For anyone that wants to know, covering an Olympics for a major organization is HARD!!(Especially when you are not as familiar with some of the sports and venues.) So, I have been on Google, Youtube, etc… learning all I can about the athletes and the sports I have to cover. This is definitely not the Summer Games for this boy! Even with all that, I am finding that making a good photo has the same qualities in just about any sport. By the end of these games, I fully expect myself to be an expert should the opportunity to shoot another Winter Games come along.
The days are all running together here as the pace is extremely fast and furious. In fact, I only had about 3 hours of sleep one night followed by no sleep the night after. Well, that was no good for anyone and I made myself go to sleep last night.(I actually fell asleep twice on the media buses coming back from venues!) Since I got some rest, you guys get treated to a new blog post on my latest happenings!
I was fortunate to get the call to cover Snowboard Slopestyle skier Sage Kotsenburg’s GOLD Medal perfomance. By now, most of you guys already know that he won the FIRST Gold Medal for the USA! Man, covering snowboarders is a blast as they do some INSANE jumps!! The mountains as a backdrop here are also pretty rad!(In my best snowboarder lingo.) 🙂
Sage was all smiles after winning!
Today, I had my first foray into Cross Country Skiing. I do have to say that not knowing how to speak Russian is kicking my butt as I almost got lost twice today going to a venue and luckily picked the right way! I also find myself speaking English to people with a Russian accent. Why, I have no idea and it’s not pretty! OK, I digress…
These cross country guys are in crazy shape to do this thing! I think it’s pretty cool that they go around in long laps as it gives you the opportunity to try a few different things. My colleague Guy Rhodes was in great position to get the standard start and finishing shots, so I decided to go up the mountain to see if I could make some pretty pics. It was difficult on the first lap as I wasn’t sure exactly where I could be or who would block me, etc… So, once I had an idea, I was able to get some cool stuff on the other laps. Here are a few faves…
The Start of the race with a tilt shift lens which adds a little more of a “miniature” look to a scene.
The skiers in a big pack…
There is a cool spot with the Olympic rings on the course, so I used it for a few…
Since Guy was positioned straight on to get the finish, I panned my camera a bit to try to get a little motion as winner Dario Colonga from Switzerland crossed the finish line…
As you can see, these races are exhausting! Notice all of the photographers in the background!(Like I said, it’s not easy!)
He got really emotional after the win…
I then ended my day with a quick portrait shoot of 15 year old freestyle skier Maggie Voisin as she injured herself in training last week and will be unable to compete. She seems like a really nice and talented girl and I am sure we will be seeing her in the future! Reporter Rachel Axon was doing an interview with Maggie(who had just finished up with the Today Show), so I had to get a few quick shots to go along with the story. (I think I got all the shots in about 2 minutes as I didn’t want to mess up Rachel’s interview time that she had allotted.)
Ok, like I mentioned before, I didn’t eat much the last couple of days, so after the shoot with Maggie was done, I decided to bite the bullet and go here…
It’s funny as I almost NEVER go to McDonald’s in the USA, but OMG I had a Big Mac here and it was so incredible tasting! LOL! I still accidentally ordered an ice cream with brownie bits in it because my Russian is non existent, but I didn’t care!
Off to shoot Skeleton and Women’s Luge bright and early tomorrow!