An interest of mine has always been the Olympics. Something I see every time I watch, but have never taken notice of until now are the photographers. Hundreds of lenses focused on the athletes at every event in every sport in every arena; they are everywhere, and they have to be. We expect to be able to see those iconic images of the athletes we take pride in when we can't be there in person. We may forget, however, that those images do not exist without the hard work of photographers, and that work is far from easy. I read an enlightening article about what it's like to be a photographer at the Olympic Games. It's insight came from Al Bello, Getty Images chief photographer; he has covered 11 Olympic Games. Bello describes the massive output, physically and mentally, it takes to try and capture the best images on this world stage.
The article detailed what Bello does to prepare for the swimming events, and it was very cool to see. He sets up his Canon camera in a waterproof enclosure that sits at the bottom of the pool. In scuba gear, he dives into the pool to set it up at the correct angle. He runs wires from the camera, out of the pool, and into a computer nearby where he can "adjust the camera and fire the shutter remotely." With everything happening at lightning speed, and often times just once, he must operate extremely quick.
Winter Olympics present another set of challenges. Bello describes downhill ski racing as one of the hardest things to photograph: "You have to ski with 60 pounds of gear on your back, on the same mountain that the skiers are on."
I find this look behind the scenes, into a different side of the Olympic Games, fascinating. Having taken this class, it puts me in a different frame of mind. The things I notice and pay attention to will probably change during the next Olympics.
Link to photos and article: http://www.thisisinsider.com/what-its-like-to-photograph-the-olympics-2016-8
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