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/

Amazing School Performance

Today I had the pleasure of photographing my son's school play, and wow, was I surprised. I was expecting the usual elementary school performance, but instead was entertained by the most amazing performance by 7th and 8th graders. Luckily I brought my good camera equipment so that I could capture these kids. They performed Beauty and the Beast and would have made Disney proud. I am looking forward to next year's show.

Toronto Flowers

I had a couple of hours to myself in Toronto and decided to take a walk, just me and my camera. I knew that they always had great flowers in one spot downtown so I strolled over and took some shots. Nothing too amazing, but this one caught my attention. Toronto is one of my favorite cities: the people are pleasant, great sites to see and, hey, it is the home of hockey!

Right place, right time

We are down in San Diego today to shoot an event at the San Diego Yacht Club. Nice setting for a party! We arrived today and will be shooting for most of tomorrow. This evening we were having a glass of wine just off of the golf course, with my camera close by, and I saw this hummingbird hovering a couple of feet from me. I had my Canon 40D and 200mm (with a 1.4x adaptor) in my lap and got off some shots before he took off. The lighting and shutter speed were well matched and I was happy to get this image showing the awesome speed of the wings.

Short trip to Brazil

After a canceled flight and an unscheduled night in Chicago, I finally made it to Sao Paulo at 3:30am on Wed morning. This made for one really long day of meetings and since they do not eat dinner until 10:30pm (and took us back to the hotel at 3am) needless to say, I was just a little exhausted. No time for photography in Sao Paulo, so it was off to Rio De Janeiro at 8am for another two days. One full day of meetings and then half a day to go shoot. The picture above was taken from the statue of Christ which looms over the city. The weather cooperated with me since the previous days had all been overcast and it cleared for my free afternoon of shooting.

Trip to Southern California with the family

We surprised the kids and took them to Disneyland during their school break. On our first day, we went to Newport Beach, back to visit the old beach house which Annette's extended family owned many years ago. Things had changed quite a bit but we all enjoyed the walk along the beach and the sunset.

The fishing boats made for a cool picture with the colors of the boats and the color in the sky.

We went to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Ali liked Disneyland better and Connor preferred California Adventure because the roller coasters. He especially like the California Screaming ride. He and I went back to the theme park at night (until 11pm) to take that ride a couple of times at night. Of course, I could not miss the picture. I only had my Casio point-and-shoot camera but I found a good resting place for it and got this shot.


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

http://www.jeffcable.com/SoCal

Not another trip to Las Vegas?

Yep...

It seems that all the trade shows are in Las Vegas this year, and so, I am back in LV once again. I really did not have any free time to shoot pictures except for the first night. I had a suite at the Hilton and had a huge balcony to shoot from. While we were setting up for meetings the next day, I took a break and stepped out to capture some images at my favorite time of the day. It was about 15 minutes after sunset and I took advantage of the vantage point. I took out my Canon 40D, set it up on my trusty Gitzo tripod (which I take in my carry-on bag just about everywhere). I popped in my 8GB Lexar 300x UDMA Pro card and went to town. I only grabbed 30 shots but was happy to walk away with one winner (which is all I ever ask for)!

Capturing photos in Mammoth Lakes, CA

Even a broken jaw can't keep me from shooting. I had a chance to go out shooting with my good friend Moose Peterson, who lives in Mammoth (www.moosepeterson.com) and I wasn't going to miss that opportunity. He is such a great photographer and an even better person. We drove out to a small "town" called Benton, which basically has one building standing, and shot pictures of the old remaining structures. The sky was overcast which was perfect for us.
The great thing about the snow is that I can take pictures of our dog, Bailey. Since he is all black, it is difficult to take good pictures of him, but the snow acts as a giant reflector and helps me out. He loves the snow and I love taking pictures of him. What a funny dog he is.The kids enjoy the snow as much, or more, than the dog. Since I had a broken jaw, I wasn't about to go sledding, but I always enjoy photographing them doing their thing.

Back to Natural Bridges (to get the shot!)

I really liked the butterfly clusters but was not very happy with the "quick shot before the family complains" image. So, I went back to the same spot, this time with a tripod and a Canon 1Ds Mark III camera and captured this image. I used a 100-400mm L lens and a 580EX flash to light the shadows. Even though I took 30 or 40 images, I was happy to come home with this one. Who would have known that I was going to break my jaw playing ice hockey the next night. :)

San Francisco Bay after sunset

It helps to be at the right place at the right time. I was shooting a Bar Mitzvah in the Berkeley Hills (across from San Francisco) and had a break in between shooting the service and the reception. Instead of eating (which I should have done since I was starving) I drove high into the Berkeley hills to capture this shot. I really love the clouds, the deep sunset colors, the deep clue of the water all mixed with the lights of the city. Since this was taken in December, many of the building in San Francisco were lit up for the holidays.