Behind the Scenes of Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony!

I'll bet that most of you think that when us photographers shoot the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, we show up, take photos and then leave. Let me tell you that that is NEVER the case. In all past Olympics, when the Opening Ceremony was in a stadium, we would have to be in position at least 4 hours before the start. With the Paris Olympics, since the opening is on the Seine River, it is even more complicated. 

I want to share with you what this long day has been like, and we are still four hours from the start of the ceremony.

First of all, there is the process of getting a ticket to this event. There are more than 2000 photographers here from all over the world, and most of them want this privilege, so they ticket this and other high demand events. But due to security limitations, they only allocated 350 tickets on the Seine River and 250 tickets in the Trocadero. 

This process happened a couple of days, and I found out that I got my ticket. But then the problems happened. 

The USOPC granted my ticket but it would not show up in the special ticket app that we use. Myself and many other photographers had to scramble to get that situation rectified. 

Once I got that squared away, I had to go to a special desk at the MPC to get my credentials "upgraded" with a sticker. 

This sticker designates that I have passed security (phew) and shows the zone of the river where I will be photographing from. 

The Opening starts at 7:30pm but we had to meet outside the MPC at 1pm to head over to our photo locations. We all thought we were taking press buses, but nope, that was not the case.

Next thing we know, we are being taken to a train station to start our journey. Well...what we thought would be the start of our journey.

We waited about 15 minutes for our train, and it turns out that the train had stopped service. We were never told why. 

After wasting half an hour with this process, we headed back up to the MPC to figure out plan B. The pressure was on because it was absolutely imperative that we get to our location before they let the general public in.

Two trains and two hours later, we finally made it to the security checkpoint by the Musée d'Orsay.

Weirdly enough they didn't even look at our tickets (on the app), but they checked our upgrade stickers and matched our credentials to our passports. Yes, security is tight!

We got past the checkpoint and then had to wait another 30 minutes for security to let us into our spot.

A bunch of us wanted to get water, so I walked to a nearby fence and purchased 3 bottles of water from a local pizza place which is not in the secure zone. It was funny that I paid through the fence using my Apple Watch and she handed the bottles over to me. 

In a typical situation, we receive a briefing book about the ceremony and what to expect, but due to security, we know absolutely nothing. There have been a bunch of rumors about who might perform, how the torch will be lit, what time it will start and end. But we really have no idea.

Much to my surprise, our photo position is right across the bridge from a hot air balloon, which we believe is where the Olympic flame will be lit. About 30 minutes ago we were given these wrist bands which supposedly give us access across the river to watch the lighting of the torch. Is this true? I am not sure, but that would be cool. Time will tell!

Figuring that I would not be eating dinner, I stopped by the USOPC office and grabbed a bunch of goodies to hold me over. But a couple of us were just talking about ordering a pizza over the fence. That would be hysterical.

Photo credit to Conny Kurny - Germany

Where am I writing this blog from? Yep, that is me and my new MacBook Pro, and this is my office for the rest of the day and night! They have provided WiFi access for us in this spot, and I smartly brought my blow up seat cushion. Luxurious huh? 

That is the Louvre behind me, and will be the backdrop for my photos tonight. Not too shabby.

Now I just need to hope that the weather holds since I did not bring any rain gear.

How will this all work out? I guess I will let you know tomorrow.

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