The Closing Ceremony - Another big disappointment but...

As I mentioned on the last blog post, Sunday (the last day of the Paris Olympics) was already a great day, and nothing was going to change that. Even with all the craziness of the first half of the day, I was determined to make the trek over to the Stade de France for the Closing Ceremony. I figured that, after the total let down of the Opening Ceremony, this would be a good one. It was all in one location, and held to the more typical format.

Normally I have to be at the closing by 4pm for a 7pm start, but this one started at 9pm, so luckily I took an Uber (as close as I could and then walked through the secure zone) and got there closer to 7:30pm.

The beginning of the ceremony started like most others, with the introduction of the president of the country. My photo position was directly across from them, allowing me an excellent photo of the group. I was using the Canon R1 with the RF 100-300mm lens and the RF 1.4x tele-adaptor (same as I used for the water polo game earlier in the day). I figured that would be a good focal range for this event.

Each country came out with their flags. I waited for the United States to enter and to get a good photo of Katie Ledecky and Nick Mead carrying the flag.

Next to me, on an empty seat, I had the Canon R5 MKII with the RF 15-35mm wide angle lens to get shots like this. I always love taking night shots during the "blue hour" and this one was no exception. The teams had entered and surrounded the inner part of the stadium and the colors were just right. 

Once the teams had all entered, they started the show with this golden person coming down from the rafters. You all, who were probably watching this on TV with a lot of commentary probably know what this was about, but I had no idea (and still don't). Normally all the media is given a media guide about 4 hours before the start of the ceremony, but due to security and other reasons, we got nothing.

I had seen this wheel which was set up on the floor and waited to see what they were going to do with it. 

They lifted it and then...

...performed some type of Cirque du Soleil act on this and 4 other wheels.

As I almost always do for typical Opening and Closing Ceremonies, I shoot in Aperture Priority (because the light changes so much from one second to another) and I shoot at -1 exposure comp to ensure that I do not blow out the highlights (over brighten them). 

I saw each of the wheels being lifted into the center of the stadium and I knew what that meant! I saw the fifth and final ring being lifted and these cool light patterns and used the wide angle lens once again.

I also expected that the minute the fifth ring was in place, there would be fireworks. There were some, but not much.

After a while a band came out and played. I later found out that they are called "Phoenix" but I have never heard of them. I thought that they were pretty good, but was frustrated that they were only facing the opposite direction and never turned to either side or back towards us. BTW - this was true of every speech and performance.

The show was really slow, with almost nothing happening on the floor. I remember looking at my watch numerous times thinking "when is this thing going to get moving?" Even the athletes were getting bored and formed their own dance entertainment down there.

The big moment was going to be Tom Cruise repelling down from the rafters. Rumors had spread about this and one photographer in our position had heard that this would happen right after Her (not a typo) performed. I would show you photos of Her but she never turned around, so I just have photos of hair. :(

Tom dropped down just as expected. He actually moved fast so it was hard to get a good image.

Then he ran through the crowd of athletes as he made his way to the stage.

He hopped up "Mission Impossible style"...

...and went over to grab the Olympic flag from Simone Biles and the Mayor of Los Angeles.

And off he went.

He hopped on a motorcycle and rode through a path of athletes. 

After this, it was endless video (pre-recorded) from California. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity and thought "why am I sitting here watching a screen?" I looked down at my watch and saw that it was already past midnight and that was it for me. I have never left a ceremony early, but I had enough. Luckily I got a press bus back to the MPC almost immediately and then took a train back to my hotel. I was there by 1:30am and had a tall beer. That was a bonus.

And that my friends was the end of the Paris Olympics for me.

Yesterday, I took the day to return the cameras to Canon and walked around Paris as a tourist (wracking up another 13 miles of walking in the 97 degree heat). And now I am at Charles de Gaulle airport about to head home. 

I do have a couple more blog posts about the Olympics, including the grand totals (miles walked, shots taken and all that) and some blogs to talk about the overall reactions to the new cameras and lenses I used.

Stay tuned and au revoir for a day or so.

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