Michael Zagaris

Michael Zagaris, known as 'the Z-man', is not a picture-taker. He doesn't take photos "of" people because his viewfinder aims from the inside out. A centered soul in a yin-yang universe, he offers the performer's eye view. Zagaris became the Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin; not vicariously but actually. He donned the make-up and ran down the tunnel into the perfect blindness of stage lights, feeling the electric jolt of thrill, fear and let's-put-a-show-on with the artists. As an insider in those days, he took photographs of what was, not what one expected to see, and as an insider today he does the same thing for 21st century bands and artists. As team photographer for the San Francisco 49ers, a title he achieved in '73 in a move that makes "chutzpah" sound weak, and for the Oakland A's, Zagaris is sports' inside-out shooter. Ankles taped and knee pad-clad, he's the guy so familiar to the players that they don't pose for him, they live.