Freelance work for the North American Soccer League eventually led to Sports Illustrated, where he worked for close to 20 years as a contract and staff photographer. He's often described himself as SI's "utility infielder," the man with the camera who was willing and able to cover anything and everything, from outrigger canoe races to the Little League World Series. "My photographic life was like Mission: Impossible," he once said. "The phone would ring and they'd ask, 'Are you willing to tackle this assignment?'" George's work appeared most frequently in the pages of Sports Illustrated, but also in Time, Newsweek, Life and People.

He credits his newspaper background for giving him the moves of a utility infielder. "Having done everything under the sun made me more versatile," he says. "If I had a chance, I'd do some research, of course, but if it was something like cricket, which I was not familiar with, well then I'd make sure I got there early and asked a lot of questions."

Gradually he began to photograph more and more motor sports, especially NASCAR events. His 2001 book, Trading Paint: Dale Earnhardt vs. Jeff Gordon, Classic Photos from a Classic Rivalry, follows the decade-long battle of the two racing champions.

"Being a utility infielder was interesting, but not as financially rewarding as being a specialist in a major sport like baseball, basketball or football. When you're a specialist, as I've become with NASCAR, people know your name and they call you. When you're a utility infielder, you're often called on to work with other photographers at, say, a World Series or Super Bowl, to enhance the publication's coverage. More often than not you don't get the key shooting positions—which is fine, because you wouldn't expect to be shooting the World Series from the first base dugout when you haven't done baseball all year. The specialists get those positions." Which is not to say the secondary positions can't pay off. "I had an auxiliary spot at a World Series games in Atlanta years ago—it was a TV camera position in one the gondola baskets on the second deck, and I got the cover of SI from there."

The emphasis on NASCAR settled his life and his travels a bit. "Until I started covering NASCAR on a regular basis, my life was, well, what's next?" Even though today NASCAR has become a big part of his work as a full-time freelancer, it's not because he deliberately pursued it. "I'm not a goal setter. My mindset is, take care of today; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sometimes I think that people who are focused on where they want to be forget about where they are. For me, the most important job is the job I'm doing right now, not the one coming up."

George doesn't intend to retire anytime soon, but on his mind these days are concerns and pleasures other than photography. "I think you reach a certain point where your interests change," he says, "and I don't necessarily mean photographic interests. When your children's children need attention, that's a good time to change your focus." The career he's had has been enjoyable, he says, and then ticks off the other adjectives: interesting, challenging, motivating, thought-provoking. "But young people today need more help than we needed, and I'm ready to give it within my family." Clearly, it's not a sacrifice.

"At the end of your career," George says, "there's got to be a life."

George Tiedemann has been an NPS member since 1973.