Milan Winter Olympics: Team photos are my first assignment!

Yesterday was the first day of actual photography for me here in Milan. As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I moved up my flight to get here in time to capture the team photo for the women of USA Hockey.

It was not only a good chance to get the photo for the team, but also a time to say hello to some of the athletes I have known from past Olympics and meet the new athletes. It is so much fun to be a part of this, to see and feel the excitement that they have in them. And let me tell you, they are excited!

We started with the formal team photo, with the athletes, coaches and staff. I was using the new Canon R6 Mark III camera with the Canon RF 24-70mm 2.8 lens. I set the camera to f/4.5 to make sure that everyone was in perfect focus, regardless of which row they were in. I also used my flash (mounted on my camera and powered down) to add just a little bit of light in their faces.

Just like in Korea, once we were done with the formal team photo, the women let loose and had a great time.

You should have seen me running all over the ice, trying to get photos of everyone. It would have been much easier if I had brought my skates. :)

We set up some different smaller groups, but I mostly took photos at their request.

While I was capturing photos of all of the athletes playing around, I saw that the staff members had gotten together for a photo of their own. I quickly (but carefully) high-tailed it over to the center of the rink to get this shot for them.

Then I was right back to getting more photos of the women having fun. You can tell that they were soaking it all in.

Their enjoyment was so infectious, and made my day.

We were running a little late, after all the goofing around, but I suggested that we do one more informal photo at center ice. This is probably my favorite photo of the day. The formal shot was great (and needed) but this one really shows the personality of these amazing women.

Then we were off to the practice rink.

Since I am the team photographer, I was able to shoot images from the bench, without any plexiglass in my way. I switched to my Canon R1 with the Canon RF 70-200mm lens for all the practice photos. I was standing there and watched as Kendall Coyne Schofield skated over and asked her teammate to braid her hair. That made me laugh and I thought it was a moment that deserved to be captured. This is not something I would ever see in my league or in the NHL. Love it! Afterwards, I asked her to braid mine. You can imagine the smile that got.

Then it was time for me to capture images of them doing their thing.

I started photographing some of the individuals skating and shooting, but since this was a practice, the photos were not very exciting. I thought it was better to get some of the coaching moments.

These are photos that I will not get in a game.

After getting these images, I decided to try motion panning the skaters.

I changed the settings of the Canon R1 from 1/1250 of a sec to 1/40th, and panned along with them, to show the speed at which they were moving.

This is not something I would typically do in a game, so it was fun to try during the practice session.

Tomorrow is the first women's game (even though the Opening Ceremony is not until Friday) and I am excited to capture that. I ended up back in my hotel room this afternoon after experiencing some stomach issues, and hope that it was just a one time thing. Either way, I will be on the glass tomorrow!

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