Jeff Cable's Blog

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Upcoming photo tours to amazing places!

After 2 years of dealing with the pandemic and halting almost all photo tours, things are getting back to some sense of normalcy. Most of my photography friends have started traveling again, and are doing it safely. I have done two photo tours to Costa Rica and two photo tours to Africa and all went amazingly well.

If you are like me, you are tired of being at home and you are itching to travel again. Well...I have good news for you. We have a whole bunch of new photo tours going in 2022 and 2023. These trips are designed to achieve the following:

Get you to the best photo locations.
Teach photography as we go, giving you advice, tips, and ideas to take your photography to the next level and get you the best photos from those locations.
Give you a chance to try new Canon equipment during the duration of the trip for free. (We do have many photographers who shoot Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Fuji and others, and that is totally fine too!)
Introduce you to the culture with the best local guides.
Have a whole lot of fun together!

Our group in Tanzania (with LOTS of borrowed gear)

My most recent group in the rain forest of Costa Rica

I have all upcoming photo tours listed on my website. You can see them all here:

https://www.jeffcable.com/phototours

Before hopping over to that page, here is a quick list of all the upcoming trips:

April 2022 - Japan - SOLD OUT
May 2022 - Costa Rica - 2 spots just opened up
June 2022 - Scotland / Ireland - 5 spots left (and closing soon!)
July 2022 - Botswana - 8 spots left
July 2022 - Tanzania - 4 spots left
Oct 2022 - Indochina - 8 spots left
Nov 2022 - Costa Rica - SOLD OUT
Dec 2022 - Cuba - 8 spots left
Feb 2023 - Tanzania - NEW
April 2023 - New Zealand - NEW
June 2023 - Croatia / Slovenia - NEW
July 2023 - Costa Rica - NEW
Sept 2023 - Morocco - NEW
Nov 2023 - Costa Rica - NEW

We would love to have you join us on one (or many) of our tours. The trips are not designed exclusively for professional photographers. We love taking photo enthusiasts of all levels.

You can see what others have said about their experiences here:

https://www.jeffcable.com/photo-tour-testimonials

Feel free to email me for any information!

Jeff

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Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Cuba, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

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Saturday, March 19, 2022

Tips for photographing a concert - Shinedown in action

Let me start this blog by saying that I am not a concert photographer. I know people who photograph concerts and bands for a living, but I am not one of those guys. With that said, I do love the challenge of photographing bands in action!

For the last two years, the pandemic has made it almost impossible to see a concert let alone photograph one. But one of my favorite bands kicked off a tour recently and made a visit to San Francisco. I really wanted to see Shinedown live but their concert was scheduled just days before the Beijing Olympics. I knew that there was no way I could risk being in a group situation, indoors, before being subjected to the intense Covid protocols in China. But since I pulled the plug on the Winter Olympics just days before going, I decided that the concert needed to happen for me! I called and asked for a photo credential, but it was one day before the concert and that was not going to happen.

I decided to bring a camera just in case. Since I was entering the venue without credentials, I kept things inconspicuous, bringing just a Canon R6 and a Canon RF24-105mm lens. Luckily, nobody stopped me at the door, and so me and my trusty camera got in with no problem. I have a friend who works at the venue and he was nice enough to escort me into the pit to shoot the first three songs.

That is how I got access. Now let me share the images and some of my tips for shooting concerts.

Photographing concerts is really challenging, mainly due to these reasons:

1. There is low light which means that your camera ISO has to be set pretty high.

2. The light is constantly changing, going from super dark to extremely bright in a second.

3. The action is fast and you need a shutter speed fast enough to capture the action.

When shooting from up close in the pit (especially in a smaller venue), I find that a 24-70mm lens or a 24-105mm lens works great. Chances are that you will be only feet from the performers.

If there is room to move in the pit, you can move to capture the different musicians. But most of the time you will be stuck in the same location and will use the zoom lens to isolate your subjects.

As I mentioned, the constantly changing lights make it tough to get your exposure correct in the camera. I shoot concerts in aperture priority mode, using spot metering, and typically under expose by at least one stop to keep from blowing out the highlights.

Every concert has different lighting situations. In this particular venue, they used a lot of red lights on the artists.

I try to capture the artists individually, but also try and get them interacting.

For most of these photos, I was shooting with these settings:

* ISO 3200

* I/O Servo focus (since the artists were moving all over)

* f/4 since it was the best aperture I could get with this lens

* Minus 1 1/2 stops of exposure compensation

I like to capture different poses for each performer.

As you can see in these two photos, there are times when it is good to use the bright lights to your advantage, putting your subject in silhouette.

These three photos were taken within a split second of each other, and you can see the change in background color and the amount of spot lighting on the lead singer.

After the first three songs, we were escorted out of the pit area (which is the common practice today) and I I shot from farther back in the crowd.

Shooting from farther back is easier than shooting from up close, since the evaluative metering takes in more of the scene and the movement is easier to track.

I was carefully watching the lighting to determine the best backgrounds for photos.

I saw this moment with a spotlight shining through the legs of Brent and Eric, and fired off some shots hoping to get that starburst through their bodies.

Here are more examples of using the house lighting to create dynamic photos.

Pyrotechnics make things even more challenging, with a lot of ambient light flooding your cameras sensor. This is why I generally photograph with exposure compensation turned down at least one stop. It is easier to brighten a dark image than to try and darken an overexposed shot.

I like including the audience in some of the photos, since they add to the excitement in the scene.

More pyro!

Just like when shooting sports, I look for the peak of action and emotion. For this reason, I like to keep my shutter speed faster than 1/800 sec.

Just like shooting sports, where the reaction of the crowd can be just as interesting as the action of the athletes, the concert audience is worth capturing as well.

Barry (the drummer) was often hidden behind the other band members and pyrotechnics, so it made it challenging to capture good shots of him at the drumset.

I love pyro at concerts!

Towards the end of the concert, Barry and Zach performed an acoustic set with minimal lighting effects. You can see the difference with the simplicity of the background. Not nearly as dynamic as with the stage lighting.

This last shot was taken at the very end of the concert. I zoomed out to 24mm and caught Brent with his fist in the air, framed by the excitement of the crowd. This is one of my favorite photos from the night.

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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

I have (finally) made the switch to all mirrorless cameras!

I have been a professional photographer for more than 15 years now and have never made a mass change in the camera gear I use over that time. I have upgraded camera bodies, and at times upgraded to a newer version of a lens. But those are incremental changes, done in small doses. For instance, I upgraded from the Canon 5D Mark III to a 5D Mark IV or a Canon 1DX MKII to a Canon 1DX MKIII. And I upgraded from the original Canon 100-400mm lens to the second version of that lens, since it was much sharper. Those changes were made over many years and did not require many changes in my preparations, shooting style, or after capture. But then Canon came out with mirrorless cameras that upped the game.

When Canon announced the original Canon R mirrorless camera, I was not very impressed with the camera, and suggested that it was not a camera I would be using. But I did see its potential, and I even wrote that in a blog post back in 2018. Back then I viewed mirrorless cameras as "not ready for prime time". I know that there are plenty of people who switched to mirrorless before I did, many of them using the Sony cameras. I did not want to switch all my cameras and lenses in one fell swoop, and also had faith that Canon would come out with something better.

When Canon came out with the Canon R5 and Canon R6, that was when I got excited. Not only were these cameras a great fit for my everyday shooting, but they were exciting to use. My images were sharper than ever, and the immediate feedback in the eye-piece was just awesome. I started by purchasing one Canon R6 body with the RF24-105mm f/4 lens. I also purchased a couple of the EF-RF adaptors so that I could use my older lenses on the new mirrorless bodies. This has worked great for the last year, with no degradation in image quality, but I really wanted the newer lighter lenses. I got more of the new RF lenses (RF70-200mm 2.8, RF24-70mm, and RF15-35mm), figuring that these 3 lenses were my "go-to" for most of my event photography. But the big problem was that I was using one mirrorless camera and one DSLR (either the 5D MKIV or the 1DX MKIII), which meant that I had to pack a lot more gear. To use both cameras, I needed to pack a set of RF lenses and a set of EF lenses.

I also found it hard to go back to the DSLR cameras after using the mirrorless bodies. I have gotten used to reviewing my images in the eyepiece, which I can not do in the DSLR cameras. And most importantly, I am spoiled by the incredible face and eye detection of the Canon R cameras.

A couple of months ago I decided that it was time to make the switch to all mirrorless camera bodies and lenses. Well...I am not getting rid of all my EF lenses just yet. I am going to keep using my Canon 200-400mm, Canon 100-400mm, and Canon 15mm fish eye lenses, since they are not available as an RF lens (yet) and are still very useful to me. I have the EF-RF adaptors for these lenses and still use them all the time.

Recently I did also get the Canon RF85mm 1.2 lens which is amazing for portraits (see below), and the Canon RF100-500mm lens for wildlife and sports. I was thinking I would sell my EF 100-400mm lens but still like it so much that it is going to stick around for a while.

(Canon R6, 85mm f/1.2 lens, ISO 320, f/1.2, 1/250 sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash)

I am now using two of the Canon R6 cameras and a Canon R3 for all my photography. I love the lighter weight of the cameras, the fact that they have two card slots, the ability to shoot in complete silence, the smaller size of the RF70-200mm 2.8 lens, and overall quality of the images. And, as I said before, the eye detection is so darned good that my "take rate" is better than ever before.

Both of these cameras have similar resolution, and each time I shoot I decide on which camera bodies will go with me. For most events I like the light weight and smaller size of the Canon R6, and for any fast action or wildlife shooting, I will grab the Canon R3. It has faster focusing and a faster burst rate if needed. I am still playing with the eye-control of the R3 and determining whether that will yield me better results when taking portraits of multiple people (being able to focus on my main subject just by looking at them). I also like having the larger battery of the R3 and the built-in grip for shooting portraits.

People have asked me why I am not using the Canon R5 in my event photography, and the reason is this: I do not need that high of resolution for my clients, and those cameras are more than $1000 more than the R6. For these reasons, I chose not to purchase the R5 bodies. But, when I go on safari and want the ability to shoot high resolution (to give me the ability to crop in on my images and still have good resolution), I do borrow the Canon R5 bodies from Canon Professional Services (CPS).

It took a while to make the investment and the change, but it has made a big difference to my everyday work, and I am so happy with the upgrade!

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Monday, February 21, 2022

Beijing Winter Olympics: Watching NBC vs Being There

I am sitting here writing this blog post while watching the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics on the TV next to me.

I have a range of emotions as this Olympics comes to a close, but most of all I am happy that they are over and I can look forward to Paris 2024.

I have no regrets, and still feel that staying home was the right thing to do. And being here for the birth of my first grandchild was something really special!

It was really different watching the Olympics on television, as opposed to being there. And the funny thing is...I now have a better idea of what you are all feeling when you watch TV and read my blog posts. From what I saw on television, the sports were well covered, but there was so much that was missing. The last time I watched the Olympics on NBC (back in 2006), they had all kinds of back stories on the athletes, and this time I saw almost none of those. Maybe this is due to the pandemic and the fact that the athletes needed to stay in a small bubble. But I was actually looking forward to some of those. I was also surprised how much coverage that curling got on prime time. I had no idea that this sport would be featured as much as it was here in the US.

Most of all, I wanted to see more behind the scenes, more of the inner workings of the Games, and more about the Olympic experience outside of the competition. I think about all of the interesting things that I experience in between the sports, and of course that was all missing this time around.

I had lunch with my good friend from USA Water Polo the other day and we were talking about the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. While I was driving home, I realized that not once did we talk about the amazing competition that we saw, we just reminisced about our time in between the different events. The logistical challenges, the tiny hotel rooms, the weird bus schedules, and the fact that we had to eat the same food almost everyday. But while recounting those memories we were smiling the whole time.

It was nice to watch the Olympics from the comfort of home (with weather in the 60s and 70s here in California) as opposed to being in temperatures well below freezing. But I am already chomping at the bit to get to Paris to cover the next Olympic Games in two and a half years.

I guess I could wrap this up by saying that staying home and watching this Olympics from half a world away was as weird as tuning in to NBC and seeing Johnny Weir's constantly changing outfits and hairdos.

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Monday, February 14, 2022

Beijing Winter Olympics: The escape from solitary confinement!

For all of you who have read the recent blog posts, you know that my friend, Ian. He is the photographer who had been locked up in Beijing for testing Covid positive.

I talked to him a couple of days ago and he was hoping to get out of the 1-star hotel where he was being quarantined. He told me some crazy stories which I thought I would share with all of you.

He told me that in the 12 days he had been holed up in this location, he had yet to be served any hot meals. Not that the food was bad mind you, just not hot. Ian said that he would keep his door open for most of the day, just to hear what was going on outside his 10x12 room. He would also communicate with others this way. This made me think of all those prison movies I have seen. He said that an American guy had just been put into the room across the hall from him, and was trying to order a hamburger and coke. He thought that he could get room service! Later when the guy received his Chinese meal, he asked if they could heat it up. Ian just chuckled and thought "that will not happen". It wasn't that the people were mean, Ian said that they were mostly kids, and that even though they had a hard time communicating, they were friendly.

Another person who tested positive and is entering the quarantine zone. Ian posted this on his Instagram page and said quoted the Eagles' Hotel California lyrics "Relax, said the night man. We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!" (Photo credit Ian MacNicol)

When I asked Ian how things were going, he told me that the place was a bit like "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest". He said that there was an Australian sports reporter who was staying down the hall from him, and the guy was going nuts after 12 days in "captivity". He was yelling down the hallway accusing the Chinese of locking him up for too long and putting Covid in his food." Ian was wondering if this guy was going to start a hunger strike from his room.

Ian was cracking me up. Knowing how much I love walking and getting my steps everyday, he was sending me his step count each day. Even though he was stuck in that crazy small room, he was managing to achieve about 10,000 steps a day. I asked him how he did that, and he said "thank goodness for my little hallway to the hotel room door." He was also doing sit ups and press ups.

The good news is that he is now released, back to his original hotel and shooting the Olympics.

The bad news is that the challenges were still ongoing. Since he had been locked up immediately after entering China, he had yet to get his shooting sleeve (needed to photograph at every Winter Olympics). Since Ian was staying up in the mountain cluster, he had to make the 3 1/2 hour trek to the Main Press Center in Beijing, get his sleeve, and then take the buses and trains back for another 3 1/2 hours.

He said that, since nobody involved with the Olympics is allowed to walk anywhere, they are required to take the press buses. We dealt with this, in a slightly less stringent way, in Tokyo. He told me that he even had to take a bus for less than 1000 feet to get to another bus because of the 0 tolerance rules.

The Olympic Sliding Center (where they have Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton) is almost next door to Ian's hotel. But much like we experienced in Tokyo, there are no official buses which will take people from the hotel to the venue. And they are not allowed to walk. So...(you are not going to believe this)...the only way to get to the venue is a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Beijing, and then a 3 1/2 bus ride back up the mountain! He said that some of the photographers he had talked to were getting up at 4am to make an 11am event. That is NUTS! At this rate, the press who were located in the mountains would be lucky to cover more than one sport per day.

I am just happy that he has made it through the worst part (we sure hope) and that Ian can get back to doing what he does best, shooting awesome sports photos! I am also happy to be here at home and not dealing with that.

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Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Beijing Winter Olympics: Watching TV but thinking like a photographer

It is so weird to watch the Olympics on television!

For the first time in 16 years, I am not at the Olympics, but sitting at my home watching it like most everyone else. This also means that it has been that long since I have heard the back stories, the commentating, and the spin that NBC puts on the Games. It has also been that long since I have heard the all too familiar Olympic theme song which has been used by NBC forever. I have to admit, I actually have missed hearing that song played before every Olympic segment.

I made sure to tune in to the opening ceremony, and had some really weird mixed feelings as I watched the broadcast.

I realized that when I was watching the ceremony, I was thinking photographically. I was watching each sequence and thinking "Would this part be worth shooting? and How would I shoot this?" Honestly, I watched the opening ceremony (with the luxury of fast forwarding through each country walking in - which is always too long when we are in the stadium), and I thought that the only part that would make great photos was the beginning. Yes, I even took a photo of the screen to show you what I am talking about. After this, most of the ceremony was using the giant LED display on the deck of the stadium, and lacked the energy of having people performing, much like the opening ceremony in Tokyo.

I have also watched many different sports over the last 5 days, way more than I would have seen if I was in Beijing photographing the one or two events per day. And when watching those, I am often torn between watching the athletes and looking at the photo positions and how many photographers are in the venues. It does look like there are far fewer photographers covering each sport, but I have yet to get clarification on how many photographers are actually at the Games.

The toughest sport to watch is hockey, knowing that I would normally be parked against the glass and shooting the action first hand whenever Team USA is on the ice. I get the email updates from the team, and it kills me that they are not able to use my images this time around.

I can assure you that I am not rethinking my decision to stay home, knowing that I would go absolutely nuts being locked in a small room for weeks. And I am still hearing the same horror stories that many of you might have seen or heard, with athletes and journalists being locked up for weeks in poor conditions as they wait anxiously for negative Covid tests. Stories like I shared from my friend Ian. (I talk to him every day and will share an update on his predicament soon.)

The one thing I miss the most, is knowing the back stories. NBC does a good job of showing the sports, but I want to know about the housing, the food, the transportation, the volunteers, and the overall conditions. I have reached out to some of my photographer friends who are there, but as expected, they are working crazy hours every day with little free time to communicate. That I know well!

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Thursday, February 3, 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: Good decision to stay home!

It is now Thursday here in the US, and tonight I will be watching Winter Olympics in Beijing on television like most of you. It will be the first time in 16 years that I have done that, and it will be with really mixed emotions.

First of all, I would like to thank the hundreds of people who reached out via email, blog comments, social media...in support of my decision not to go to China for these games. I really appreciate your feedback. Truly!

I spent the better part of two days undoing everything I had been working on for the year. Communicating with my contacts at Team USA, cancelling flights and hotels, cancelling Covid tests, and reaching out to all of my sponsors.

A lot has transpired in the last 5 days, since I wrote the last blog post, both great and bad.

Let's start with the great news!

Saturday night I was at home and getting ready for bed. It was supposed to be my last night at home before heading to China and I definitely had mixed emotions. And then...I got a text message from my son that his wife was in labor, two weeks early, and it was happening fast. I stayed up and waited, excited to hear the news, and at 12:49am my first grandchild was born! She arrived on the same morning that I would have been flying to China. That would have been REALLY hard for me not to see her in person for a month! I guess this was meant to be.

I am currently with my son and his family now and loving the time with them. I promise to post some photos in the future.

And then there is the bad news:

I mentioned in the last blog post that I would reach out to my photographer friends who were going to Beijing, to have them share content for the blog. I had two friends who I was communicating with the most. Kyle (from USA Today) who also decided not to go, and my buddy Ian MacNicol, who is an amazing sports photographer from Glasgow, Scotland. Days before Ian was supposed to fly out from Europe, his charter flight was cancelled (since so many people pulled out) and he had to scramble to get new flights. He ended up flying out earlier than expected.

Then he arrived in Beijing only to find out that he tested POSITIVE for Covid!

When he got to the airport, Ian had to do his Covid test and he said "This lady carried out a PCR test on me today, however I am sure she chose to use a knitting needle rather than a swab, the real killer was it felt like she drove it in with the heel of her hand! I swear I felt it scrape the back of my eyeball." This would put me over the edge!

After the test, he was transported to his hotel. As you can see, almost everyone working the Olympics in Beijing are wearing full PPE. Ian shoots of lot of the skiing events and, unlike me, he usually stays up in the mountain cluster. This was a 3 1/2 hour bus ride for him.

After getting to the hotel, he was notified that he had tested positive for Covid and would now be locked down. They put a guard in front of his room and he was not allowed to leave. Since nobody there speaks English, he is having a hard time communicating with them. They do have small translating devices, but he says that they are not working very well. At least he had a nice room with a good view (at the time).

The following morning Ian was tested again. This time they gave him a choice of a nasal test or a throat swab. As he told me "I was seriously worried that if they did the deep nose test everyday, they may cause brain damage to me." He happily chose the mouth swab. At this point he had symptoms as well, and found out that his son had Covid at home. If he had left on his original flight and not left early, he would have tested positive in Scotland and never left the country,

Later that first day, he told me that he was likely being moved from his hotel room to one of the quarantine hotels. And that is exactly what happened.

It was pretty late at night when they came to transport him to his new living quarters.

He said that his current location "seems like an old hotel that had been abandoned for a while" and the conditions are not so good. His view of the outside consists of a high fence to make sure that nobody gets in or out without permission.

I asked him how the food was and he sent me this photo. He said "there is enough food for three people, but all of it was hot at one point, but delivered cold."

He also told me "good news and bad - numbers are moving in the right direction but also learnt that when I eventually leave this place I have to isolate in my original hotel room for a further 7 days!"

This means that Ian may miss the entire Olympics and stay in a small room the entire time. I hope that is not the case. It is Ian's exact situation that kept me from making the trip to Beijing!

I have to say that Ian has a much better attitude than I would have in this situation. He is taking it all in stride. I check in with him at least a couple of times a day to try and keep his spirits high. He is posting images from his quarantine room on his Instagram account. You can follow him here. Let's make sure to comment on his posts and help him get through all this.

I will keep you all up to date on Ian's journey. I also know other photographers who have made it through the Covid net and are working the Olympics. I will try to share their stories and images as well.

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: NEW TURN OF EVENTS - I AM NOT GOING!

I just wrote a blog post on Monday telling you that I was going to photograph the Winter Olympics in Beijing. At the end of that blog post, I said that things could change at any time. But at that time, I really felt that everything was a "go". I called JAL and paid for my flight and confirmed everything with Team USA.

Then one day later I started hearing about charter flights being cancelled because so many attendees are pulling out, NBC not feeling it was safe to send their broadcasters, other news organizations pulling out, and a friend sent me this article:

https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics-on-high-alert-hazmat-suits-isolation-centers-midnight-knocks-at-the-door-025100701.html

I also heard about many other close friends and family members who currently have Covid, making me wonder if it was my turn at any minute.

Although I was never really feeling 100% about my decision to go, I now fell right back into my turmoil of the back and forth or deciding to risk it or pull the plug.

I have been working on the planning process for Beijing for more than a year, with the major work being done since returning from the Summer Olympics in Tokyo just 6 months ago. The thought of pulling out, after all this work and stress, kills me. But, I felt that under the circumstances, there was only one choice to make.

With that, I reached out to my contacts at Team USA and told them that I was scrubbing the trip. To say that this is a hard decision is an understatement. It isn't the cost of the airline penalties, it is the sadness of not photographing something I love so much. I have already seen ads on television for the Winter Olympics and received many messages from friends who are taking the risk and going, and I have to admit, it stings a bit.

I also know that there are many of you who reached out to me this week and told me how much you were looking forward to the photos and stories from these Games. I feel bad that I can not share those personal stories with you all.

So...for the next 3 weeks, I will be joining many of you watching the Olympics on television. It will be the first time in 15 years that I have done that. And yes, I am sure that it will be with mixed emotions for me.

I did have an idea that I am trying to put together now. That is, to have my friends who are in Beijing do some guest blogs, or allow me to interview them and write stories from their perspectives, using their images and experiences. I will be just as interested in what they are dealing with, as all of you. I hope to have more information on that soon.

I would like to thank all of you who have reached out with your points of view, words of encouragement, and overall support.

I just hope that this pandemic ends soon, and that we can get back to normal! Oh...and that Paris 2024 is back to normal too!

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Monday, January 24, 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: GO OR NO GO? - I HAVE MADE A DECISION

It was 11 days ago that I last wrote a blog post, and at the time I thought I would be just days away from letting you all know whether or not I was going to make it to the Beijing Winter Olympics. At the time I was still trying to lock down flights and a hotel.

Over the last week and a half I made a lot of progress, securing a special chartered flight on JAL (flying through Tokyo to Beijing) and getting a good room at the Holiday Inn in Beijing. Both are approved by the IOC and both were extremely helpful getting everything in place.

You would think that it all ends there, but that was not the case.

It was almost a week ago that I had confirmation from the airline and hotel, and was ready to tell you all the good news. And then there was a series of events that had me second guess everything!

HERE IS WHAT HAS ME SECOND GUESSING THE OLYMPICS:

Close calls with Covid positive friends and family

Three weeks ago I had dinner indoors at a restaurant with good friends, only to find out a week later that they both tested positive. Four days after that dinner, I was hanging out with my buddy Evan (who second shoots for me) at my house, only to find out that he tested positive 5 days later. And no, I don't think it was me who gave it to them since I was testing negative and they had close calls themselves.

In the past couple of weeks I have been even more cautious than in the past when it comes to Covid, choosing to wear a KN95 mask instead of a fabric mask, limiting my time at indoors facilities if I have a choice. But nonetheless the close calls continue. On Sunday I was supposed to go out to breakfast with my brother, his wife, and his boys. A half hour before leaving to meet them, I received a text from my brother scrubbing the breakfast since his oldest son woke up with a fever in the middle of the night. Later yesterday afternoon I heard that he was indeed positive for Covid.

Word from other photographers

Photographing the Olympics is really tough, and it is always nice to know that I have good friends there who are going through the same stress and crazy deadlines that I am. Well...I have talked to more than one of these friends who is opting not to go this time around. This made me wonder if I should be doing the same thing.

Fear of getting Covid in China

I have been really lucky and avoided getting Covid to this point (at least that I know of). The thought of testing positive in Beijing and being quarantined in a small room for a week scares me. This means that there will be a level of stress each day, as I get tested and wait for those results. Enough said on this one!

The testing process

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have real issues with "medical procedures" of any kind. Even though my father was a doctor, I really don't like needles or foreign things being shoved deep into my nose. In order for us to go into China, we have to do numerous tests where they do the "deep nose test". I have been happy to avoid this during the entire pandemic and really wanted to keep it that way.

My first grandchild is due to be born during the Olympics

This is a tough one. My son and his wife are expecting soon, with a due date around Feb 10th. Even though I would not be allowed at the hospital due to Covid protocol, it will be hard to be half way around the world when this big day happens.

Shooting the day before I leave

Since I ended up having to rebook all my flights and I am leaving a day earlier than originally planned, I am now shooting an event all day and night before I leave the next morning for the Olympics. I will be wearing my N95 mask the whole time and eating outdoors away from everyone! But this also means that I need to turn the cull through all those images and build a gallery late that night, before leaving. I prefer not to make my client wait a month for their proofs.

Losing sleep

There are more reasons than all of these, but suffice it say that I have been losing sleep over this for the last 10 days. I am not saying this in a figurative way. I have literally been waking up around 3am every night and lay awake for at least an hour worrying before getting back to sleep. Melatonin has been my best friend.

TODAY WAS MY DAY TO MAKE A FINAL DECISION

I created a pro / con list and have been looking at it daily. And yes, there are a ton of reasons to go to the Olympics too. Some of those are:

* It is always an amazing experience (which I love sharing with all of you)

* I have commitments to the team and don't want to let them down

* My first Olympics was the Summer Olympics in Beijing and it would be cool to be there again, in the same buildings which have been repurposed for the Winter Olympics.

* I have been working on this for more than a year and know that I will regret not going. FOMO (Fear of missing out) is a real thing!

After weighing all the options, and having a couple of discussions with my contact at the team, I have made the decision to go. I am tired of going back and forth and not knowing what to do. I called my contact at Japan Airlines and made final payment about 2 hours ago. I can tell you that just 3 days ago I was working on a blog post explaining to you all why I was NOT going to make the trip. This has been a really tough decision!

There are still some hurdles to overcome. I need to stay away from the Covid virus and I need to get my approved Covid tests prior to flying out (yuck!). I also need to start the long process of packing cameras, lenses and cold weather clothing.

If all goes well, I will be shooting the opening ceremony from the Birds Nest in 10 days.

Not to sound like a broken record...but... Stay tuned. In this crazy world, things could change at any time.

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Thursday, January 13, 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: CREDENTIALS, FLIGHTS, HOUSING, COVID AND MORE!

Talk about backwards! We are now about 2 weeks from when I am supposed to depart for the Winter Olympics in Beijing and I still do not have my flights or hotel locked in yet.

Weirdly enough, I just received my credentials for the Beijing Games. Under normal circumstances, when I receive this coveted credential via UPS, I celebrate this as the culmination of years of planning and the signal that it is almost "go time".

This time around, it appears that I am doing things backwards.

Credentials? Check!

Everything else? Well...nope!

But I do have some good news to share with you all:

FLIGHTS

I did hear back from Japan Airlines and they are holding a seat for me on a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo (seems like I was just there) and then connecting to Beijing. And a return flight the day of the closing ceremony. I have yet to see an actual reservation, and I have not paid for the ticket yet, but I have confidence that this will happen.

HOUSING

Initially it looked like my only option for a hotel in Beijing was through the USOPC and going to cost me $400 a night. Since I am there for 3 weeks, that would total more than $8000. Yikes! When I saw that, I then went onto the Olympic AMS (Accommodation Management System) web site to request something a little more reasonable. Only to see that the organizing committee has stopped booking reservations as of 12.27. Uh oh!

The good news is that the people who run the AMS site sent me a list of approved hotels and let me contact them directly. I have found several options that are more affordable and hope to get something booked soon.

And here is some bad news:

COVID TESTING REQUIREMENTS

China is requiring that we have special Covid tests that must be performed at pre-determined labs around the country. I called to get more information on these tests and found out that they will cost $600 for the two tests. What the heck? I think someone is profiting off this pandemic!

THE OMICRON SPREAD

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard about the massive spread of the Omicron variant of Covid around the world. And now China has locked down approximately 20 million people in their country to keep the virus from spreading and interrupting the Olympic Games. I have heard of some press who have already arrived in Beijing (testing negative before taking off) and testing positive on arrival. This means that they have to quarantine in less than desirable conditions. This scares the heck out of me! I even know of many of my friends who have Covid now, and I am doing my best to hole up at home and stay as safe as I can. But I do have some events to shoot and will likely double mask to protect myself as best as I can in the mean time.

LACK OF SLEEP

Knowing that the Olympics is a 3 week span of sleep deprivation, I usually try to rest up before the big trip. But with all of this stress, I have been waking up at all hours of the night. The only good thing about this is that I can communicate with the people in China, since they are working when we should be sleeping.

NOW WHAT?

I thought I would have everything wrapped up by now, but it appears that I have another week of work ahead of me. I promise to keep you all updated.

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Saturday, January 8, 2022

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: THE UNKNOWN AND THE STRESS!

"Are you going to the Winter Olympics in Beijing?"

Over the last couple of weeks I have received countless emails, IMs, text messages, social media comments, and phone calls asking this question.

This Olympics has proven to be way more complicated than Tokyo (which we thought would be the most difficult ever). As I mentioned in a previous blog post, China has cancelled all flights into the country. It wasn't until recently that I found out that I can use my Olympic credentials to get a special charter flight to Beijing. They are limiting incoming flights to select charter flights from cities like Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo, and only for Olympic athletes and staff. I was sent a couple of documents to help me with my search. One had a list of people in Beijing who are acting as "flight support attache" and another with specific contacts at certain airlines who will try to help us out. A couple of days ago I reached out to the flight attache people but that got me nowhere.

At the same time I sent emails to many of those airline contacts to see if they can help me get where I need to go and when I need to be there. The European carriers would require me to fly to Europe and then to China. That would double or triple the travel time and definitely not work for me. The Asian carriers are my best bet and I have been spending late nights communicating with them in their time zones. So far Japan Airlines has been the best at communicating, and I have the highest hopes to fly with them. Air China got back to me but the price for a round trip on the 3 hour flight from Tokyo to Beijing was $1700. What the heck? Add that to the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and that gets really expensive!

Normally I have my flights, accommodations, contract and everything else complete about one year in advance. We are now 3 weeks from the Winter Olympics and I have nothing yet. And from what I am hearing, most media are in the same boat right now. It is craziness!

In parallel with my flight researching, I am also investigating my accommodation options in Beijing, and a little nervous about booking this at the last minute. But I have no choice and will deal with that once I can confirm that I can get to the Games.

At this point I am making the assumption that I will work all this out and get to the Olympics and lining up the clothing and gear I would need. I have already talked to Canon and they are going to hook me up with the Canon R3 cameras I need. Apple is going to get me the screaming fast new 16" MacBook Pro with the M1 Max processor. This time I am photographing primarily for USA Hockey and the deadlines are even tighter than the Summer Olympics. I will have the new computer on the ice with me, and I will be downloading, retouching and posting from the dasher boards. Crazy, but true. Speed is even more important this time around. There is no time to go to the press room at the venue since the break between periods is 15 minutes.

Oh...and let's not forget the Covid testing requirements. They are going to require a whole bunch of negative Covid tests before we head to the Olympics, and a negative test once we get there. With this Omicron variant covering the world, this makes me nervous too! I did get confirmation that once we are in China, we will be tested everyday with swabs in our mouth. This seriously beats the anal swabs that were initially proposed!

Is all this a little stressful? Heck yeah!

I should know more details by early next week. Stay tuned!

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