Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day, with me covering three different events starting early in the afternoon and getting back to my hotel at 2am. The day started with me at the long track speed skating arena in Rho. I was there to capture images of Jordan Stolz, the amazing speed skater from the USA.
I got to the rink just in time for the start of the team races. It was good practice for me.
I picked the same location as my previous trip to this venue, since it worked so well.
I loved it when the Americans came around the turn and I got this cool shot of them right behind one another. It almost looks like four helmets, due to the right arm of the last skater.
There was more separation as they came out of the turn.
For their next time around, I captured them a little earlier to get them closer together.
Since they went around enough times, I decided to switch to 1/60 sec to motion pan them. You may remember that a lot of my previous motion pans from this sport were at 1/40 sec, but these skaters were moving faster this time around.
I even motion panned this Norwegian athlete as he made his away around the track on the cool down lap. I loved the red outfit up against the dark background.
I was primarily there to capture the men's 500m race, which meant that each athlete only passed me one time. If I was going to get some good shots of Jordan, I had to do it in one turn. No pressure!
For this reason, I photographed many of the other skaters before Jordan.
Because I had photographed these others, I determined the best way to shoot him, depending on which lane he would be in.
Then it was race time. I have to admit, I was actually a bit nervous about this 5 second chance to get nice images. I started shooting from early in the turn. I did this for two reasons. First, I wanted to get a bunch of photos of him, even if it meant that he was not in the best background. Secondly, I wanted to get a focus lock on him and stay with him all the way through the turn.
I got locked in on him and the
Canon R1 held that focus perfectly as he flew by in front of me.
This is my favorite shot of him.
I captured him all the way through the turn.
He skated by my position just after crossing the finish line, and I was hoping he would show some emotion.
He then made a second round and waved to the crowd. Another photo opportunity for me. He did indeed win the gold medal, but I was cutting it close to my next assignment, and knowing that the metro would take me more than an hour and a half to get to the next venue, I had to get out of there as soon as he finished.
Please excuse any typos. Normally I try to proofread everything before I post, but here at the Olympics, time is a commodity. I definitely miss some things. :)
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