[Leica] WAS: photos from RNC NOW: Olympic photo positions.

[rangefinder at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig)]

Ted,

Thanks for this very interesting points of view of a pro-photographer. I'm 
just an amateur rangefinder freak, I process my rolls myself and my little 
digicam is never used. I'm not shure if I would be happy to do a job like 
that... I love making photos but as it's my hobby I do it without any stress.

I remarked these guys at the olympics all have Canon Digi-SLR's. Why? 
Because they're lighter than the Nikons, or cheaper, or better? I learned 
in the seventies that Nikon is the king of SLR and I never changed this 
opinion since,...

Didier


>Didier showed: the way it was! ;-)
> > That's nothing compared to this crowd of impacted photogs and digicams:
> > http://www.pbase.com/vthian/athens_olympics_2004%26page=all
> > (From the recent olympic games)
>
>Hi Didier,
>Thanks for posting these Athens Olympics photog photo position situations.
>They sure brought back a flood of good, bad and ugly memories for me
>considering I covered the Olympics from 1968 until 1992.
>
>I noticed some of the viewer comments of "fun?" It isn't fun for these
>photogs in the positions shown as it's damn hard work of 12 hours or more
>standing in the pit packed like this all day! One would think some of the
>viewers might understand it isn't a bunch of happy snapping photogs on a
>Sunday afternoon stroll in the park.
>
>If reaching the Olympics for the athlete is the ultimate goal in their
>sport. So is reaching the level to shoot the Olympics as demanding for the
>photographers as for the athlete. Certainly as they're packed in here. The
>unfortunate thing is, the numbers of positions allotted for photographers
>has increased dramatically each Games. However the amount of space to
>accommodate them has hardly enlarged at all, obviously by the situations
>seen here!
>
>However, the mental attitude one must work with is..... "This isn't for the
>rest of your life, it'll be over in a couple of weeks!"  Accept it, do your
>job as best as you can and get on with life after it's over. Remember,
>editors don't give a damn if you're naked and freezing or sweating under the
>noon day sun..... they want pictures, and better than everyone else's!
>Nothing less. And one surely doesn't say.... "I didn't get any pictures
>because we were crammed in worse than sardines!" And if you showed him a
>picture illustrating the photo position and numbers crammed in, his response
>would be nothing more than , "So what the hell, big deal, that's no excuse
>for no pictures! Where the hell is the winner?"
>
>By viewing these photographs one can appreciate the "work and dedication"
>required to cope with being a photographer at the Olympics and yep it's "all
>fun!" ;-) Yeah right! :-(
>
>ted