Pool photographers work all of the venues - not just the aquatic ones - and generally are members of the numerous wire services that cover the Olympic Games.   Since these wire photographers service numerous clients, they have successfully argued that they should get prime positions reserved for them at all venues - and they often (of course) pick the very best spots in each and every venue.  I have no problem with this (I've never liked it of course given that I've never been part of said pool) and it does make some sense to give these organizations preferential treatment given the number of clients they serve.

The problem is,  over the years the Pool has gotten more an more powerful - and in Beijing, some of the rights that they've been given are just ludicrous.  For example, if you want to shoot from underwater window from which the image above was made, you need to make a request 24 hours in advance in writing.  Once approved, you are escorted down to that position an hour before the event and get set up.  Yet if at any point a "pool" photographer decides to show up, they have the "right" to bump you out of the position without warning.  And given the small size of these windows - you're basically left with nothing to shoot.  So you can see why every time I'd hear the door open to this position - my heart would momentarily stop...   

Trying to step away from the crowd and shoot something different can hard some days. I felt I’ve shot my own pictures a few times this Games, Women’s beach volleyball and Women’s Gymnastics have produced a couple of frames that personified my ambitions to shoot action with atmosphere. Today I felt I got beaten into submission and fell back on my long lens sports shooting repertoire. I don’t think the pictures are horrible; I quite like them, only quite though. They just aren’t what I wanted to shoot. The wrestlers at the end of the day saved it for me, those guys are tough, I mean rocks.

The day started at the pool with several finals, one of which was Phelps going for another Gold (200m freestyle), which he did in a new world record. Only I think he’d used up all his emotions the night before and was keeping a lid on things so he could qualify a short time later in the butterfly. Which set the tone as other medalist kept it quiet. Session over the men’s team gymnastics was still on next door so popped in there for the last couple of rotations. After that I had planned on going over to the boxing again and trying for a ringside seat. Men’s bantamweight prelims, should be pretty quiet, nope all the pool shooters where there and as I explained yesterday, overhead boxing is one of my least favorite things to shoot. Although a friend of mine and very good boxing photographer, Al Bello, reminded me of a picture I took at the Seoul Olympics. Coming to Oscar De La Hoyas fight late I rushed into the stadium found the first photo spot in the stands I could find just in time to shoot a pic of Oscar on his knee praying and pointing skywards to a Stars and Stripes that was overhead. If I remember, he’d lost his mother not long before the Games. The picture told it all. So overhead boxing does work sometimes.

I had a bit of an Olympic moment on the bus back from wrestling today. Scored a great pin from a couple of Iranian journalists. They saw whom I worked for and where very keen to let me know that Iranian people love American people. We all agreed that people weren’t the problem, governments were.

The good thing about shooting the whole Games is if you don’t have a Gold medal performance one day you can come back the next and have a crack. Here’s to tomorrow, Gymnastics and Table Tennis. Good night.

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK