[Leica] Conformity in Athens NOW BEING A SHOOTER!

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

I've been mostly watching the NBC HDTV coverage (which is quite
different than the prime-time coverage  aired in the US: I think it's
pooled coverage and there are different and much more balanced
commentators than for general consumption here.)

Anyway - with wide framing does show more photographers (who I watch
just to see where they are (ick) and what they might be using). At the
swimming venue they have a box about 25 meters from the start and for
the morning session are shooting into the sun so the athletes' faces
are in shadow. At least the backdrop of the stands are dark also! AND
they get to work around the tracking TV cameras too and the officials
walking stroke in the fly, back and breaststrokes.

On the other hand there IS a strobe mounted on the bottom of the pool
toward the start end! (Images of THAT puppy going wrong and adding a
bit of spurt to the swims is an intriguing mental image.)

I wonder if, in future Olympics, we'll see wireless connections from
the cameras to a central facility where the editors will get the
images locally in near-realtime. (And some hankypanky to block a
competitor's signal?) Doesn't Nikon have something like that out now
in one of their cameras?

I am generally happy with the HD images. The next Olympics will be
dominated by HD coverage I'm sure  -  but I'd still pay for complete
coverage of say swimming or gymnastics where I got to see everything
from the unseeded first heats with little commentary or more for those
of us who need it in sports like gymnastics where I'm totally
clueless.

Adam

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 08:59:02 -0700, Ted Grant <tedgrant@shaw.ca> wrote:
> Olympic Photographers:
> 
> Hey wait a minute you guys before you start ragging on these Olympic
> shooters! Particularly if you have never been ass to breakfast jammed into 
> a
> " Photo position" not of your liking where you have absolutely no choice of
> where it is or who selected the position. "Here's the position like it or
> leave! "
> 
> And no you don't wander around like you own the place as every position is
> locked down for the mob other than a few very choice shooters in the "photo
> pool" who have some limited movement.  Like may 4 - 5 guys out of hundreds
> during final events.
> 
> Where you arrive 5 or 6 hours before the event starts and in the case of
> swimming you are in the position before dawn to wait for the preliminaries
> at 10 a.m that finish at about noon. Wait, your day isn't over.
> 
> You now stay there and hold your spot so you'll be able to shoot the finals
> at 6 p.m. when the push and shove gets worse with every available inch of
> space is squeezed to use.
> 
> While you're standing there, the guys in this picture are lucky as they 
> look
> like they've got a seat, usually it's 2 or 3 hundred shooters packed behind
> a barrier along pool side on a riser.... that is if there's room for such a
> position.
> 
> Then surrounded by police or soldiers so those... quote" God damn
> photographers will stay in their place!  And if any one of them has a foot
> over the line kick them back !" From the official training course!
> 
> You can be standing there with a 600mm lens over your right and left
> shoulders from shooters behind you, there's a guy who hasn't had a shower
> for 5 days so close you're gagging from his body smell, the guy on your
> right had a massive garlic lunch and now you're close to puking your guts
> out! And you know what?
> 
> You keep you eye glued to whatever camera or lens you're working with, and
> another thing you may have not noticed! Not a tripod in sight! It's all 
> hand
> held or monopod.and you shoot the best damn pictures you're capable of
> because back in the press centre the photo editors' " DO NOT WANT TO HEAR
> ONE DAMN THING FROM YOU BUT...." I got it!"
> 
> So some of you "Olympic arm chair shooters who've never been there might
> think twice before you start making comments" because most of the guys 
> there
> "MUST HAVE THE LONGEST GLASS THEY CAN BUY" Because the security people know
> these long lenses are available and keep pushing us back farther and
> farther. Hell in many cases your "normal lens" is a 300mm and a 2X extender
> in your pocket! After that you go big!
> 
> Never mind looking at the athletes on TV , look at the photographers as
> they're the Olympic un-sung heroes that bring you those magnificent 
> pictures
> to your newspapers and magazines!
> 
> Oh and for some of the folk on the list. My comments come from the
> experience of covering all Olympics summer and winter since 1968 to 1992!
> And in between those, the "Worlds, Commonwealth Games and Pan American
> Games." Hey, but incredible and wonderful experiences all. Would I go again
> regardless of the above conditions? Damn in a heart beat! As it's as much 
> an
> Olympic event to be chosen to make the cut to cover it as it is for the
> athletes.
> 
> ted
> 
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