Visions of China: A 2008 Olympics Picture Blog : Donald Miralle

End of the Line

Donald Miralle — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:11:31 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

For me it’s always bittersweet when the last day of an Olympic Games comes to pass. Today was no different; after 16 days of covering 20 different sports it all begins to blur into one big dream (or nightmare depending on who you are), where you can’t really appreciate what you accomplished until it’s done. I’m finding it hard to gauge where these games will rate in comparison to my past experiences; there were highs and lows, there were great things and bad things. But through it all I think collectively the team at NEWSWEEK did a bang-up job. Personally I am quite happy with my photo take from here, although I am very disappointed with the performance, or lack thereof, of some of my Canon gear. The fact that many integral moments and photos were missed entirely because of camera malfunctions, has made me really reconsider, as many of the sportsshooters in the industry, if I should make the switch to black lenses.

Day 16 would be run on little sleep, which has been par for course over the last 15 days. After seeing Mike off with our 2nd nice dinner in almost 3 weeks, we hung out until about 4:00 drinking beers and reminiscing about this experience and past ones as well. After packing some bags slightly buzzed, I finally hit the sack. My alarm rudely woke me up about 2 hours later at 6 a.m. to go catch the start of the Men’s Marathon at Tiananmen Square. I was hoping for a better photo opp than the cycling road race showing the Chinese landmark and giving one of the few photos from the games that actually said “China”. Even though I was a little hung over and feeling a bit nauseous, I made it to the photo position 15 minutes before the start. I was in good shape and it was a beautiful blue bird sky morning.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

After grabbing a cab and making a quick pitstop at my hotel to edit my photos, reconfigure my bag to shoot the next two events, and take a quick catnap, it was off to the men’s water polo final. It would be the U.S.A. vs Hungary, with the underdog American team beating all the odds and the tough European teams in their bracket to end up in the gold medal game battling against the highly-favored Euro-Champs. The game started off on a fast pace favoring the American team, and after a 4-meter penalty shot by Captain Tony Azevedo the Americans found themselves surprisingly in the lead. But it proved to be a tale of two halves, with the Hungarian goalie Zoltan Szecsi placing up his own Great Wall of China in the goal. The Hungarians won the match 14-10, and it turned into a hug and kiss fest for the Europeans while the Americans hung their heads low on the pool deck.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

On my way back to the MPC, I ran into a little group of local kids playing some table tennis. I had to stop and play a couple point with them. Even at their young age of 9, my college beer pong experience was nothing next to their mad Chinese pong skills. I said thanks, gave them a handful of NEWSWEEK pins, which made their day, and took a photo of them.

With little time to spare I hauled ass back to the Olympic Park to a spot that I scoped out for the closing ceremonies. I found a spot outside the Birds Nest with my friend Al Bello where we set up a shot with the reflection pool and a secondary shot with some Chinese guards. The reflecting pool was shot on a DS Mark III set at F11 @ 3 seconds with a 14mm lens. The guard shot was with a 24-70mm set at 24, F4 @ 2 seconds with a off camera flash w/pocket wizard set to rear curtain synch. I was very happy with these closing photos, especially the one with the guards because it was something that I really had thought and planned out ahead of time.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The last day of the Olympics ended on a good note for me, with some of my strongest frames I’ve had in days. I can’t believe it’s over. Time for some PED (Post Event Depression). Thanks to everyone from Newsweek – Simon, Mike, Vince, Susanne, Beth, Leah, Mark and Michael. Special thanks to Simon for having the vision and the guts to put together this experiment in photojournalism and give us the free rein to make photos as we see it and say things as they are. Thanks for all of you who have watched and read our little Olympic journey along the way, I hope it was as entertaining and exciting for you as it was for us. I’m more than ready to jump on my plane tomorrow and get back to my family, but not before a “big night” on the town with some friends!

Zai Jian!!!

Floating (or Sinking) to the Finish Line

Donald Miralle — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:35:39 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The end is in sight. We have one more day of the Olympics before we can call it a wrap, pack our bags, and get back to our homes and families. My second-to-last day was mostly spent at the Water Cube, which was fitting as it is an arena where I spent many long days here in Beijing. The women’s synchro team free routine final was hopefully going to be a good one, with Russia looking to continue their domination by making it four in row at the Olympics. I had my underwater set-up still in the pool from the day before so it just made sense to shoot the actual final today as well. En route to setting up the remote I took some snaps of the team’s warming-up which is sometimes more interesting than the competition itself. It brought back memories of the Athens Olympics where I was given carte blanche to shoot synchro team practices without the use of any scuba gear. Times have changed… Reuters photographer Wolfgang Rattay and I checked the focus and framing of our cameras, and then we took some funny photos of each other in the pool. Good for the blog and to send home to the family!

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Photograph by Wolfgang Rattay—REUTERS

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

As expected the Russians scored a near-perfect routine, and collected their 4th consecutive gold medal at the Olympics with Spain and China receiving the silver and bronze respectively. The biggest story of the night was when one of the Japanese synchronized swimmer, Kobayashi Hiromi, hyperventilated during the final and had to be pulled to the surface by a teammate. The large but quick Chinese lifeguards in matching Speedos did not hesitate to come to her aid and she was stretchered off. Hope she’s OK…The photos today were a little better than yesterday’s, so I was happy with that. But it was also good just to see all the guys at the pool who I only get to see at the big swimming events when we do our underwater thing. Part of me felt sad knowing it was my last day in the Cube, and the other part of me would be happy never stepping foot in the building again.

One more day to go!!!

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Cirque du Beijing

Donald Miralle — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:33:39 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Today was a much-needed treat covering what could be the Cirque du Soleil meets the Beijing Olympics: Women’s Synchronized Swimming and Rhythmic Gymnastics. Both of these sports are beautiful to behold, a mix of artistry and athleticism. I started at the Water Cube, getting there three hours early to fine-tune the underwater remote we had set-up the day before. I had a very specific photo of the swimmers entering the water shot from directly below showing the unique ceiling and Beijing logo to give it a sense of place. It was fun to set-up with Getty Chief Photographer and good friend Al Bello, and we took turns with his dive gear placing, focusing and firing the cameras. We had to be very careful not to bump the other photographer’s cameras while staying close to the bottom because the synchronized swimmers were in middle of practice. Even though the teams didn’t line up perfectly for my camera, I was happy with the frames I ended up with, but have finals tomorrow to improve on.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Then I jumped in a cab and headed directly to the rhythmic gymnastics prelims, which was a solid hour away in rush hour traffic. After quickly editing my synch swim and eating a weak snack of bean cookies in the back of the cab, I crashed out for about 20 minutes. When I arrived at the gym, I was already about 10 minutes late for the first rotation, and met the photo manager who escorted me to the catwalk position which I had reserved 48 hours before to ensure a spot. I started off like Machine-Gun Kelly, trigger happy at first because the subject seemed so photogenic in their sparkly outfits, streaming ribbons, and ridiculous flexibility. After realizing every competitor was like that I slowed down and just started working on composition and peak moments. After moving from my initial position, which was near directly overhead, I moved a bit more side-on for the team competition, which was a mistake but the photo marshal wouldn’t let me move back unfortunately. So again something to work on in the finals tomorrow…

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Day 13 Highs and Lows

Donald Miralle — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:10:51 GMT

U.S.A. soccer pulls off the upset! Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

U.S.A. Softball gets upset. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The last couple days I just feel it slipping. My interest in photos is fading, I’m finding it harder to get out of bed in the morning, and I just seem to be missing things or making mistakes. And when I’m not making mistakes my cameras are either backfocusing or not working all together. It’s like there is a little gremlin in my camera back that is sabotaging my Games. For example, today was the first time I was granted access to placing an underwater camera in the pool (unfortunately for me it was for women’s synchro, not Phelps) and I flooded a camera in one of my housings when I first jumped in the water. In 10 years, and hundreds of times in the water, I have only ruined one camera. But this time I just didn’t check everything twice before hopping in, and next thing I know the housing is filled like an aquarium. To top it all off, the camera that was ruined was not mine. I luckily packed two housings, so after dropping some f-bombs on the pool deck, I placed the back-up system in the water.

I’m not sure if it’s that I’m just worn down from shooting, editing, and blogging everyday, or if I’m just missing home, but I just feel like I can’t get it going. I feel that I’ve made a strong set of photos to this point and would love to finish it off strong, but the last couple of days I’ve been down and out. It’s been a great assignment for NEWSWEEK, with much of the creative control and scheduling of this assignment left in our hands. Kudos to Simon Barnett and the photo staff at NEWSWEEK for giving us this opportunity and placing us in this position. Nevertheless, I feel a bit depressed and in a funk, and one of my close friends commented, “don’t go to that dark place” when he saw me yesterday. The truth is the Olympics is a very long and stressful few weeks for any photographer, especially if you are leaving family back at home. I feel like every Games I do shaves a couple years off the back-end of my life. But for me it is the pinnacle of sports photography, where the finest sports photographers in the world congregate to shoot the top athletes in an arena that transcends sports. I just want to get this thing wrapped up on a good note and get back to the comforts of home and family.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

My day started with a setting up of an underwater remote for synchronized swimming. After about 3 hours of set-up for a very thought out shot, and flooding a housing, I set off for the women’s softball gold medal game. The defending Olympic champions that had never lost a gold medal game in their history and the team was heavily favored against Japan. But today proved to be Japan's, as they cashed in on their opportunities and the U.S.A. did not, twice leaving the bases loaded. After shooting the standard jube, traditional throwing of the coach, and having a photographer go ballistic toward the staff at the photo staff at the park, myself and about four other American photographers from the Southern California area jetted out of the stadium in the hopes of finding a taxi in time for the U.S.A. vs. Brazil women's soccer gold medal game.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

After about 45 minutes of standing in the street we landed a taxi and Robert Gauthier of the LA Times, Michael Goulding of the Orange County Register, Sean Haffey of the San Diego Tribune, and I made the trek across town and bolted through the mag n’ bag with about 5 minutes to spare in the final half of the game. But according to the other photographers sitting there the entire game we swanned in just in time and didn’t miss anything. The game went to two fifteen minute overtime periods, and the U.S.A. scored big in the first one and never looked back. I had a gentleman’s bet on the game with Mike Powell for the amount of 1 Yuan (still need to collect) since I had a hunch after I shot the U.S.A.’s victory over Brazil last month in San Diego, when U.S.’s top scorer Amy Wambach broke her leg. Day 13 is over, and it had high’s and lows for myself and many of U.S. women’s teams.

We are on the home stretch now, with three days left…

Lightning Bolt Strikes Again

Donald Miralle — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:23:08 GMT

Usain Bolt of Jamaica breaks the World Record in the Men's 200M. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

After dumping off my remote gear and bags at the track, I rushed over to the men’s handball to check out the quarterfinal competition. Having never shot this sport before, I was a bit excited to check it out. I guess it’s pretty huge in Europe with professional leagues and such but I’ve never seen a game played in the U.S. before and never had a chance to witness it firsthand. Man, it is a fast moving sport with lots of goals, and it seems that whoever ends up with the ball in the end wins. I shot a couple of games and waited until the last minute to head back to the track to catch the men’s 200M final. Myself and about 4 other photographers caught the 9:15 bus to the MPC, and after a little connection in a golf cart were at the stadium with about 30 minutes to spare before the start.

Handball is fast and furious. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

GV of goal. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Diving and throwing seems to be the norm. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

It's like volleyball and water polo meets dodgeball. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Showing some love after the win. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Completing “The Double” for the first time since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Usain Bolt of Jamaica did it in epic fashion by breaking the Michael Johnson’s world record from the 1996 games of 19.32 and lowering it by two one-hundredths of a second to a 19.30. And best of all he ran the entire race, holding back the showboating and jubo until he crossed the line. When he saw his time he threw out his arms in classic style, gave a first pump, then collapsed on the track. I caught the moment with a hand held 300mm, and a 70-200 remote a bit wider showing the scene. I am hoping that Bolt’s performance will stand and place Athletics back on the map with the attention it deserves. It’s now about 12:30 now while I am wrapping it up in the MPC and looking to catch a quick bite before crashing hard. Tomorrow is a big day, with the U.S.A. women competing in the gold medal final in beach volleyball, water polo, softball (may be the last Olympic final ever) and soccer. Four more days to go…GIDDY-UP!

Remote camera angle covering my butt just in case. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Got lucky on this fist pump as I was running out of room on my viewfinder and his face was sharp and not blocked. Better to be lucky than good! Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Bolt collapses on ground after completing the double in the men's 100M and 200. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Jamaica had a good night in the Finals. 400M hurdles winner Melaine Walker. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Little girl playing in the water outside the Water Cube and Olympic Stadium. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Recharging Your Batteries

Donald Miralle — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:02:50 GMT

It’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make at any event, especially on a long haul like the Olympics. You forget to recharge your batteries. I’m not talking about when you get that evil blinking icon on your camera giving you about 10 seconds before your camera shuts down; I’m referring to not giving your mind and body a chance to rest. I haven’t recharged since I began this thing, and after day 10 I hit a huge wall. I was on my last leg in every facet of my being. I was sleep deprived, eating poorly, working myself to the bone, running out of interest, and missing photos. On my last event of the day I had a miscellaneous “error 99” on a remote camera that made me miss a weightlifting photo that was nothing short of a belter (see top UK snapper Shaun Botterill’s pic on Getty Images) . And to top it all off, my wife said she was exhausted at her wits end with our two boys and work, and she was “not going to another Olympics without help again.” So, last night I turned off the alarm, closed the shades, and decided I wasn’t going to cover the triathlon in the morning (Mike was on it too) but just sleep in. 10 hours later, I opened the blinds. My battery was full again and ready for the home stretch.

Here are some pics from my only event today--the athletics finals…enjoy

A bird's eye view of the runners after the finish of the 1500m race. Rashid Ramsi of Bahrain (#1256) won the gold medal. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Sanya Richards of the United States leads the pack in the final stretch in the women's 400m final. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Stefan Holm of Sweden lands on the mattress after a jump in the men's high jump final. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Inna Eftimova of Bulgaria competes in the women's 200m heats. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Andrey Silnov of Russia en route to his gold medal in the men's high jump. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Three Races in One

Donald Miralle — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:42:46 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Triathlons are a great sport. I do about three races a year, usually sprint distances in the summer when the water is warm just for kicks, and they are a blast. I swim with the North County Masters Team in Encinitas, California, a modern-day Mecca for triathletes, and every now and then I get the chance to do laps with some of the top elite triathletes in the world, like Australians Michellie Jones and Luke Bell to name a few. These athletes are at a different level with little weakness in their repertoire, and if they were to choose just one of the disciplines in a triathlon they could probably be highly competitive in that sport as well. I’ve been lucky enough to cover races like the Hawaiian Ironman, Pan-American Games, World Championships, and the Olympics and see first hand how crazy fit these guys are. But it’s the hard work and the discipline that pays off in this sports(s) as on average most of the triathletes can put in anywhere from 7-12 miles of swimming a week, 18-20 miles of running, and around a hundred miles of biking.

Bob Martin of SI getting down and dirty in sniper position. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Dock Start for the competitors. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Bike pack comes around a curve. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The Olympic race consists of a 1500 m swim, a 40 km bike, followed by a 10 km run, and some of the top ladies today finished it under 2 hours. The course was a set in scenic hills at the Ming Tomb Reservoir near the spot where 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty were laid to rest in elaborate mausoleums. The athletes and spectators couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to hold the race. The men may not be so lucky tomorrow . Unfortunately I was on the 2nd day of about 3.5 hours of sleep and it’s starting to catch up with me. After taking a 6:40 bus from my hotel and the first bus from the MPC to the course (it’s about an hour away) I was ready to get the race on. The course wasn’t the most photogenic or easy to get around, and I didn’t have the luxury of water access or motorcycles like I’ve had in past races. So I just focused on a couple different shots, specifically a water exit and a couple different graphic bike shots. My initial plan was to rig the smaller of my two SPL housings for a 5D on a pole cam with a ball head and trigger release, but I went with a shot with a remote camera clamped to a rail which was approved 30 minutes prior to the race (thanks to Ray the photo marshal and Bob Martin of SI lending me a magic arm).

Ai Ueda of Japan and Nicola Spirig of Switzerland exit the water. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

A general view of the bike route. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Biking past the reservoir. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

After an extremely quick starting gun by the officials, the competitors jumped into warm but murky lake and stated their first leg, a mile swim. The swim is the shortest distance and time wise of the three parts of a triathlon, and you usually don’t get too much out of it. But the rest of two hours goes by really quick especially when you’re always chasing the competitors, so you have to pick and choose your spots. The water exit area ended being a little bit of a clusterf%#k with a large group of photographers laying on their bellies shooting down a very narrow ramp. Every time the guy in front of you moved, you had to move, and there was just a domino effect of getting blocked. I really didn’t get anything with my hand held camera because of this. On the other hand, my remote water camera was inadvertently blocked as well by the one pool photographer allowed in the water (I won’t say any names…Adam!) but I was able to salvage a couple of frames with creative crops. No worries. I was fine with what I got, but it leaves me a lot of room to improve for the men’s race tomorrow. In the end, Australian Emma Snowsill, who finished a full minute in front of Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes, and followed with a bronze by Aussie Emma Moffat, took the gold.

Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal passes through a water station en route her her silver medal (converted to B&W because aesthetically works better with the splash of water). Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Laura Bennett of the USA runs en route to a 4th place finish. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Emma Snowsill of Australia wins the Women's Triathlon. Shot from crappy side-on finish-line position as the head-on photographer's corral filled up.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Eight is Enough

Donald Miralle — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 08:17:04 GMT

Phelps completed the sweep. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Phelps receives his last medal of the Olympics. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Phelps finds is family in a sea of photogs. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Michael did it. And now that it's done, he can rest, and we can all rest easy now because we probably won't see something like that again in our lifetime. I have to admit is was very cool to witness such an incredible feat where one individual has brought home more medals than many entire countries can muster. His final event was the men's 4x100m medley relay, a race which the Americans are the reigning world record holders and world champions. Backstroke world record holder Aaron Peirsol led off and gave the U.S. a slight lead just under the world record pace. The second leg saw the U.S. slip to third as Brenden Hansen was outsplit by the Japanese and the Australian. Then came Phelps, in his final swim. He powered the Americans back with a smoking leg of 50.15, setting up the anchor man, Jason Lezak, to bring it home for Team USA. It was a perfect finish to Phelps' meet, culminating in 8 gold medals, 7 World Records, and 1 Olympic Record over the course of the last week. After the medal ceremony, I did notice as Phelps welled up a little, no doubt beginning to comprehend the magnitude of what he had achieved. He went to the opposite side of the pool and climbed up the stands through the swarming sea of photographers to hug and kiss his sisters Whitney and Hilary, and mother Debbie. It nice to see such an incredibly driven athlete remind you that family is always first. Everyone at pool felt warm and fuzzy for a couple minutes. And I thought of my wife and two kids at home waiting for me to get back from the Olympics.

some other pics from the day...

Grant Hackett of Australia going for the silver the men's 1500m. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Yang Sun of China fixes his goggles. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands drinks the water from the pool. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Lisbeth Trickett of Australia is congratulated by teammates Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones and Jessicah Schipper after their team won the gold medal in the 4 x 100m medley. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The Longest 10 Seconds on the Planet

Donald Miralle — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:40:51 GMT

It’s amazing how many people get so excited over a race that takes less than 10 seconds to run. The lead-up of the showdown of Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt, and Tyson Gay was second only to the sea of photographers and their remote cameras that descended on the National Stadium tonight for the men’s 100m final. There were a wide spectrum of experience present; from snappers who cover Athletics religiously, to those who cover it only at the Olympics, to those who witnessed their first 100m tonight. I fall somewhere in the middle of that pack, but can never get too excited for this race. Case in point, Peter Reid Miller of Sports Illustrated posed the question to me tonight before the start of the finals, “Do you even remember who won the 100 in Athens?” I was there, I shot it, I remember taking an OK frame of it, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember who won [It was Justin Gatlin of the U.S.--ED]. And you know why, after tonight NOBODY CARES. The athlete, whether it’s one of the Jamaicans or the American, will be on the front cover of every newspaper and Website for the next 24 hours. You won’t see them again in the headlines for another four years. Unless, that is, one of them tests positive for doping...

Testing my finish line remote on the Men's 20km Walk Final. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

This was my riser position where I sat for the race. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

A view of the main finish line moat with about 100 remote cameras and SI's Bill Frakes in charge (half of the cameras are his!!)

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Infield remotes facing back to finish line. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Photographers sit and wait for the 100m. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Nevertheless, photographers and media come in droves to set-up shop, some of them scoping out positions and setting up remote days before the event actually starts. Most are on edge, scrambling to get their cameras in position, knocking over cameras, yelling at their assistants or even at other photographers. Is it really worth getting all hot and heavy over a little foot race? The spectacle that surrounds the race that decides the fastest man on the planet every four years is one to behold and one that I would sometimes like to miss. But you have to go and cover it, and we did. Between the three of us, with Mike having the most experience under his belt, and specializing in Track and Field for years, he took the head-on moat position. Vince was going to do the pan position on the front stretch, good for a low-percentage, but a very nice photo of the athletes in full sprint at a slow shutter, but he opted out after the BOB camera appeared to block his view. I did this shot in Athens '04 and it was good for one really nice frame and nothing else. So Vince went to the moat position around the bend, which is usually solid for the follow-through react. That left me in the elevated head-on safe position, which was fine by me, especially since I could surf the internet and start writing this blog in the five hours we had to wait for the 10:30 p.m. start. My stress levels were also alleviated by the fact that I dropped off my gear and set up a couple remotes before I went to Aquatics this morning to cover Phelps. I placed one remote wide almost parallel with the finish line framed with eight lanes and the Olympic Flame in the background. The second remote was head on with 4 lanes, repositioned to lanes 4-7 after the semifinal split Bolt and Powell in lanes 4 and 7 respectively. Amazingly (but not really) Tyson Gay did not make the final.

And after a bunch of unfortunately insignificant races that no one cared about, it was go time....

A NEW WORLD RECORD OF 9.69!!!!!

Angle from remote #1 (finish line 24-70) Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from Hand held 400mm. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from remote #2 (70-200mm in moat). Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from Hand held 400mm. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from hand held 400mm. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from remote #2. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Angle from remote. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Now we have to wait until 2012 in London to do it all over again...

Women's Heptathalon. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Phelps Ties Spitz by One One-Hundredth

Donald Miralle — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:15:54 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

It was awesome today, being here, documenting history in the making at the Water Cube. Once again, Michael Phelps continued his seemingly unstoppable run to greatness. He came from behind to beat out Milorad Cavic of Serbia by one one-hundredth of a second with the final stroke of the 100m butterfly to tie Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals from the 1972 Games by the closest margin. Phelps, who was seventh at the 50M turn and seemingly out of the race, whittled away at the field and had a magical touch to the wall. It was an amazing finish for someone who has to be feeling the fatigue from swimming 5 individual events and 3 relays, many of which have been swum three times in Prelims, Semifinals, and Finals. Tomorrow Phelps will have the chance to become the only athlete to ever win 8 gold medals in one Olympics. At 23 years of age he now has 13 golds, four more than anyone else in the 112-year history of the modern Games. With the U.S.A. men’s team holding the World Record in the 4X100m freestyle relay, his final swim of the Olympics, it seems like a lock that he will achieve his 8. Tomorrow will no doubt be a fantastic finale to an unbelievable week at the H20 Cube.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Photographs by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

I equally enjoyed the men’s 50m freestyle today, the equivalent to the 100m in athletics, with a drag race between world record holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia, 100m Gold Medalist Alain Bernard of France, and Brazilian sensation Cielo Filho Cesar. Cielo, who smashed all the sprint records in the NCAA competition this past spring, including being the first man to go under 19 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle, led from start to finish and gushed with emotion afterward. He went from screaming and beating the water, to crying and hiding his face. I made a sequence of the emotional reaction—I think every photographer got a decent frame out of that race.

Photographs by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Hump Day or Bump Day?

Donald Miralle — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:08:46 GMT

Today was one of those days. I jumped out of bed at 8:30 a.m., two hours after my alarm was supposed to wake me up. I was supposed to be at the Gymnastics venue hanging a remote for the Women’s Individual All-Around. It took a lot of work on my end to get that access, and my opportunity was wasted. Not a good start. After barely making the 9 a.m. bus, I arrived in our office in the media center to gather myself and my gear, and try to sort out what was going to be a very long day. Gymnastics, followed by Badminton, and finally Athletics. After skipping breakfast (or “breakie” as Mike Powell calls it) I headed over to the gym just 15 minutes before the start. I was behind the ball from the beginning of this day and once you start from that point it’s hard to get back in front. Lucky for me, all the best gymnasts where in the first group, so I really just tried to focus on them. I saw that Mike has positioned himself in the down the barrel position for the rotation, so I scrambled to get upstairs to shoot the first rotation on the vault from a clean one, and congregated on a nearly empty handicapped seating area with about 5 other photographers and lots of leg-room.

As soon as we all got comfortable, about four BOCOG blue bibs and one red bib came over instructing us we had to leave as the athletes were a couple of minutes from the start of competition, even though there was all the room in the world and there were photographers below us blocking an aisle. I am quickly learning the best thing you can do in this situation at the Olympics is postpone the inevitable by telling them that you have permission to be there and then giving them a nice pin. This bought about 10 minutes, which was just enough time to get the first rotation in.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

I then went to the next rotation, Uneven Bars again I tried to position myself opposite of where Mike was and get something a little different. I struggled on this one to get something I was happy with, pre-focusing with a 200/1.8 set a f/2.5 and having little success with it. Before I knew it they moved onto Balance Beam as did a congregation of photographers trying to get in the nearby shooting stalls. I was sick of moving around so I just shot it with long glass trying to find an interesting background to work with. I felt myself slowly losing interest in the moment, and thinking about my empty stomach. So I walked upstairs and hit up the media lounge and got a handful of cookies before the start of the final floor routine.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Floor is always hard to shoot as gymnasts run, tumble and flip in every direction, usually against crap backgrounds. So after my quick sugar pit-stop I decided to stay upstairs to shoot the floor and hopefully get something a little cleaner and graphic. It ended up just being pretty boring for photos other than the American Girls, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, nailed their routines and in a clutch performance won gold and silver respectively. Knowing that there was probably going to be some kind of reaction, I sprinted back downstairs with my three cameras bouncing off my hips to get there in time. The moment I jumped up on the far photo platform, I saw Luikin raising her arms up after posting her winning score and I managed to get frame out of it. Next, I shuffled over to the opposite side of the floor to line up for the medal ceremony, and found myself doing the big wave with the free arm to get eye contact for a picture. Not my favorite thing to do, but I just felt like the entire event and day was slipping through my fingers and I wasn’t getting any frames out of it. I usually like figuring out my position in advance and letting the action come to me, but today I was chasing the action and one step behind. I packed up my kit and walked out the Gym hanging my head low looking for my next bus.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The day just got worse. In my rush to get into the bus for badminton I jumped on the wrong one. Realizing what I had done a couple seconds after the doors closed and still in the bus depot, I politely asked the driver to open the door. He shook his head. I pleaded with the BOCOG volunteer that I was on the wrong bus, which was completely empty, and I really needed to get off to catch the right one. After speaking with each other in Chinese for about a minute, the bus driver and volunteer said they could not let me off as it was ”forbidden” because they have GPS tracking in their vehicles and their boss can see what they are doing. “You don’t even have to stop, just slow down and open the door and I’ll jump out!” I felt like a trapped drowning rat, not being helped by fellow rodents. They shook their head and just said no. I was so pissed off that I felt like kicking and screaming but I just sat down in my empty bus in silence for a 45-minute ride out and another one back. The day felt like it was done.

Then it got even worse. My hopes were lifted, then crushed when the Head Photo Chief and Venue Photo Chief at the swimming venue told me I could finally place my underwater camera in at the pool just in time for Michael Phelps's last individual swim of the Olympics. Our great NEWSWEEK Photo Assistant Andrew Burton and I scrambled to get all my gear together to meet at the pool, only to have the manager notify me a couple hours later that there were still too many cameras (6) in the pool. Then one of my good friends and fellow photographers told me other photographers were grumbling about a remote camera at the swimming the other day that I placed next to the starting block for the Phelps race. Even though other photographers have placed cameras there the entire meet, and the Photo Manager gave me the green light to place it there, apparently other photographers were pissed because it was in their picture and they thought my blog post from a couple days back was rubbing in that fact. But it couldn’t be further from the truth, as I was just excited to get a different photo and wouldn’t have placed it there if I thought it would ruin someone’s background.

I hope this blog is serving the purpose of a daily log and dairy of the games which also keeps my friends and family abreast of what I am doing, not a forum to raise myself up or shoot other people down. My anonymous friend who knows me very well, reiterated the fact that he knows that this wasn’t what I was trying to do but said I should be wary of the fact that there was grumbling.

You have bad days and you have good days at the Olympics. Today started off on a really bad note and it’s amazing when it begins that way how quickly it can go in a downward spiral. I have run into a couple photographers in the past week that I can tell are hanging their head low and having a bad one and tell them that it’s still early. That’s the beauty of the Olympics, you can have a bad day or miss a photo but there are limitless opportunities the next day to capture a piece of history. Time to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and resent the system. Tomorrow is day 8, and we’re halfway to the finish line, hump day!

Badminton is My New Favorite Sport

Donald Miralle — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:18:38 GMT

Yili Wei and Yawen Zhang of China react to their victory in the Women's Badminton Bronze Medal Match. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia dives for a shuttlecock. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Hyunil Lee of Korea dives for the shuttlecock. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia reacts to his win over Hyunil Lee of Korea. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

This guy's a crowd-pleaser. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The “b” in badminton stands for bad-ass. It’s a blast to watch, fast-paced action with guys leaping around on a mini-tennis court smashing a thing called a shuttlecock. The fans are into it, the players get into it and at the end of a good match you’re guaranteed a screaming jubo. It has everything you would want in a Olympic Sport. After the Games are over I might check with the International Badminton Federation and see if they need an official photographer. In tonight’s Semi-Final and Bronze medal matches I found myself sitting next to a Getty shooter and friend Streeter Lecka (yes that’s his real name) and we were laughing and screaming the entire time we were shooting because it was so much fun. The Chinese crowd in the building was cheering on every point and the photo team at the venue couldn’t be more helpful and accommodating. By far the best experience so far at the games. It was great to get images that made up for the first half of the day which was a nightmare and salvage the day by ending it on a good note.

Hope you like the pics.

Finding Clean Windows in a Messy Venue

Donald Miralle — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:50:09 GMT

Nice flip, nice background. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The Judo Venue has a junkyard background, even before the judges step in. My shooting window is the dark corner. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Point for Kazakhstan. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The biggest challenge in any sporting event, and the Olympic Games is no exception, is finding a way to get clean backgrounds in your photos that don't distract a viewer from the subject they should be focusing on in the photos. Because TV owns the rights to basically everything the broadcast team has priority, which usually also means exclusivity to the best positions in the house; next are the pool photographers. Unfortunately, our NEWSWEEK crew doesn't fit into any of those categories so we have to fend for ourselves and find angles that are compelling but also clean. My rule of thumb is I'll find a background I like to work with and then let the action come to me. Another approach is to shoot very tight with telephoto lens to focus on the subject and not the surroundings. Today at Judo, I found a very small window of opportunity that I could work with. It was the darkest corner in the building that was a dark navy blue and luckily only had the occasional photo marshall or security guard messing up the background every now or then (btw, the worst are the 90-year-old golf photo marshalls on the PGA tour who step into the pictures at the last minute). At any rate after I found my little clean window, it took some discipline but I would only shoot when the action happened in that window. It's very hard when people are getting flipped and screaming right in front of you and you don't shoot, but if there are poles and lights going through their head you might as will just hit format on the back of your camera. Sure enough, after shooting more judo matches than I can remember I got a couple I was stoked on. After that I did what I do at most venues that have busy backgrounds, that is go upstairs and shoot elevated to clean it up. I decided to do this on the last medal matches since by that time I had the action I needed and was looking for some emotion, a.k.a. jubo, cele, deject, ect. In the end I was able to sweep up the mess in the venue and get a couple of pictures that I didn't delete.

Day Five Well Done and I'm Toast

Donald Miralle — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:01:02 GMT

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Part of Michael Phelps's pre-race ritual, the arm-slap. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

I was quick on my feet and flipped the remote to catch the emotion of the relay...only camera with this angle and I don't have a pool vest!

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The real "Dream Team" in the house! Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Federica Pellegrini of Italy breaks her own world record in the 200M Free and decides to take it out on the water. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

You need a plan when covering the Olympics and today I had a shot I wanted to work on at the three venues I attended: swimming, water polo, and fencing.

Day five proved to be another huge day for the swimmers and a long day for me. Michael Phelps made two more big steps toward the all-time gold medal count with two gold medals and two world records in as many swims. The American team of Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens, and Michael Phelps smashed the world record by nearly five seconds and had an insurmountable lead in the relay by the second leg as LeBron James and the real "Dream Team" cheered for them at the side of the pool. Swimming appears to be the big ticket thus far, and with five different world records broken today it's no surprise. I was very happy with a remote camera that I was able to place directly under Phelps swimming block today for both his 200M Butterfly and the 4X200 Relay, and I think it supplied a new angle I haven't shot before at the pool.

Eye-Gouge. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Water Polo is a brutal sport, and you only see half of it. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The other half happens underwater. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Nice from above. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

After Swimming, I headed over to Water Polo, and shot three games from three different angles: under the pool in a underwater window with a wide-angle, above the pool in the catwalk with a zoom lens, and from the pool deck with a long telephoto lens. The photo staff there was very accommodating and I accomplished a lot over a couple of hours, including an nice eye gouge photo that myself and my friend Al Bello of Getty both got a good version of.

Gold-Medal Match. Six second exposure with rear-curtain sych remote flash. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Another version. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Hard Action from hand-held camera. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Then on to Fencing where I wanted to work on a very specific shot. It involved a six second exposure of a camera on a tripod that was rear curtain synched by pocket wizard to a remote flash on the floor. So I wouldn't miss out on freezing the action of the fencers, my main camera was in hand shooting hard action and was simultaneously firing the slow remote camera. This set-up took me a long time to think out, with a lot of trial and error and luckily I prepared all the proper cords and accessories to see it though before I left the stage. This falls into the "6 P's" rule of "proper preparation prevents piss poor performance" taught to me by Darrell Ingham many years back.

It's now 2 a.m. and I have to take a 20 minute bus back to our hotel on a empty stomach. I woke up at 7 a.m. today and will wake up tomorrow at the same time and do it all over again, for another 11 days. In my past Olympics I was always part of a large team (25-50) people with editors, technicians, support staff. This Olympics Vince, Mike and I are like one man shows shooting, editing, and blogging our own work which is hard. I am already homesick and miss my wife, my two boys (Luke, 3yrs, and Micah, 4mos), my "man-chair" and my flatscreen TV. But the Olympics only happen every couple of years and as a sports photographer it's the best thing I will ever shoot. Today was very productive and I feel one of my stronger days of the Olympics thus far, so that will help me keep my head up. Slow and steady wins the race...

What is the Difference Between a Kayak and a Canoe?

Donald Miralle — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:43:57 GMT

David Ford of Canada uses the paddle with two oars. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Christos Tsakmakis of Greece prefers the single-oared paddle...Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

It is a question that may be older than the sports themselves, and one that haunts many inexperienced photographers shooting an Olympics: What is the difference between a kayak and a canoe? Having shot 5 Olympics and multiple Olympic Trials, and having strapped remote water-proofed cameras to these small craft before, I was quite embarrassed that I just found out the answer to this questions today. After an uneventful shoot at the Beach Volleyball where I had a drunk Brazilian fan spill a beer on me, I took two buses for a hour and a half drive to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. I love shooting this sport as it involves water and results in graphic photos every photographer wants of the guy with water droplets frozen around his face paddling vigorously through the whitewater.

Daniele Molmenti of Italy leans back to make a gate in the Men's Kayak. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Daruisz Popiela of Poland struggles in a trough of water. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

When I arrived I found myself a little late for the event and shooting in a pack of other photographers, one of which was Andre Forget, a Canadian who is shooting for the Canadian Olympic Team. We had passed each other before at other Games and knew of each other but had never officially met until today. He was a very nice guy and after talking about how our week was going, our families, and our jobs he gave me the 411 on the sport. "The difference," Andre said, "between the kayak and the canoe is in the paddle—the kayak uses a double ended one and the canoe uses a single with a handle on one end." Ahhhh, everything became immediately clear. All the confusion I had about the sport all these years that the canoe and kayak were different shaped water crafts was quickly lifted from my troubled mind.

Benn Fraker of the USA in classic pose. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

A couple hours later after shooting some nice frames of canoe and kayak, I jumped on a bus with about 100 other media members and a young photographer at his first Olympics that I know from the States sat down across from me. "Hey Don", he asked shyly, "This may sound like a stupid question, but what is the difference between a canoe and a kayak?" "Well it's quite simple," I started, as if I had known the answer for years.

-DM

Bronze medalist Benjamin Boukpeti of Togo on his final run of the day. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Chinese flags with shadow...thanks for the heads-up Andre! Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

I shot this frame of the rowers on my long walk back to the media center. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK