Visions of China: A 2008 Olympics Picture Blog : Featured

Farewell Beijing - it’s been a “Dream Job” to cover these Olympics

Vincent Laforet — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:03:35 GMT

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

By the time many of your are reading this post, I will be on my way to the airport to catch my flight back to New York City. The Beijing Olympics will have concluded and thousands of others will be making their way home—some with gold medals, some with memorable images and stories, others with bruised egos and many with goals of practicing for the next four years in order to shave an extra few hundredths of a second off their performances in time for the London games in 2012. I for one couldn’t be happier. This has been the best Olympics I’ve experienced, and while the host country has played a good part in this, other factors have been much more instrumental in making this a “great success” as Borat would say.

First and foremost, Simon Barnett, Newsweek’s director of photography, and the magazine’s decision to have the three of us blog daily has been the deciding factor in making these game more fulfilling for me than ones prior. Becoming part of the blogosphere has proven to be one of the most interesting and rewarding things I’ve done as a journalist. I studied print journalism in college and have worked as a photographer for over 18 years (since the age of 15), but I never really enjoyed writing on deadline, and always found something a bit lacking with simply sending photographs into a publication and hoping the “best one” or frankly at times any of the ones would make it in. There’s nothing more frustrating than missing a picture, or not being able to make one - and having nothing to show for all of your hard work and effort for the day. The blog has given us a new avenue to express ourselves and share things about our days out here—regardless of whether of not we have visual proof of it. It’s been quite cathartic at times (see the “Time for a Little Introspection” blog post) and the feedback from you guys has really had an effect at keeping the wind in all of our sails I’m sure. I know it has for me.

Although I’ve already praised him in a prior post, I would like to thank Barnett at Newsweek again for rolling the dice with this blog and giving it the green light. After all, you’ve got to admit that no one knew exactly what would come of this prior to the games or if it would be a success or a total disaster... by all accounts I think it’s been a success and that everyone has benefited from this in some way. I hope I’m not coming off as a sycophant, but the truth is that having us blog was a pretty visionary thing to ask us to do, at least in my book. Sure, we’re definitely not the first to blog, but blogging was our major focus at these Olympics and it heavily influenced both what and how we shot—in many ways the magazine almost came second. And while some may not yet see the significance of that—or agree with it—to me it’s crystal clear that this kind of two-way exchange with our audience that we need more of in our industry, we need more personal and behind the scenes accounts—and a goal of making unique images that adhere to our own personal visions as opposed to the size of the page or hole we need to fill in a layout is the future of journalism. As you may know, the major magazines have been having a tough time out there; circulation and ad revenue have been dropping consistently in the past two years, and at times people question whether or not magazines and newspapers will be around a decade from now. If these publications continue to experiment and think out of the box as Newsweek did with this blog, I have no doubt that they’ll be around for a very long time. In fact while the dream title for any photographer a few years ago may have been to be a “staff photographer” at some large publication, I can see being a “Photoblogger” as being the next big thing. Maybe we'll need a different title to separate us from "bloggers"—to clarify that we work by professional journalism standards, as opposed to writing at will and without regards to hard facts. Who knows, only time will tell.

With all of the content available out there my guess is that people are not looking for content that tries to serve the “average” reader—that "reader "being determined by polls and surveys. I think that with the easy access to information and online publications that the Internet is providing us with, people will now go to specific blogs and publications that interest THEM. There is a tremendous amount of room for growth in this area in my opinion and my eyes sure have been opened over these past few weeks. I launched my own blog a week prior to the Olympics and while I am a total newcomer to this blogging world, I’ve already sensed a greater amount of energy and potential in these endeavors than I have with almost any publication in my career. I’ve found it fascinating that professional photographers and hobbyists, as well as people who don’t necessarily have a keen interest in photography, have come to visit and comment on these blogs—and expressed how much they've enjoyed them. Although we the photographers have no real idea of how successful this blog has been in terms of hits, etc., if you type "Olympic Photo Blog" this Visions of China is one of the top results to come back from Google—so that must be a good sign.

It’s one thing for us to blog about our everyday lives out here, but it’s also incredibly interesting for us to see the comments, and apparent level of interest coming back our way, often asking for more. Imagine writing about your daily life or job ... do you think people would really take interest or care? If there’s anything that I’ve learned in my years as a photojournalist—is that most people would tend to answer “no.” I’ve photographed people doing some of the most interesting jobs, and others doing some of the most banal ones. For the most part, people tend to ask me: “What would you like me to do?” And I’ll always answer: “Do what you would normally do if I weren’t here right now. Pretend I’m not here.” A few get it, but most are confused by this. Some answer that what they do is “incredibly boring;” “who would want to see that?” I tell them that it’s my job to find the beauty in what they do every day and to get to the heart and soul of who they are, sometimes in the matter of seconds, at other times over a few hours or days. To this day, I’ve never met a single person who I found “boring.” If I did, it was because I wasn’t doing my job properly. And that’s a big lesson in photojournalism and in life. The “grass is always greener” and someone else’s life may always seem more interesting than your own... but never be surprised when other people find you life interesting—even if only for the simply fact that your life is different from theirs. What the blog has allowed us to do is to hear back from you—and that’s something you really rarely get when you work for a traditional medium that tends to be a one way interaction and can become a bit monotonous over time... you can only stare at your image in a magazine with you name underneath it for so long. After a while that wears off and you wonder if people are really looking and/or appreciating the images you are making—and more importantly if you are adequately communicating other people's stories through those photographs. Photography is ultimately not about how good of a photograph you make as a photographer—it is about sharing a moment in time, or of someone else's life, with others.

Overall, these Olympics have been fantastic. While the Chinese do tend to adhere a bit too literally to the letter of the law (which causes the typical “renegade” individualist photographer to cringe more often than not) they have been incredible hosts. No matter how silly, illogical, or downright asinine some of the rules that have been thrown our way have been, I’ve never come close to losing my temper at a single one of the photo volunteers here—they’re simply doing their jobs, and doing them with incredible kindness and a genuine smile on their face. I can’t tell you how many times someone has rushed to open a door for me, offered to carry one of my bags late at night, asked me how my day was going, or offered me a bottle of water or roster at the start of the game. Never ever have the volunteers and staff been this kind and generous at any Olympics. That is truly the one memory I will come away from here.

I studied Chinese literature, history and culture quite a bit throughout high school and college as I’ve always been fascinated by this part of the world. The cultural revolution that concluded approximately 32 years ago in this country has left it changed for the better in my opinion. While there is still the lingering sign of the socialist way of thinking and bureaucracy, this new generation of people is clearly set on being both a significant force in our global community and economy and in doing so without an outward level of aggression. The people here are incredibly kind—don’t mistake that as a condescending comment in any way. That kindness is founded on a deep mix of devotion to excellent education, hard work, and innovation. China has changed so much since I was first here 7 years ago—and I’m sure it will change even more quickly in the upcoming 7 years. I hope it will continue to change for the best—although what exactly that is, is hard to define for just about any culture.

Despite the difficulty at times that Donald, Mike and I felt with the “pool photographers” having a superior level of access to good shooting positions, I found out that more than 90% of photographs that run in publications worldwide originate from that pool of photographers (given that each pool agency has numerous subscribers, and most smaller publications cannot afford to send a photographer to cover the games). I just hope the IOC continues to see the value in having independent photographers, sports-specific specialist photographers, and individual publications, continuing to contribute to the photographic coverage of these games with their unique visions and perspectives. The IOC has done so historically, and the Olympic mission would suggest that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the hurdles we faced, I think that the three “Dream Team” members from Newsweek and countless other non-pool photographers had the chance to produce some pretty memorable images from these games. The image doesn’t always come from the “best” position—at times it does come out of nowhere, from the most random spot... you never know. Being obsessed with having “the” spot can become an unnecessary and dangerous obsession altogether. The one thing that has irked us more than usual is not the fear of not having the "best" spot, but of not having one at all. There were quite a few venues at the Olympics where the non-pool photographers had no view or ability to cover certain key parts of the event—and that's a problem that needs to be addressed prior to the next Olympic games.

One of the big changes at these Olympics was the practice of allowing us to go through the "mag and bag" right from our hotels and onto the bus straight into the main press center and all subsequent events without ever having to go through security again. This has saved and incredible amount of time and anguish (you never know how long the security lines will be and that makes you hesitate in trying to squeeze in that other event you're thinking of thinking of rushing to.) I'm a pretty big fan of this and hope it continues in future Olympics. The downside of this, and there always is one of course, is that we've lived in a virtual bubble for this entire Olympics. Contact with the culture and people has been much more limited than in previous games, and on a personal note that's a shame. Of course we've had a chance to interact with the Chinese at the games—but they have been living by the "Olympic rule book" and set of codes, which is a strange little universe and culture in it of its own. I've also discussed with some other people that there was a little bit of "energy" and "Olympic spirit" missing from the crowds at these games—the level of energy has been much higher at previous games. One colleague opined that this change had more to do with the fact that they sold beer and allowed the spectators to drink it at their seats in Torino... who knows...

As far as this blog, it’s been a pleasure to contribute to it every day, and to read your comments every day—I have read them every morning and I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond to every one of them. My usual daily routine involves loading the blog comments when I wake up (it takes a long time to load on our hotel Internet connection) and running to breakfast. I then usually catch the bus with one minute to spare and read the comments on the ride to the Main Press Center—and have no internet connection to respond (we can’t do it via e-mail; that would have worked much better...) On the ride back home at night I’m usually working on the next day’s blog—and then the cycle starts all over again! So my apologies for not responding enough to all of your comments—but please don’t think they’ve gone unappreciated.

A big thanks also goes out to Mike, Donald, Al, Melinda, Mark, Leah, Sue, Beth, Peter and the many other friends and colleagues who have helped make our coverage of the Olympic coverage happen.

In the end, I’m happy with many of the photographs and posts I’ve produced, and I’m lucky to have survived yet another Olympic games relatively unscathed. I heard this morning that more than 2,000 members of the media have been prescribed antibiotics at the Main Press Center over these past 16 days. While I’m never quite sure if we were worthy of that “Dream Team” title, I do know that this has been a "dream job." I’m definitely not taking for granted the incredible opportunity that was given to us: Simon told us to “go out and make great photographs—don’t worry about medals.” And that means that Donald, Mike and I were part of a minuscule group of photographers at these games that were given a chance to go out and have fun. And as a result, this has been the best Olympic games that I’ve ever experienced. I usually leave the games on day 17 completely exhausted, slightly depressed and frustrated with bumps and bruises to my gear, body and ego. At the conclusion of the Athens Olympics, I swore to myself that I would never cover another one. This time I’m leaving full of energy and eager to cover—and hopefully blog from—the next Olympics.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

U.S.A. Wins First Gold Medal in Men's Basketball in Eight Years

Vincent Laforet — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:52:10 GMT

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

For those of you that are just waking up in the U.S., The "Redeem Team" won gold today against Spain while you were sleeping. It was the NBA's—I mean Team U.S.A.'s—first gold medal since the 2000 in Sydney. I must admit I wasn't expecting much action or reaction at the conclusion of this game, but boy was I wrong. It was a pretty good game, and I've rarely seen such excitement out of NBA players even at the end of an NBA Final. Spain gave them a good run, and early on they were ahead, but at no point did I see Team U.S.A. break that much of a sweat—they just played solid basketball and had great performances from Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. It was a real treat to see those three and their teammates so genuinely excited at the conclusion of the game and when they received their medals. I'm at the closing ceremonies and getting ready for that—so I'll just drop a few quick pictures in for now.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Off to the airport

Mike Powell — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:36:43 GMT

It’s the morning of the last day of the Olympics and I’m getting ready to hit the road and go home. As much as we’ve all looked forward to this moment there’s always a feeling that something important is over. Regardless of the trials and tribulations of the last two weeks, I’ve enjoyed the Beijing Games. Although it has felt like a rather sterile Games with the events and media being kept within the Olympic bubble I can’t fault the volunteers that have helped us do our jobs everyday and made us feel welcome.

I’ve put a selection of my work together here, it’s still too soon to do a proper edit and only time will tell if this work stands up. I’ve found I need a little space from the event to edit work without the emotion of the day. Thanks for following along and sending me e-mails with your comments. They were all appreciated.

Cheers,
Mike

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

T Minus One

Vincent Laforet — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:09:45 GMT

China's Liang Huo competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Sometimes, the Olympics throws you a bone. Today the sky was clear and the sun was beaming down on the translucent roof of the Water Cube venue where the 10 meter diving semi-finals were taking place. This made for a beautiful day of shooting, both from overhead and from the side angle. The bone in this case, is not only the nice light but also the fact that the one guys who was favored to win the competition had the longest hair of the group and tended to keep it wet before he dove. Therefore, when he did, water drops would shoot out over an almost perfect black backdrop--a photographer's dream. There wasn't a single photographer worth his/her salt who wasn't looking to take advantage of this convergence of factors and make a nice frame. Here is another version of Liang Huo.

China's Liang Huo competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. He was in first place and favored to win going into the final. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The top frame above was shot with a 300mm 2.8 - at 10 frames per second on an EOS 1D MKIII--a 1/2000th of a second to freeze the water drops and at f 2.8 to blur out the background (and at 1000 ASA.) The second, tighter frame, was shot with a 400mm 2.8 at the same settings--you lose body parts, but can appreciate more details, such as the water coming off of the fingers on right hand at the top of the frame.

So it was a good start to day fifteen of the Olympics for me--there's never anything better than when the elements line up for you just right. At that point you just have to recognize them, figure out where to shoot the picture from, with what lens and settings and just sit back and "spray and pray" as we say. This happens maybe 1% of the time--most of the time you really need to work much harder at "making" and image as opposed to just sitting back and "taking" one. What I mean by making is that while you in no way help to create what is happening in front of you (i.e. you can't set things up--you can't tell someone to go here in this spot of light, do this or that in a certain way that might make a better picture, or do something again--that is forbidden in U.S. photojournalism and any editorial work you'll see shot for NEWSWEEK.) Therefore the only thing you can do is to get very involved in studying the smallest nuances of every movement in an athlete, backgrounds, lighting and every other details. You have to take them all as they are and work hard at getting that perfect image. If the light sucks, you need to find a way to shoot the image in a way that will not emphasize that. Same goes for the backgrounds, etc. Motion blur and shooting wide open with long lenses to minimize depth of field are two of the tricks photographers use to de-emphasize ugly backgrounds. Shooting from overhead is another common solution as well.

China's Liang Huo competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Back to diving. I got a few nice comments about the overhead shots that I made of the female divers yesterday. My wife, who I tend to listen to--she's a photographer and photo editor and we work very closely together--really took to those images and suggested that I consider making a series of "portraits" if you will (albeit of real action--nothing set up) and try to put a series together. My first instinct was that I had already made one or two nice frames, and I didn't really look forward to going back up to the catwalk as it's extremely hot and humid up there and I tend not to like shooting the same thing two days in a row. But, as usual, I think she was right. When you look at these images, it's like looking at fighter pilots in their G-suits, training to fight the effects of the high velocity moves they perform in their jets, which put incredible gravity forces on their bodies. Or maybe it just looks like those images of people in wind tunnels. Either way, I've always wondered what it must feel like to be diver doing these routines. While I'll hopefully never find out what it feels like first hand, these images will give you an idea of what it looks like. Without further ado--here is my series of portraits of the 10 meter divers of this 29th Olympiad.

U.S.A.'s David Boudiat competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Canada's Ross Reuben competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Russia's Gleb Galperin competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

U.S.A.'s Thomas Finchum competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Cuba's Jose Antonio Guerra competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

U.S.A.'s David Boudia competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The UK's Peter Waterfield competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Cuba's Jeinkler Aguirre competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Canada's Riley McCormick competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The UK's Thomas Daley competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Germany's Patrick Hausding competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Mexico's Rommel Pacheco competes in the men's semifinal of the 10 meter diving competition. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

As far as the T Minus One headline, while we're all happy and honored to have been here for these two Olympic weeks in Beijing--and I don't take for granted that many of you would do quite a bit to find your way out here had you been given the chance--it's been a marathon and everyone is looking forward to some well-deserved rest and time with family and friends back home. As I type, there are 3 photographers passed out around me--their heads buried in their arms with their gear at the ready. An hour ago, people started to take down some of the signage here as mementos. I think I've caught my 3rd or 5th wind--and am very lucky to feel good and "not quite dead yet." Maybe the knowledge that there is only 24 hours to go is helping me feel just a little more rested than I really am--I'm sure I'll pass out for the entire flight home.

Tears of Gold Follow Downpour

Vincent Laforet — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:30:39 GMT

China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhand defeated the Brazilian team and won the bronze medal in the women's beach volleyball game. I made this image with a 15mm fisheye lens set to f22 in an attempt to accentuate the raindrops and absolutely miserable conditions. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

What a day--I'm amazed that not only I, but also my cameras and lenses survived. At 6 a.m., after only two hours of sleep, I got a call from Simon Barnett to strategize on the remaining four days of the Olympics. Little did Simon know he was cutting into 1/3 of my bedtime for the night. But it was time to go anyway--even though I would have bet a healthy sum of money that there was absolutely no way that the gold medal match of women's beach volleyball was going to be played in the conditions I was seeing out of my hotel window. The rain was torrential.

There's only one thing that a photographer dreads more than going hours early to a game/event that s/he knows will most definitely be rained out--and that's getting up ridiculously early to do just that! You get there 2-4 hours early and sit and wait forever--never quite getting a chance to make up for that lost sleep. And there's just nothing more miserable than having to go out to make a "rain feature." You get wet, cold and if you have them--your glasses completely fog up. Every time you pull out a lens cloth to dry something--you're never really sure if you're going to help things or end up making things much worse by smudging goo all over your lenses.

This morning, every bone in my body told me there was absolutely no way they would play beach volleyball in these horrid conditions--let alone a gold medal match. Nonetheless, I called the venue manager for the site--and he insisted that the games would go on. The communication over the phone was far from perfect as usual--but it wasn't the fear of things lost being lost in translation that caused me to second-guess him and to call a second time--I just didn't want to believe that they could possibly play in these conditions! "We play in much bigger bigger storm few days ago" he told me--and so I headed onto the early bus--RELUCTANTLY. You just don't want to be "that guy" that missed the gold medal win because he chose to hit the snooze button and adhere to common sense.

The image above was made with a fisheye lens. It's a shot I thought of making early in the morning before I left the hotel because I knew how unusual it seemed to me to have such an important contest fought in such adverse conditions. Hey--its' BEACH volleyball!!! I set the lens to f22 and used the hyperfocal to get the drops in focus as much as possible... one Italian photographer just didn't understand that I was purposely allowing the waterdrops to fall on my lens... he kept screaming at me to cover the front element of my lens with my towel... that was actually the last thing I wanted to do.

If you think these fans look silly, you should of seen the rag-tag bunch of photographers with all of our ponchos and towels. I had all of my rain gear with me (that I had initially left in my room before I ran back from the bus) and was relatively well prepared, but by the end of the match, I was drenched nonetheless. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

As I arrived at the venue the rain was actually dying down. Suddenly I felt so relieved not to have followed my instincts to bag this assignment and go back to sleep. But as the match was about to start, the sky turned a much darker shade of gray and within minutes we were all absolutely completely and utterly soaked. Two photographers were better prepared than I was: Robert Beck of Sports Illustrated and Erich Schlegel of the Dallas Morning News were smart enough to show up in their swimming trunks--now that's being prepared!

Misty May-Treanor was dominant, scoring a point against China here. Truth be told, I couldn't see a darn thing through my camera--the rear viewfinder was covered in sand and filled with water. I owe this picture to autofocus 100%. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

One of the reasons that photographers hate shooting in the rain is the rain covers we use. I own three brands, and none of them work 100%. In fact, they're a total nightmare. They're designed to keep your camera and lens dry, but they make it impossible to quickly change lenses (doing so exponentially increases your change of shorting a contact point or getting the rear lens element of your lens wet anyway) and shooting can be close to impossible at times. If you hold you camera upright for even a second, you now have rain drops on the front of your lens, decreasing image quality to a good degree. Hold it downward and you have raindrops--or in this case, sand--in your rear eye-cup. On more than one occasion I couldn't even reach the zoom ring on my lenses, as I was fighting the elastics on the rain covers for control. It's frankly a total disaster to shoot with these things and toward the final point I just ripped everything off. Problem was: most of the covers had the camera straps put through them, so I couldn't get them off and out of the way, and then the covers got in the way of the lenses etc. Total, total disaster...I'm very lucky that I did not miss more shots than I did today...

Here is the initial reaction of the U.S.A. duo:

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The photo above was nice--but didn't have enough faces. Unfortunately, the next frame was a bit more risqué, if you will. It's still one of "The Moments." Tough call...

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Then Kerri Walsh ran toward the stands to celebrate. Most of the photographers didn't even try to get this picture; changing to a wide-angle lens in the downpour was a big risk. You could easily cook a camera and/or lens. I was struggling to see anything to be honest, but was glad to make this frame.

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Then came the podium shot. Although I had gotten there very early, I had forgotten to get a sticker that allowed me to shoot the medal ceremony. Had I applied for it when I got to the stadium I would have gotten it without a problem. But I was so set on getting the middle seat to try for the raindrop/fisheye shot that I completely forgot. So when it got time to do the medals, the photo marshals refused to let me go to the position. I pressed on; I think I yelled something to the effect of "Newsweek very important and big magazine in the U.S.--MUST get this picture--I Was here at 8 a.m.--forgot to get sticker" and yes I did speak in that broken English--full sentences tend to muddle things too much. On the third try I saw hesitation or contemplation in the guy's face and I took that as a yes.

To be honest, I HATE podium pictures. What you don't see on your broadcasts are the 10-20 minute delays between the athletes winning and the time they step on the podium to receive their medals. Sometimes they go through doping tests or at other times to do a series of television interviews. For the most part, 9 times out of 10 all of the emotion is gone by the time they get up to receive their medals. It's a total waste of time. But this time, it was not. This was the first TRUE display of Olympic emotion / pride that I've seen at these games to far. Misty and Kerri were soaking it up big time... tears streaming down their faces. Beautiful.

Then a very strange thing happened. One of the things I absolutely hate the very most in the Olympics--and most American photographers do as well--is when other photographers start yelling to the athletes: "Kiss the medal!" "Bite the Medal." It's nauseating. Most U.S. journalists follow a strict code of never interfering with a news/event--we try to just document what happens in front of us. But European and other photographers don't follow such a code, and they won't hesitate for a second to create the moment--telling the athletes where to stand and what to do. The following picture easily wins the prize for the single best reaction I've ever seen from any athlete to these ridiculous requests from photographers: Misty held her gold medal against her eye like a pirate eye-patch... just classic. I'll never forget it--almost as if she was thumbing her nose at the photographers and their ridiculous requests (who bites a medal anyway!!!???), and I appreciated that very much.

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Finally--this was my favorite moment of the day. A true moment on the podium.

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The next step was to go back to the main press center and dry out every single piece of gear, every lens and camera, and of course take out all batteries to avoid any short circuits (that's probably the best single tip I have if your camera every gets wet... take the battery out... set it atop a TV that's on (so the low heat rises from it) and let it sit there for 48 hours... more often that not you'll save the camera.) We then headed back to hotel--and boy were we all drenched.... the only things on me that was dry was my socks. The last thing I bought before leaving New York city was a pair of waterproof Gore-Tex shoes, and they worked like a charm.

I set 3 alarms and took a two hour cat nap. And then headed to the 10 meter diving competition. Finally, an indoor event.

Ruolin Chen of China won the gold medal in the women's 10M platform diving competition. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

This was of course a total change of pace. Above is a photograph of the gold medal winner. But given that Donald and I had already shot the event from the surface at both high and slow shutter speeds, and from the window beneath the surface... there was only one place and angle left to go: The catwalk, of course, with a 300mm 2.8.

Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Here is Emilie Heymans of Canada who won the silver medal and was a big surprise. I'll admit this has to be the most unflattering photo of a medalist at the Olympics, but hey--that's what you get for coming in second... just kidding. All of the faces from up there looked pretty surreal They're pulling a lot of Gs when they jump off of that 10 meter slab of concrete. I've jumped off of a 3 meter diving board quite a few times in Fayson Lakes in NJ where my grandparents have a nice little place, but there's no way I'd go in head first. I can't image how brave these divers are. After watching Greg Louganis hit his head when I was a kid, I'll never forget that ever-present threat--nor his performance, for that matter.

Above is Xin Wang of Chin - she won bronze. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Mai Nakagawa of Japan made a good effort, but came in second to last. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The last moment of the night was of Ruolin Chen of China celebrating with her coach as she found out that she won the gold medal in the women's 10M platform diving competition. Time to get to sleep and start on day 14. Day 13 of these games could have been very unlucky - but turned out be the opposite. The U.S.A'.s win in beach volleyball was definitely one of the highlights of these games for me so far.

Photo by Vincent Laforet 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

'Something Different'

Mike Powell — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:58:07 GMT

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

Going to bed last night at 2.30 a.m. and getting up this morning at 6 on top of the cumulative sleep deficit left me a little worse for wear today. It also left me with a severe dose of writers block. I’ve started this blog several times today and didn’t get far each time. Usually something sparks an idea during the day and leads to me being able to knock out a few para’s on something that at least interests me.

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

Phelps got his eighth gold medal but we’re all a bit jaded now and quite frankly except for yesterdays near miss on #7 it all felt a bit pedestrian. How jaded can you get! I’m sure I’ll look back and be glad I was there for at least some of it. Anyhoo, that didn’t spark anything in the old noggin.

So I waited ‘til the end of the day to see if anything at the track got me going and was standing in another photographers moat trying to figure out what to do next when I over heard another snapper talking about how he was going to try and do “something different” tonight.

“Something different.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that one. From editors and photographers. I guess it’s the holy grail of snappers. I got thinking about it and tried to put my finger on what “something different” actually is. Well of course it’s lots of things.

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

Simon Barnett, the DOP at NEWSWEEK has given us a very free rein to go shoot “something different”, but sometimes it hamstrings you. You see a very nice picture that on most days you would eagerly shoot. But being at the Olympics there are 300 shooters already trying to shoot it and the pool guys have better access and 200 remotes under it, over it and probably on it! So your shrug you shoulders and wonder off in search of the illusive “something different”. Or you shoot it anyway and hope for a unique moment. It’s amazing how different images can be even when your all shooting the same thing.

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

Sometimes you actually do find something different and merrily shoot away and send it in the editor. Who doesn’t get it “‘cause it doesn’t look like a real sports snap.” (Note: this hasn’t happened with the NEWSWEEK crew).

“Something different” soon becomes commonplace. Track finish line remotes used to be pretty rare. Underwater remotes didn’t really start (I believe) until Heinz Kluetmeier of Sports Illustrated started putting one in the pool at the Barcelona Olympics in “92. Now the swimmers are tripping over them. Lovely pictures but not something different anymore. Same with shooting from the catwalk in a stadium, it’s just another angle now.

I’ve found that here at the Games as soon as you put a lens on longer than 200mm you’ve got very little chance of looking different. Not that you can’t shoot good pictures, they come from almost anyplace. But the lens starts to dictate the style.

Photograph by Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

At the Winter Olympics in Turino I shot a whole series on a 50mm lens shot almost wide open at f2. I really liked the feel of the images and wanted to try more of it here. It’s not so easy at the summer Games, I’ve found that I’m further away from the action. But every now and then I’ll get a shot and by the end of the Games I’ll have a handful that will show a style that I have been trying to build on for some time. I’ll put a gallery up near the end if it all comes together. Shooting this way means letting go of shots I know will work in favor of trying for an image that might not work and even if it does nobody else might like. Sometimes I can do it and other time I lose the courage and fall back on my sport shooting background. I’ll try and keep plugging away though. In an attempt to shoot “something different”, even if it’s the kind of work nobody else would want to shoot!!

More Than a Ten Hour Wait for an Event That Lasts Less Than 10 seconds...

Vincent Laforet — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:18:58 GMT

Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the gold medal in the men's 100-meter final followed by Marc Burns of Trinidad and Walter Dix of the U.S.A. This is from my lower remote on a 1Ds MKIII. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Here is a tilt-shift version of the same finish from above—it was shot with a 45mm tilt-shift lens wide open on a 1Ds MKIII.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Here is the handheld shot I made with the 400mm. Usain was so far ahead that the reaction was far from fantastic—all those remotes for this? I'm very happy to have decided on the wideangles for me remotes—the tight version would have yielded very little—but I could be wrong... will have to see what everyone else has.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

One of the big surprises during the night was Tyson Gay not qualifying for the 100M Final... it changed everything. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Well, we're here—all of us—at the "National Stadium" or Birds Nest, waiting for the start of one of the two big marquee events of the Olympic: The men's 100m final. It's the biggest "hurry up and wait" of them all.

It's shaping up to be a pretty amazing 24 hours—we'll all wrap up late tonight, probably around midnight, catch a few hours of zzz's and head to see if Phelps breaks Spitz's record in the morning. I think it's safe to say that all eyes will be on the 100m meter track final tonight to see the fastest man alive, and then tomorrow to see an epic record being broken (hopefully.)

I'm writing this blog entry well before the men's 100 meter race because we won't have much time to write later tonight... those who know me know that I value my sleep—and I'd like to feel somewhat functional for tomorrow's big race at the aquatics center. So you're likely seeing photographs of the actual race,even though I wrote most of this blog hours earlier... hope that's OK.

Seeing the photographers industriously setting up more than 100 remote cameras all at once is quite comical. Photographers are pre-focusing their cameras, making fine adjustments to get the framing down just PERFECT, and then another photographer will invariably catch his foot one of the of the remote rails by mistake, and two dozen remote cameras will have to be reset. It's absolutely maddening, believe me...that's why I've forgone that ritual today and set up a few wide angle lenses instead. The photographers are actually setting up more than one camera because they're trying to shoot tight action of each individual lane (in effect guaranteeing a shot of the winning athlete). The first phalanx of cameras are framed around lanes 7-9, the second on lanes 4-6 and the 3rd on lanes 1-3. You never really know what lane the winning runner will be in until it's far too late, and the race is over. There is often a remote that covers all lanes—but it's a bit loose. Then there are side remotes, overhead remotes, and an entire second set of remotes that are guessing on where the winning runner will "react" all pre-focused of course—so it's a total shot in the dark. It's quite an amazing process to witness.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

One of the neat setups is saw is the one for David J. Phillip of the Associated Press with his 3 cameras on an OverXposed plate (with a fourth one down a little further). It has a neat little trigger box that sets off multiple cameras from one point (the 3 Canon 1D MKIII Cameras have a wireless adapter on them) with a few hundred feet of ethernet cable running from the camera back to the computer. That's a pretty amazing set up—technology is constantly challenging us to try new things. There's never anything as "fast enough..." You're either first—or beat by another wire agency...

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

All in all it feels relatively quiet today compared to past 100m races, not that I've done that many, but Mike Powell confirms that it's the most peaceful he's ever seen it. One of the theories we have worked out is that everyone knows that the chances of getting blocked by television crews are so high that, "what's the point of us showing up anyway?" Some still photographers here are clearly "broken." You can see it on their faces or hear it in their voices. I've heard several photographers ready to throw in the towel. Luckily I'm having my best Olympics ever in terms of mood and rest—so no worries here! Even better,the track field is partially covered from the hot sun, so we we aren't getting cooked all day—plus, it isn't nearly as hot or humid as Athens was, four years ago.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

This Olympics has been one of the hardest in terms of getting access to positions to make original images. As Mike, Donald and I have mentioned separately in previous blogs, the pool has gotten far too much control—and in my opinion the situation is out of hand. They are dominating the spots and excluding everyone else from them. Just today at the Phelps race, Mike told me he got there three hours in advance to hold the head-on overhead spot on Phelps (Great shot Mike!). Just before one of the races started one of the pool photographers who shall remain nameless had the gall to show up with a "pool position" sticker—and put it in Mike's spot. Mike of course intervened (it's completely against the rules for the pool photographer to do that—only the venue manager is supposed to assign spots) and then the pool guy tried to do it to another photographer to Mike's left. And Mike intervened again. Understand that the pool photographers already have half of those positions reserved for them; they have the best positions on the ground level AND underwater cameras, so these are the crumbs that we peasant photographers are left with, maybe half a dozen head on positions. To me, this just shows you how this has gotten completely out of control.

I do have faith that Nick Didlick, the head of Photo for the Vancouver Winter Olympics (who has been here in Beijing and witnessed this first hand) will curtail these types of actions and set things straight in time for the next Olympics. The pool was invented to guarantee a few spots to the more important wire services, not to monopolize all good shooting spots. And that's what seems to be happening in China to an egregious degree never before seen. I'm sure Nick who is a very fair and reasonable guy will be able to level the playing field in Vancouver. Things like this truly make photographers question why they should even try to come here, and question whether they have a chance at all at remaining competitive. It costs a lot of money to cover an Olympics and if you're being shut out from all of the good positions it's hard to justify covering them. I suspect that this is exactly what the wires/pool want. They don't want the other photographers here, they'd be just as happy if all of the newspapers, magazines and websites paid to use THEIR images. Were this to happen, that would of course homogenize everything and not be good for photography, or the Olympics.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Here's a photograph that a reader requested we do. It shows you the venue and how we are positioned to cover it: Mike is in "M" on the bottom left—in the main moat head on for the finish line photograph. Donald is in "D" overhead—that's his back you see in this frame. And I'm in "V" on the bottom right—looking for a reaction picture. Photo by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

On a less serious note, I'll leave you with a little tidbit from last night. Communication is obviously one of the biggest hurdles for Westerners in China... yet you would think that at the Foreign Expert Building, which is the hotel where we're staying that it wouldn't be such a problem. Well, not exactly. Ordering room service, or a cab for that matter, can be quite the challenge at our hotel. Last night we tried to order french fries and the person on the other end of the phone thought we wanted fried rice... after five minutes of back and forth and a lot of meticulously slow enunciation, they gave up on us and sent up someone up to take the order in person. I ended up Googling up a photo of french fries for the room service guy when he came to our room, and upon seeing the picture, he yelled out "Oh! Chips!" That's apparently what they're called here. A few days ago we tried to ask for salt and pepper. Apparently that, and mayonnaise (you know—the white ketchup?) has proven just as difficult to obtain (but if you think about it, when is the last time you had to season a Chinese dish?). Which brings another tip to mind: If you're in a hurry to "go" make sure to ask people where the washroom is—not bathroom—that too took a few minutes to figure out the other day. There's just no polite body motion or hand signal to make someone understand that you really have to go... speaking of which—tune in tomorrow following Phelp's race.

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

A Third of the Way Through: Time for a Little Introspection

Vincent Laforet — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:48:52 GMT

United States Women's Gymnastics team member Nastia Liukin (412) consoles teammate Alicia Sacramone (415) who fell twice in the competition at the conclusion of the Women's Team Gymnastics Final where the narrowly missed the Gold Medal - coming in with Silver. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

We’re about a third of the way through the Olympic Games as of the end of today - and I’ve always found this to be a good point to look back through the images I’ve made so far, and to make adjustments on how I will shoot from here on out.

This of course has put me in a very introspective mood. Truth be told I’m not thrilled with any of the images I’ve taken so far, and as a result my head has been in the clouds for most of the day. I’m trying to figure out how I can change my approach from this point on, in an effort to produce images that I will be proud of, and that hopefully this blog's readers will appreciate throughout the rest of the games.

Trying to figure out what to do next has led me to asking one of the most basic questions that most sports photographers ask themselves on a regular basis: How exactly do you define a great sports photograph?

I can tell you that in the 17 years that I’ve shot news and sports in this business, the answer to that question has changed radically many times, often in relation to the type of organization I was working for and what they expected of me. I’d like to go into that for a little bit. Some of you may not have time, so please just go ahead and enjoy the photographs from today. For the others, please read on.

United States Women's Gymnastics team members Shawn Johnson (411) performed a near flawless routine on the balance beam helping her team win the Silver Medal in the Women's Team Gymnastics Final. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

First, one of the biggest factors that I should mention is how much of an impact technology has had on sports photography in the past decade. Autofocus has had more of an impact than perhaps any other specialty in the photography profession. When I started to shoot sports in 1993, I fell into it rather haphazardly, because I had a knack for manually focusing a 300mm or 400mm lens. I was a French kid who didn't know what a first down was, but was able to get more sharp images than not. At the time, if you got more than 60% of your shots in focus, you were the exception to the rule--and you could count only a few dozen photographers in the country, who could get higher percentages then that on a regular basis. An amateur who picked up one of these lenses would often get less than 5-15% of their images in focus--if any at all. It was definitely an acquired skill. These day having 80%-90% of shots--if not close to 95% for the best sports photographers--is not uncommon. The technology has become that good, and therefore the playing field has been leveled, making it more difficult than perhaps ever for the top photographers to stand out.

United States Women's Gymnastics team member Alicia Sacramone lost her balance just as she mounted the balance beam in the Women's Team Gymnastics Final. Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Therefore simply “getting” the shot (in focus and well framed) is no longer an accomplishment--you need to push yourself more than ever to find unique images that no one else is making. You can no longer stand out simply because you shoot with longer lenses (the longer they are, the exponentially harder they are to focus and the more likely it is you’ll crop an important element out because you have shot the image too tightly) or by having better timing than the next photographer. Doing things the old way simply won’t do.

Which brings me back to my simple question: What makes a great sports photograph? As I’ve found out, a lot of the answer to that depends on your audience, or almost just as importantly, who you’re working for. Different types of organizations consider different types of images to be the “pinnacle” of sports photographs. And very often your client and/or editor is the ultimate judge of how good of a job you’ve done. If they’re happy, you're happy and hopefully they'll hire you again and you can make a living in this very odd profession. That is a big factor of how we come to judge our success as photographers--it’s often more important than what contest one might win or what your peers think of your photography.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

The first "impact damage" a.k.a. my "first victim" of these Olympics. We carry too much gear because once we're in position there's no running back to get the missing piece... and when I ran from one place to another, one camera body knocked into my 135mm f2 - "That'll leave a mark" I remember thinking, with no time to actually check the lens out. When I got to the next position I saw the front filter was completely cracked... that's why you have filters, I guess. The lens is still in pristine condition. (We don't use lens hoods as a courtesy to other photographers, as it can block their photographs) ©Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

When I worked at my first job at Agence France-Presse, I was given very specific guidelines as to what they (and most wire services still do) look for: shoot tight action photographs--of the play of the game or the athlete of the game--and almost more import than how good your photograph is how fast you can get it on the wire (all too often the first image on the wire--not necessarily the best one--is the one that gets published, and getting published is the ultimate goal.) If you get an amazing action photograph of a player who is not relevant to the story, don’t even both sending it in--it will never get onto the wire.

A few years later, I found myself at my next job, at a photo agency named Allsport (now Getty Images) and the rules couldn’t have been more different: they were not always looking for the play of the game. In fact, very often, they couldn’t care less about those moments. What they were looking for were the quintessential agency sports photograph: an image that was shot full frame (anything that involved more than a 10% crop and the slide would be thrown into the bin) a perfectly clean background, perfect timing, color and light. The quote I'll never forget from those days is "It's not quite there mate" as the slide sailed into the trash bin. (The definition of full frame is an image that literally fills the frame in your viewfinder--there is no need to crop into the image.)

Xiao Mei Liu of China scores a goal as she is defended by #6 Bombo Madalena Calandula of Angola in the handball preliminaries.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

This was a radically different approach to sports photography than what I had been trained in by Agence France-Presse. In some ways you took a clinical approach to sports photography - you learned to look at the sport with an incredibly keen eye. You’d study just exactly how each athlete would move so that you could shoot them full frame with a very tight lens and not cut off any relevant parts of their anatomy. You’d learn every move in a gymnast’s routine, trying to find the perfect moment where you could frame just the gymnast’s head with the Olympic logo on the balance beam below--again full frame (cropping was not an option.) You would know exactly what direction Michael Phelps turns his head to breathe in during freestyle, or how far from the finish line he pops his head out from beneath the surface in the butterfly. You would go one or two days in advance to study a venue and to see how the light moved throughout it as the time of day changed and plan out your shooting schedule based on that movement. It was a very different approach to sports photography. If you had a shot of Tiger Woods jumping in the air as he won the Masters and there was someone wearing a distracting orange shirt in the background--the image would never have a chance. Again it would end up in the bin. The Allsport photographers were the “experts” at making the “perfect” sports image if you will.

My next career move brought me to The New York Times--and there once again, I had a rude awakening during my first few months of shooting sports for them. I’d describe their style as somewhere in between Allsport and Agence France-Presse, with a heavy bias toward getting the “moment.” This isn’t that surprising given that the Times is often referred to as “the paper of record.” I would come back from baseball with images that were shot full frame and perfectly lit--a photograph of an outfielder perfectly outstretched missing a catch, say. And often the editors would say: oh, that play wasn’t really a deciding factor, we don’t need it, but did you get the image of Derek Jeter hitting the game-winning home run? My response would be: who in the world would want to see another photograph of yet another guy swinging a bat? Those photographs are a dime a dozen... and people surely the readers get tired of seeing them every day! Don’t they?

But to the Times, their job was to report on the news, not just show pretty pictures. Your job there was clearly delineated: get the play of the game, a nice shot of the most valuable player--and if you can come back with these moments captured with a good amount of aesthetics, more often than not you were considered a star photographer. What your backgrounds looked like, how tightly you shot the image (and how much of a crop you later applied to the original) was completely irrelevant. If it was shot full frame and the background was more out of focus as a result, that was a nice bonus. You learned to shoot defensively--you learned to play the odds. You’d push the envelope, but only so far. If you decided to shoot with a 600mm instead of a much looser 300mm and cut off the player’s limb as a result, tough luck--the paper would without hesitation run a wire photo instead. But you also became an expert at playing those odds, and became very strong in making sure you were at the right place at the right time and to find angles that would maximize your ability to capture a variety of outcomes. So getting the perfect image was not as important as getting the moment of the game. Some photographers at the Times were able to do both on a regular basis however--Doug Mills and Chang Lee come to mind--both are covering the games together for the paper here in Beijing. The fact that they’re able to do both is a testament to their skill as sports photographers. It’s a very very tough thing to do day in an day out. Especially when you are keenly aware that The New York Times--and all newspapers and magazines out there--subscribe to all of the major wire services. If you didn’t get the moment, your entire day was shot, as they would never hesitate to use a wire service photograph instead.

When I left the Times more than two years ago I started to shoot significantly fewer sports and started to shoot more commercial work and other types of assignments. This gave me a chance to take a step back from sports photography and to gain some form of perspective given that I wasn’t busy churning out sports photos on a daily basis. What I’ve found during that time is that sports photographs have become incredibly homogeneous, in large part to the technology that I mentioned above and given how easily disseminated they are through the Internet. Every photographer can see what other photographers have shot just minutes ago on Yahoo! News--and try to either copy that image or work on making it better. As a result, a lot of the photography starts to look the same. It’s no longer just a handful of photographers making different images. Don't forget that before digital and the Internet, film had to be processed and published. By the time you saw the image published, it was the next day and the event was over.

It’s very rare for me to see a sports image that stops me in my tracks these days. A lot of this of course has to do with the fact that I’m slightly jaded. I’ve been surrounded by some of the best sports photographers throughout my career and witnessed them produce some of the most awe-inspiring photography in person, and I’ve seen how they accomplished those photographs and learned from them. Naturally, my definition of what makes a great sports photograph will be much different then that of the average person. That’s true of any professional in any field, of course: The standards become much higher the more you perfect your craft, and the more you are exposed to great work. You also become biased because you are aware of how difficult it is to pull of certain images, and this in turn means that you tend to look down a bit on the great photographs that might not be so difficult to pull off technically. That’s a very dangerous path to fall into.

To be honest, there is very little photography that I see out there today that I find very impressive. Even in the nation’s top sports magazines and by the sports photographers, I can count the photographers that I am regularly impressed by on one or two hands: Donald Miralle being one of them (Donald is one of the three photographers photographing these Olympics for Newsweek and also contributing to this series of blogs.) These few photographers routinely come back with images than none of the other photographers do--images that no one else even sees.

Bing Li is defended by #6 Bombo Madalena Calandula of Angola in the handball preliminaries.
Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Mike Powell (also one of the three of us shooting and blogging for NEWSWEEK) and I are doing a lot more commercial work these days and have distanced ourselves a bit from shooting in the “standard” sports style that is very prevalent today in editorial photography. “Tight is Right” is one way to describe that standard--and that’s what Mike was referring to when he said he had returned to his “long lens repertoire” in a previous post. Our clients are looking for images that have a bit more of a setting or sense of place and as a result we are often looking for images with much more atmosphere or shot from a different angle. Last year I shot an entire series of sports image with tilt-shift lenses (you can see them on my site)--trying to find a different approach to sports photography. One of the big frustrations for me (and I’m guessing for Mike as well) is that there is so much clutter at the Olympics--so many television cameras, security guards, and empty seats in the backgrounds of your photographs--so making these more atmospheric can prove to be very difficult.

Here I am now photographing for the NEWSWEK blog, and it’s kind of the wild west out
here. There are no rules, and Simon Barnett (the NEWSWEEK director of photography, a.k.a. El Jeffe) has given us complete freedom as to what type of images we shoot. Some might be of the defining moment of the Olympics, or the gold medal winner--but images of the last place finisher or some team you’ve never heard of are also welcome, as long as the image stands on its own merits. It’s a new place for me--frankly, it’s a dream job. Basically just go out there and make pictures without the fear of your editor calling you at the end of the day asking you for “this play” or “that athlete” because that’s the news of the day or the lead of the article they’re working on. And in many ways such freedom can be a little crippling.

Which is of course quite ironic. Another factor of course is writing for the blog: with each day it gets tougher and tougher to come up with new things to write about. After all, not every sport is humorous, not every day brings forth new interesting anecdotes. Often you deal with the same logistics issues and headaches day after day. Some days you have amazing images--and on others you’d just as soon not publish anything.

In these past two days of photographing gymnastics, for example, I’ve been swaying back and forth between trying to make the perfect (beautiful) gymnastics photograph, versus getting the shot of the fall that may have cost the U.S. the gold medal. I’ve never had the liberty in my 17-year-career to decide purely for myself just what it is that I want shoot (with the exception of personal work.) As for the blog, we edit the image that we make out here ourselves--no one is looking over our shoulders. It’s an incredible level of freedom that few photographers have. We have no editors to answer to, or stories to shoot for. As long as we keep the readers (you) interested, we’re accomplishing our jobs (I think.) The Internet is opening up news avenues and taking us to new territories, and we are now shooting for a new audience with more freedom than ever.

Xiao Mei Liu of China scores a goal as she is defended by #6 Bombo Madalena Calandula of Angola in the handball preliminaries.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Yet having such freedom leads you to ask yourself, what it is that you consider to be the ultimate photograph--is it the news of the day? Is it the slow start off of the blocks that cost the relay team the gold? Or the most beautiful photograph of the day that may be completely irrelevant in grand scheme of sports history? (Ultimately, of course, getting all of the above in one frame is the goal--but that happens once an Olympics if you're lucky.) Are you shooting for yourself or to inform the reader? Is there a difference between the two--and what does the reader (as opposed to your publication or editor) want to see?

Finding that answer has proven much more difficult for me to answer than I ever would have thought... especially given this new role as a blogging photographer. But that’s what I’ll be attempting to do over the remaining two-thirds of these games. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the reason that I haven’t been thrilled with any of the photographs that I’ve made so far is that I’ve found that I somehow returned to these old ways of shooting. It’s almost as if through I have been hardwired or programmed to do so over the years and it’s proven much tougher to shake off than I had anticipated. All of the endless rules and craziness that is involved in photographing a chaotic event such as the Olympics has thrown me right back into these old habits. Today marks the day that I come to terms with that, and hopefully let go and move on to making what I consider great photographs--if I’m lucky. So much of this ultimately involves a lot of luck.

As always, your comments and feedback are more than welcome--you after all are the ultimate audience that we’re working our butts off for. So let us know what you think. Or, you can just follow along as I try to work through these questions via photographs over the next 11 days.

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

First U.S. Gold Comes in Fencing - Along with Silver & Bronze

Vincent Laforet — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:56:11 GMT

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

I had a total blast at the Fencing Hall today. What a beautiful stage for fantastic images. Although I was a Junior Olympic fencer myself more than a decade ago (my discipline was foil—not sabre as you see here), this was my first try at photographing fencing... I'm amazed that it took me this long! The lighting couldn't have been better, and made for a beautiful wide shot of Sada Jacobson (right) fencing against Sofiya Velikaya in their quarter-final match.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

I went from the wide (safe and easy shot) to complete opposite side of the spectrum, shooting the tighter and more difficult shot above. It's better to do this in the quarterfinals; not the best idea to try this when it's the final match, and not when it's your first time shooting a sport—you're begging for a disaster if you do. I love the way the sabres bend here in Jacobson's (right) quarter-final match against Velikaya.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

When Becca Ward (right) took her turn against Velikaya for a chance at the bronze medal (she managed to win it!) I decided to take a different type of risk and drag the shutter a bit. You shoot dozens and dozens of frames in the hopes of getting just one that somehow both freezes and demonstrates "motion" albeit in a "still" photograph.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Mariel Zagunis was pretty dominant all night . The frame above is of her quarterfinal match against team member Becca Ward. She was quite aggressive and managed to pull ahead quite decisively in her gold medal match. It was such a pleasure to witness these athletes compete. The action is so incredibly quick that even the judges have to watch the television monitor almost every time before rendering their final decision. At first the clip is played at quarter speed, but at a few points the judges had to see the clip of the point two to three times, at even slower speeds. This sport is so amazing in that your Olympic dreams of Gold can be realized in a blink of an eye—literally. Photographing these bouts reminded me of the times I was able to fence against Olympic fencers myself. You never really quite knew what hit you. By the time you realized you were hit, your opponent was already walking back and preparing his next move.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Mariel Zagunis ripped her mask off as she won the first U.S. gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, leading an American sweep Saturday in women's sabre fencing. She was far ahead in the bout and the decision to stay focused on her for a tight vertical was an easy one. You hate the matches that are tied 14-14 - because the last point can go either way... shooting decisions are made much easier when Zagunis, the 2004 Olympic saber champion, takes the gold with a 15-8 victory over Sada Jacobson. Becca Ward took the bronze.

Photograph by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Here are the three of them celebrating in front of what seemed to be more than 100 photographers with, who else, former President George Herbert Walker Bush. I was one of the first people to leave the medal ceremony and rush to where Bush was—we all knew that would be the photo. But being there early isn't always a guarantee. I had a Secret Service guy right in front of me who kept blocking me completely. When another photographer nudges you a bit it's standard practice to hold your ground or reply with equal force back in the opposite direction. When the Secret Service shoves you backward—it's not a shoving match you ever want to enter—you just pull back and let the photo go... this one turned out OK though. Another photographer apparently got Bush's full attention and gave me a few seconds to grab this frame.

All in all, not a bad first day at the Olympics: photographing the first U.S. Gold of the Olympics is always a bit of a scoop for any photographer. Photographing a sweep of all three medals is incredibly rare. And photographing the sport you once competed in yourself—for the first time—will definitely be one of my personal Olympic highlights of these games!

Let the Games Begin!

Donald Miralle — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:33:53 GMT

Chinese Guard. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The wait is over. With thousands of Chinese performers pounding illuminated drums counting down the final 60 seconds to the cheers of 95,000 eager fans, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad have begun. The highly anticipated Beijing Olympic Games, at times overshadowed by political, financial and environmental issues, was jump-started by an impressive yet long Opening Ceremonies. Highlighted by a celebration of Chinese culture with giant glowing 3-D scrolls, floating globes and performers, and Yao Ming as China's flagbearer, the ceremony was a cacophony of sights and sounds as well as a display of Chinese manpower.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Faces of the World. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

The four hour and twenty minute ceremony, including the two-hour numbing processing of the 10,000 athletes competing in the Games put myself and most of the fans to sleep. Given that I have a hard time sitting through a 2 1/2 hour Hollywood Blockbuster, but I think I even saw Bush and Putin yawn at one point. The IOC and organizing committees for Vancouver and England should consider deleting the athlete procession their time around, or maybe each country could draw straws and one unlucky athlete has to sit through the Ceremony?

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Basketball Player Yao Ming of the Peoples Republic of China carries his country's flag accompanied by nine year old earthquake survivor Lin Hao.

Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Unfortunately for the photographers in the M (as in "microwave") photo position in the stadium, we had to shoot above and next to the house spotlights that not only danced about but blew scorching hot air directly in our faces. It was at least 15 degrees hotter in our seats than in the rest of the stadium and the volunteers had to continually bring us water to keep us from dehydrating. At one point I actually had to evacuate to the bathroom just to do a poor man's bath in the sink and sit in the air condition.

Light-Bright Dudes. Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Nevertheless, the Ceremony was visually stunning and the boredom in between was broken up by jokes with my German, English, Japanese and Chinese counterparts, including one joke involving a hotdogs that transcended all cultural borders. That is what the Olympics are all about right? Now with the Opening Ceremonies behind us for at least another couple years, we can start focusing on the real spectacle, the world's best athletes performing at their top level. Photographs by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

Remote in bushes outside stadium...

The Calm Before the Storm

Donald Miralle — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:11:17 GMT

After 3 airplanes traveling more than 6,000 miles in nearly 24 hours with layovers, and four in flight movies including a great documentary on the birth of the Magnum photo agency, my colleagues and I arrived safely at the Beijing Airport. Mike Powell, Vincent Laforet, and myself dubbed “The Dream Team” by Newsweek Director of Photography Simon P. Barnett, looked anything but as we shuffled through the airport baggage claim and customs all in dire need of a shower and shave. After the long journey it was a pleasant surprise to first see not only all of our cases and bags arrive without delay, but also have a smooth transition through customs because of our pre-stamped gear list from the Chinese Embassy. Soon thereafter, we were quickly shuffled us onto a bus routed to our hotel, the Foreign Experts Building (yes, this is a hotel, and no you don’t have to be an expert to stay here) by an over-zealous volunteer who kept apologizing for her poor English. Again to our amazement, this went without any hitches and we found ourselves checking into our spacious rooms, grabbing a bite to eat in the convenient 24-hour hotel restaurant, and crashing out with the help of some Ambien.

At 5’7” and 160 lbs, I am a man of smaller than average stature (as the gangly Mike Powell continually likes to remind me) and even I found it hard to get comfortable in either of the mini-twin beds in my room sized for Jackie Chan. After waking up earlier than I wanted to, I decided that the best thing for me to do after sitting in a plane seat for the previous 24 hours was to go for a run. I am on a pretty religious workout regimen, and either run, swim, paddleboard or surf everyday, but usually can only run when I’m on the road if I’m not near a body of water. However, in the first mile of my jog, my heart rate monitor shot up to 170, and I found myself struggling for oxygen. The air was thick with humidity and the smell of exhaust, and I could only imagine how the endurance athletes competing in the marathon run, marathon swim, or triathlon were going to manage in these conditions. I thought all the articles I read about the Beijing air were negative hype, but even growing up in the Los Angeles smog didn’t prepare me for the atmosphere here. I felt like Ben Stiller in Zoolander after being in a coal mine for a day:

Derek Zoolander: [high-pitched cough] ... I think I'm getting the Black Lung, Pop. It's not very well ventilated down there.
Larry Zoolander: For Christ's sake, Derek, you've been down there one day. Talk to me in thirty years!!!

In the four other Olympics I have covered, I arrived on site 5-7 days before the Opening Ceremonies to shoot previews, acclimate, and prepare. With only 48 hours before the commencement, unlike other photographers we had little time to spare to go sightseeing and had to condense all of our prep into a couple of days. After my black-lung incident, I recovered with a decent breakfast in the hotel and went through the super convenient Mag and Bag in our hotel lobby which gets you onto a bus and negates the need to go through security check again and deal with the lines at the Main Press Center. Once again I was impressed with the Chinese making a possibly bad experience into an easy one. After our entry in the MPC, we quickly hit up the Kodak, Canon, and Nikon booths for our fair share of free swag from the Games. Next we went to the Newsweek office to check in with the team, get our Chinese cell phones and pins arranged by the great Al Pryzbylkowski, and get Wi-Fi cards from the communications office. Doing this alone took nearly four hours as it seemed that we would take four steps and run into another photographer, editor, or writer that you just saw last week or haven’t seen since the last Olympics. But that is the great thing about the Olympics, because you make friends with people who live on the other side of the world whom you only get to see every couple of years. After a bunch of hugs, kisses, and bro handshakes, we were feeling a bit peckish and decided to hit up the dining area in the MPC.

Mike Powell frowns upon the bad nutrition

Other than vaguely reminding me of my college cafeteria, the media dining area had all the gastronomic and culinary options one would expect including Chinese and Italian fare for omnivores like myself, a Coffee shop for those looking for a pick me up, and a Micky Dees (aka McDonalds) for those American Media members either yearning for a taste of home or just looking to use their free coupon for French Fries that came with the Media Welcome Pack. Whatever fuel needed to get your car moving, you could find it here and once again the Chinese Olympic Committee did a good job knowing that the way to get to media heart is through their stomachs, although I didn't see any Tsingtao beer on tap.

Members of the media have the option to dine

After our quick pit-stop, we decided to try to tackle a couple of the main venues in the Olympic Park that Newsweek was planning to cover. We first went the National Aquatics Center, or the “Water Cube”, to scope out the venue that was housing swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming. This will be where phenom Michael Phelps, who I’ve covered since his first U.S. National Championship at 13 years of age, will chase after Mark Spitz’s seven gold medal performance at the 1972 Olympic Games. I consider Aquatics one of my specialties that I love to shoot, and having been to many of the top competition pools worldwide, the Water Cube did not disappoint. The H20 Cube is not only a gorgeous structure but a green building with energy costs savings due to it’s ultra-thin pillow-like steel space frame that allows more light and heat in than traditional glass. Just as I was taking in the beauty of the facility, unfortunately to my disappointment, I found the access and photo positions to be a bit limited. In addition, my request to submerge my underwater camera that I turned in weeks ago was not approved by the Swimming Photo Marshall or the Head Photo Marshall because they are only allowing “pool” agencies to have this access. Having shot with my underwater remote camera at many international championships meets and past Olympic games, this was a big bummer as I have worked aside all the other photographers who do have cameras underwater and feel I am as entitled to be in there as much as they are. But this is the Olympics and it’s all about those who have access and those who don’t. So, I tried not letting it bother me too much and just hope I can get other descent access as the 16 days of competition unfold.

Divers practice on the platforms and springboards

Next we went into the Gymnastics venue, the National Indoor Stadium, and this too proved to be a nice looking venue with many photo ops. After securing our DSL line as we did at the Water Cube, we quickly walked through the photo positions to see what would work and what wouldn’t. While we were there the floor opened up for some of the female competitors to warm-up on the apparati. I am always awe-struck by gymnasts (and that is probably why I married one!) so I had to take a moment to stop what I was doing and just watch the amazing spectacle of these explosive pint-sized athletes hurling themselves through the air. After my moment, we collected ourselves and headed to scope out our final venue of the day, The Fencing Hall of National Convention Center.

By the time we wrapped up our less than fulfilling walk through of fencing, I found myself repeating my Olympic Mantra in my head "Expect the Best, Prepare for the Worst" a far cry from "Citius, Altius, Fortius". By the time we returned to the MPC it was past 6pm and we deserved a cocktail in the lobby bar after our condensed venue scouting and prep. We found a seat near the piano and listened to the Chinese Billy Joel doing his best rendition of Piano Man as we sipped on Grey Goose tonics and reminisced while the jet lag was starting to kick in. The forecast has rain for the opening ceremonies tomorrow. Ahhh, the calm before the storm…

Mark Starr, the National Sports Correspondent

Arrivals

Mike Powell — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:19:50 GMT

August 7th, 2008, Beijing, China. Morning...

I met up with my two teammates, Donald Miralle and Vincent Laforet, in Los Angeles and Seoul and continued on to Beijing. It was the perfect place to transfer through as it gave me a chance to think back on my first ever Summer Games in Seoul 1988. You never quite experience the Olympics the way you do the first time, which could be said about many things but we’re sticking to the Olympics here. I’d grown up on on tails of photographic heroism whilst covering the Games and wanted to do my bit. Working all hours, being cast into the Olympic cauldron and coming back with “the goods” are all things I wanted to test myself at. Eleven Olympics later I still have a taste for that environment and I’m back for more.

We didn’t get the big “wow” effect of landing at the giant Beijing terminal; we must have come through a smaller satellite building. However, we were efficiently whisked off on our bus to the accommodations called “The foreign experts building”. Which kind of added a little more pressure to the expectations our DOP at Newsweek has been hoisting upon us already. “Experts”? That’s kind of assuming a lot without ever having met.

I opened the curtains this morning and stared at a grey/green wall of something. I’m not sure if this is the fabled smog of Beijing or just some morning mist, it looks like this most mornings from my house in Topanga, CA. But I tell you one thing this isn’t the Beijing I last visited 12 years ago covering the “Tour of China” bicycle race. That Beijing I could ride a bicycle around without fear of cars. This one's more “Blade Runner’ish”

Olympic snivel warning-

What is it with beds at the Olympics? Whoever makes the specs for the “Olympic media bed” must be 4’ tall and be numb from the neck down! I’ve slept on floors, camp cots and now a concrete block, here in China. No wonder everyone has such great posture, they sleep on the firmest mattresses in the world. The best one was at Sydney where we stayed at an old hospital, for midgets I assume, as the beds had metal head and foot boards and I’d wake up with my feet jammed between the railings of the foot board feeling like I’d had my feet handcuffed! Which isn’t always a bad thing I just wasn’t expecting it….. Anyhoo snivel over, in a couple of days I’ll be so tired I’ll hardly notice the bed, and think of all the money I’ll save on chiropractors.

I’ll let you know how our prep day goes later.

Cheers,

Mike