Pic ©Lloyd Welles.

Sonia Katchian wrote to me a while back, as she used to be based here in sunny Tokyo, and now we’ve become email pals (and just this week I finally recieved a Christmas Card from her which had got delayed in the mail). Sonia has a great body of photographic work, from Japan and elsewhere, but is perhaps best known for her long term work with Muhammad Ali, and for her coverage of his famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ fight in Zaire, and then the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ (from where the above pic was taken, showing Sonia in 1975 at a training session with Ali).

You can see some of Sonia’s great Ali images here and if you’re feeling flush you can buy a portfolio of the prints. And if you’re into listening to audio interviews on your iPod then here you can download and listen to a 30 minute interview where Sonia discusses her career, her first big break, and her time with The Champ. It’s worth it, interesting chat.

Right, I’m off out on a corporate job, have a good weekend.