Behind the scenes of the Olympic Park - what you are not seeing on television

Up till now, I have shown you a bunch of the sporting events and talked about the gear I use. Before the Games began, I took you on a small tour of the park. Today's blog is to show you more of the Olympic Park.

I bring my Gitzo travel tripod to every Olympics so that I can take some night photos around the park. Tonight is that night. After shooting synchronized swimming and the women's water polo match today, I am going to grab my Canon 5D Mark III camera and tripod and photograph the park. Normally, this is something I look forward to with great expectations, but after walking this park for the last week, I am not sure that there are too many great photos to be had here.

Unlike any Olympic park I have been to in the past, this one does not have great views, especially from the back areas. I thought I would show you what I see everyday here. (BTW - these are all iPhone shots.)

At all Olympic Games, the press is transported around the perimeter of the park, and we see the backside of everything. But in the past, it was never an eye sore to be behind the scenes. But here in Rio, it definitely is less than beautiful. Here is a view of from the swimming pool looking towards the basketball venue.

And this is my way into the Maria Lenk Swim Center. They did not have time to complete the road.

I have been taking my poor ThinkTank roller on a 4 wheel drive expedition every day. If you have ever wondered why I choose the ThinkTank brand, this is why. This thing has been abused beyond belief and still keeps trucking along.

Here is my view of the Maria Lenk Swim Center. This will not make a good night shot, and this is the only view of the open venue. The front of the swim center is all blocked by fences. :(

Here is my view of the Gymnastics venue.

These are the typical views that I see at every venue. I heard that even the golf course looks like this in the back.

You might be thinking "Of course they have all this stuff in the background, they have to put it somewhere." But this has never been the case before.

Almost all of the press workrooms are temporary structures. It is not a problem for working in them, but they definitely block the views.

This is the entry to the boxing venue.

Again...no time to finish the walkways, so they put down these snap-together pieces, next to the lovely storage containers and air conditioning units.

Another view of the gymnastics venue, on one of our rainy days here.

Here are some photos taken from the press bus as we drove from one venue to another.

You get the idea.

As one reporter said, these Olympics are working, but just barely. Everything is holding up, but there are so many unfinished things, that we just laugh about them.

I am in the swim venue now, getting ready to shoot the USA women's water polo quarter finals. I just went to the bathroom, looked up and saw this. Yes, this is a hole going out to the spectators seating. I could see someone's leg through that hole. If anyone were to lean down and see this hole, they would be watching someone going to the bathroom. How about that for finished construction?

Well...my goal is to try and shoot the front of the venues this evening and see if I can get anything good. Today is the hottest day yet (about 93 degrees F) and so this evening could be really nice for photography. As is always the case, only time will tell.

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