stringer at the LA Times and the Daily News. Later he was part of the AP team in several cities across the country. A few days ago, he took the iconic photo of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s kiss that went around the world and was published in almost all media outlets.
“I was happy to see the kiss because the moment humanized the couple and gave the Swiftie World a candid look at their intimacy,” Cortez wrote in AP.
“To me, it was easy to understand the importance of the moment. Ever since she was first spotted at a Chiefs game on Sept. 24, social media has gone crazy for images of Taylor Swift watching her boyfriend, Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. Swifties were suddenly interested in football. Swift was even thanked in social posts for giving fathers and daughters something common to talk about on Sundays. And now it was impossible to avoid the Swift-coming-to-Baltimore buzz. Baltimore social media meme accounts had fun placing images of her at landmarks in the Charm City. My favorite bakery in Lutherville, Md., made cookies and cupcakes with some of those images. All of this reaffirmed my wife Emily’s comments throughout the week: “This is going to be big!”… and it was.
A Love Story.
“After months of Swifties seeing telephoto images of the pop star celebrating her boyfriend’s accomplishments, a photo made with a 12-24mm lens gave us the first up-close look of her at a Chiefs game – it’s much more personal. It was a true moment of joy and celebration. In my mind It was the shot. I was happy. But I didn’t stop working.
“After, Kelce had a conversation with his brother, Jason Kelce, I rushed to get into position as Travis reunited with Swift. They exchanged words of affection and gave each other a simple and quick peck on the lips – THE photo.”
“When I looked at the back of the camera and saw I had decent images of the kiss, I quickly thought “this is THE Shot.” I was happy to see the kiss because the moment humanized the couple and gave the Swiftie World a candid look at their intimacy.”
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