Pictures from the Helicopter Shoot (FINALLY!)

Flying over New York city was really amazing and provided a very unique view of the city. Here are a couple of images that I captured while hanging out of the chopper.


Check out the amount of light generated by the advertising signs of Time Square. Pretty cool (literally).

Shooting from a helicopter over NYC

Tonight I had another great opportunity to take my photography to new heights...literally. I was shooting another ad for the Lexar "Focused on Photographers" campaign. This time I was harnessed to a helicopter (with the doors removed) and shooting the Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Vincent LaForet while he was shooting photos of New York City. We hovered at 1300 feet over the Empire State Building at sunset and also flew over to the Statue of Liberty to shoot there as well. It was cold and windy, but very fun!

Before getting on the helicopter, we put on our harnesses and prepared all the camera equipment. I carried two camera bodies with different lenses since it is not advisable to change lens or memory cards in an open helicopter above the city (I actually did change one 16GB card - holding it in my teeth and them handing back to the assistant in the chopper). We were in the air for about an hour, from just before sunset until dark. If you haven't ever done this, I recommend it. :)


I actually prefer flying over New York as opposed to driving through it. The sites are better and there aren't any people in your way.

Taken after we landed, this is the assistant, myself, Vincent LaForet and the pilot.

My favorite part of the trip was after we landed and I called home to check in with the family. My daughter, Ali, answered the phone and after I said hello, she said "Hold on dad", put the phone down, and yelled "DADS ALIVE!!!!". :)

San Francisco 49ers vs. New England Patriots

It has been a long time since I have been to a SF 49ers game. Most of my friends who played for the team have since retired and I have not had much interest in returning to Candlestick Park. But since I had a chance to photograph the game on the field, I made the return trip. It was a perfect day to shoot, the weather was exceptional (especially for San Francisco) and this was the day that they retired Steve Young's jersey. Since I have never been a huge fan of Steve Young (long story), I didn't care much about seeing him, but it was great to see Keena Turner, Brent Jones, Junior Bryant and other old friends. The fans were thrilled to see Jerry Rice on the side lines for most of the game.


The 49ers played well but could not pull off a win against the Tom Brady-less Patriots. A couple of key turnovers and spotty defense didn't help. But, hey, at least the photographic opportunities were there for the taking.




To see more pictures from the game, you can go to:

http://www.jeffcable.com/sf49ers

Olympics in Beijing - One More Event Before Heading Home

Well...I have been in Beijing for almost 2 weeks and it is time for me to leave tomorrow morning. As much as I am looking forward to getting home to the wife, the kids, the dog, American food and drinkable water, I am also sad that I am leaving before the games are over.


On my last day, I did get a chance to shoot the woman's synchronized diving competition. Shooting this event was exciting and humorous at the same time.

The building would be very quiet while the athletes would prepare for their dives, and then just as they make their jump, I would hear the shutters of 50 cameras (mostly Canon 1D Mark IIIs which can shoot 10 frames per second) bursting away as we followed the divers until they were completely in the water. This same sequence would happen every minute or so.

It was really amazing to see the divers symmetry through a camera, when reviewing the images after each jump. I have no idea how the judges could see all of this in less than 3 seconds.

The American team did not do very well at this sport, but the Australian's grabbed silver. As good as the Aussies were at this sport, the Chinese dominated.

Now that I was done shooting this event, it was time to leave the Olympics grounds for the last time and head back to the hotel to pack. As I was leaving the grounds, I took one last look behind me and shot this picture of the Olympic torch above the Birds Nest. This is not my best image, but it has a lot of meaning to me, as my last Olympic image, after shooting more than 15,000.

Goodbye Beijing and thank you for making me at home for the last couple of weeks. This has truly been an amazing experience that I will never forget. J.M.C.

To see more pictures from this trip, you can go to:

http://www.jeffcable.com/Olympics.html

Olympics in Beijing - The Best Day

Today was amazing. I showed up to the Water Cube just in time to catch Michael Phelps swimming freestyle for his 3rd gold medal. Man, is that guy fast! Trying to photograph him swimming freestyle is almost impossible. He rarely came up for air and when he did, he was so low to the water line that you could barely capture his face.


Luckily, he ended up swimming a qualification heat for the butterfly stroke not long after his freestyle win, which is a much better stroke to photograph.

Olympics in Beijing - Fencing and Beach Volleyball

Today I went over to the fencing hall which is located directly across from the Water Cube and conveniently close to the MPC. Although I know very little about this sport, it was still fun to photograph this event. They turn the lights down in the venue and then spotlight the athletes, which makes for some cool high contrast photographs.

After shooting fencing for a couple of hours it was time to take a short rest before making the bus trip over to the beach volleyball venue. The bus trip took about 30 minutes, using the freeway lanes designated only for Olympic vehicles. I loved those!


Getting down on the sand level for this sport is key and provided some really great shots. Although I consider my photographs to be art, my wife has questioned me many times about the amount of images that I captured showing the back end of the girls. I stick by my original claim - it is art.

Enough said.

Olympics in Beijing - Opening Night!

They thought that it might rain tonight but that never happened. Although that was good for all of us, it did mean that the weather was very hot and humid this evening. Fighting a little bit of sickness (probably from something I ate last night - I'm not sure what that was!), I headed out for 6 hours of walking and shooting.


As the ceremonies continued for hours upon hours, I walked around and shot pictures of the performers and the building. I headed for my favorite spot on the bridge. This is the spot with the reflection of the Birds Nest. Since all of the photographers had seen images from the practice earlier in the week, everyone who was "up credentialed" and not inside the Birds Nest wanted this same shot. So...photographers got to this spot between 6am and noon and claimed their tripod territory for the midnight show. That is true dedication to get the image!

I, on the other hand, showed up at the bridge at 9:30pm and bribed a photographer from Italy (with a new Lexar 300x 4GB Professional CF card) to let me squeeze my tripod next to his. The weather was not as clear as the practice earlier in the week, but we deal with whatever weather we get. Anyways, I did get some shots of the fireworks but my favorite shot is the one with the lights coming off the office buildings to the left. Very cool lighting.



The final fireworks show was really intense. I had no idea that many of the firework cannons were placed 30 feet behind me, covered by a fence. For ten minutes we experienced the sounds of war. By the time the show was over, all 150 of us photographers (and all of our gear) were covered in gun powder and shell casings. I think that Canon and Nikon were busy cleaning cameras and lenses for most of that next morning.

Olympics in Beijing - Opening Day!

My first time in the Water Cube

It is the day of Opening Ceremonies and everything is ready to go. I went into the Water Cube today for the first time and took some photos of the different swim teams and the diving teams practicing. The building is even more impressive in person than on TV. Other than the fact that it is humid inside (although still better than outside), the lighting is very good and the architecture is truly unique. Everything carries the water theme. If you look at the picture above, you will even notice that the seats are different colors representing the splashing of water.

A diver practicing from the 30 meter height. That takes guts!

After the visit to the Water Cube, it was time to head back to the Main Press Center (MPC) to get organized for tonight. I also had a chance to join a couple of press interviews with the USA woman's gymnastic team (yes - my same friends from the flight over) and also with the Murray brothers (British tennis).


Now it is time to get out of the MPC and get ready to capture images outside the Birds Nest. It turns out that, since there are so many VIP motorcades and foreign dignitaries, you have to have a special "up credential" in order to be on the grounds. I managed to get one of those this morning so I am good to go.

Olympics in Beijing - Day Before Opening Ceremonies

It is the day before the Opening Ceremony and you can tell that the Chinese people are very excited. Security is definitely tighter than the previous days and there is more activity outside the gates of the grounds. As I walked around the Olympic grounds taking some last pictures without crowds of people, I watched them put the final touches on everything from the gardening to the walkways.

Olympics in Beijing - Day One

Every four years, millions of people from around the globe gather in anticipation for the Summer Olympics. This year I was in the enviable position of working at the Olympics.

Going to Beijing to photograph would have been an adventure in itself – but going to Beijing to photograph the 2008 Olympic Games was beyond my wildest dreams! I can not begin to explain the adrenaline rush at the thought of capturing both the city and the games.

As I boarded the plane to Beijing in San Francisco, the excitement and photo opportunities were already presenting themselves. Our flight was full of Olympic athletes still quite relaxed before entering the international spotlight. However, this momentary calm was fleeting. As soon as we disembarked at the new Beijing International Airport the press were swarming around our jet. It was at this point that I decided to join in the fun and I took out my camera and started shooting the athletes as they got off the plane. My Olympic photographic journey had begun!

Members of the USA Women’s Gymnastic Team (just off the plane in Beijing)

On my first day in Beijing we had blue skies (this turned out to be the one and only day that was truly clear), and thankfully I took full advantage of this great lighting by capturing as much of the city as I could in one day. I arrived days before the games started, which meant the common grounds within the Olympic Green were mostly deserted, allowing me to capture the buildings and sculptures in all their architectural glory.

A sculpture on the Olympic grounds (with blue sky!)

I explored the Olympic grounds on a mission to find the perfect view of one of the most monumental pieces of Olympic architecture, the Bird’s Nest. I did my research before leaving San Francisco and noticed that many images of the Bird’s Nest were taken with a reflection from water. My goal was to capture the fireworks display over the Bird’s Nest during the Opening Ceremony and what better shot to get than one that would include a water reflection?
Finding the perfect spot for this shot in advance really paid off!

The Beijing National Stadium (otherwise known as the Bird’s Nest)

I tore myself away from the Olympic grounds to photograph the other beauties Beijing had to offer. First stop, The Forbidden City, photographically, this is an amazing place. There are 9,999 rooms in this seemingly endless compound, with architectural details that would excite any photo enthusiast. The buildings are intricately detailed, boasting vivacious and contrasting colours - making them perfect for both long and wide lenses.

The Forbidden City

After 5 hours exploring the Forbidden City in heat and humidity that this Californian was just not used to, it was time to return to the hotel. As soon as I got there, I received a text message on my mobile phone informing me that the practice fireworks over the Bird’s Nest were starting immediately. Thankfully, I made it to my pre-determined perfect spot to take pictures of the fireworks overhead, while 90,000 Chinese practiced inside for the Opening Ceremony. Rehearsal over, 100,000 people then tried to leave the area at once resulting in a three hour wait to find a taxi home! It was now 1am and I was exhausted, this was the first of many long days photographing in Beijing. The end result was definitely worth it, I was thrilled to get the shots exactly as I had envisioned.

Fireworks and the illuminated smoke above the Bird’s Nest

Since the games were yet to commence, The Great Wall was next on my list. I could not wait to see this great wonder of the world (and had an ulterior motive of scouting out the area to shoot Lexar Media’s next advertisement!) The hazy air quality did not allow for distance photographs, but it did create an ambient mood and more interesting and creative photographs. Since professional photographers cannot control the weather, we must learn to use it to our photographic advantage. Despite the heat, the humidity and the poor air quality, The Great Wall lived up to all my photographic expectations and was a great site to behold.

Me shooting on location at the Great Wall (Photo by Nick Didlick)

A couple more days and it will be the opening ceremony. My focus will change from the city sites to the games themselves.

Family Vacation in Mammoth Lakes, CA

Wow - traveling WITH the family for a change - that was nice! The four of us spent the week in Mammoth Lakes with day trips to Yosemite and Bodie (the Ghost Town). It was nice to have time with just us hanging out together. We hiked a little bit, we rented a pontoon boat and a kayak and we hung out and relaxed.

Bailey loved being outdoors so much and had a great time testing out all the lakes in the area.


Of course, I still made time to photograph the area, but this time I had the family join in. Ali joined me on numerous mini-trips to shoot the landscape of the area. I love shooting with her. She keeps me entertained and also sees things so differently than I do. She has a talent for photography and I hope she pursues this in the future.

Taking pictures in Bodie is a great experience. Unlike other older towns, here they do not rebuild or "fake" the history. What you see in this ghost town, is real and authentic.

Back to Rio de Janeiro

A couple of months ago I took a quick trip to Brazil and was able to capture a nice image of the city. I just got back from another trip to Rio de Janeiro and this time I was there for more than 2 days. That was a relief. Although the weather was not great, I did have some chances to shoot images of the girls in Rio. And yes, my wife knows that I did this. :) Funny thing, when I walk onto the beach with a big camera, people will try to talk with me (in their best English) and let me take pictures of them. I always offer to email them the final images.
Even though Rio is not the safest place in the world, I find that most of the people that I meet are very friendly and love the Americans. The people are beautiful and the food is amazing. What more do you need, right?
I have to admit that there are times when being a photographer has it's advantages. I had a great time shooting these images, trying to bring out the best in these girls and make them look as good as possible in the images. I was very limited in the times to shoot and wish that I had more time in the early morning or early evening.

Australia - A Different View

Well...I just got back from another long trip to Australia. Since I have been to Sydney so many times, this time I concentrated on shooting something different. Yeah...I took some pictures of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour, but this time I went to the Sydney Zoo and a wildlife park and took some shots there. My favorite image from this trip is one that is a stitch of 5 images put into a large panorama of the Sydney harbour(above).
And I loved the fact that the backdrop for the Sydney Zoo was the view of downtown. Very cool view for the animals (and really expensive real estate too!).

As part of a photography training that we hosted, we photographed some models which was fun for the group.

You can see more pictures at: http://www.jeffcable.com/Australia2008/