Red, White and Blue

 

 

 

 

Happy Faces

 

 

 

 

Closing Ceremony

 

It’s August 24th and we are taking our last few steps of a mad dash. There is a lot to pack into the last day of the Olympics. Luckily, I have nothing to shoot in the morning. By now I can’t even guess how many frames I’ve shot . But I do know that some of the rubbery finish on my new cameras is flaking off. I also notice that some of the anti-reflective coating on my eyeglasses has been rubbed off from pressing my face against the camera and looking through the viewfinder for hours and hours each day. My right thumb is cramped because it manipulates the most important controls on the camera (autofocus, focus lock and shutter speed). And why shouldn’t my equipment and I be a little worn out after three-plus weeks? There is no organized event that is more taxing for a photographer than the Olympics. Nothing compares to it in terms of the number of frames you shoot. Nothing compares to the amount of hustling, elbowing, negotiating, cajoling, rushing and waiting required of you to make a picture and send it back home.
Of course, August 24th requires that I score a ticket to get into the closing ceremony. Smiley lays the ground work to score another ticket from the USOC the day before. The USOC has been great about helping us out to the best of their ability. At noon on the 24th, I’m told there are no tickets available but that some may become available at 3pm for the 8pm ceremony. Unfortunately that’s right in the middle of the men’s basketball gold medal game. My contact at the USOC gives me his cell phone number and tells me to call at halftime to find out if a ticket becomes available. I asked him to handicap the chances I’ll get one. He says 33%. So I go to the basketball game and shoot the first half.
The Spanish are not content with just getting on the podium. And the Redeem Team doesn’t get out of the gate very well. The Spanish have the lead for times in the first half. The U.S. takes the lead but not control. It’s a good game. But then the clock strikes three and I call the USOC from the sideline of the game. If the TV camera panned to my area at the end of the first half, then I would have been the guy sitting on the bench with a phone in one ear, a finger in the other, a camera around my neck and another one on a monopod leaning on my shoulder. I probably looked like the crazy, one-man-band playing 8 different instruments at the park for spare change. I get good news. I have a ticket but I have to pick it up ASAP. I think a bit and text one of the writers and ask him to pick up the ticket. I wait a bit longer but there is no reply. So I collect all my stuff and rush out of the arena to board yet another bus.
With ticket in hand I have a chance to rest. The ceremonies start at 8pm. The photographers from the Hearst newspapers gather at the cafeteria for a “pregame” meal at 6:45pm. Our collective energy level is noticeable low. We formulate a game plan as we pick through our dishes. Some of us are shooting up high (cheap seats) and two of us are shooting low (platform from which I shot all my track and field). I’m shooting in the thin air. We start off to the Bird’s Nest at about 7:35. It’s usually about a 20 minute walk. We’re cutting it close. It’s wall-to-wall humanity. Paths that we had walked for three weeks were now blocked off. Security has increased tenfold. As we swim our way upstream, we somehow end up walking with the Olympic Team from Zimbabwe. We’re in an aisle bracketed by steel gates. We are cattle being funneled into the barn. Less than 100 meters (yeah, I’ve gone all metric since being here) from the stadium entrance, we finally find a volunteer who clears a section of the metal barrier for us to enter though the media entrance.
We disperse to our shooting spots. I have to take the elevator and fight through a dozen indifferent photographers to find my spot. My spot is just a regular stadium seat. It’s a tight spot for three cameras, a backpack and a monopod. Fortunately, the seats on either side are empty.
The show starts and it’s great. ‘Looks good through the lens and is entertaining. I sneak a peek at my pictures of the opening moments and I’m please. However, I notice the huge drums suspended in the air look like massive wheels of cheese. I am hungry and wonder if there are boulder-like apples and front-door-sized crackers to go with the mountain of Gouda. The athletes enter the field and they dance around. I think, “Wow, I wish I were down there. They’re having a great time.” After about 30 minutes of dancing and wandering, the athletes seem bored. Some sit on the ground. Some leave the field to come back later. My envy goes away. The tower as centerpiece for the show was a strange choice. I was fearful someone was going to fall to their death. I’m sure this ceremony set an Olympic record for most people flying through the air.
Things get downright bizarre when the Brits, who will host London 2012, put on their little show. The double decker bus driving around the track is cool. Then it cracked open like a broiled lobster and out jumps singing diva and a graying Japanese man playing a guitar. And they’re playing Whole Lotta’ Love by Led Zeppelin (the sanitized version, anyway). The singer has great pipes but what catches my eye (and ear) is the old Japanese dude wailin’ on the guitar. I think, ‘Dang, that’s a spot-on Jimmy Page.” Then it occurs to me, “That IS Jimmy Page! The gray-haired Japanese guy is rock guitar god, Jimmy Page!” After that, things just kind of got fuzzy. I had been up until 4 a.m. editing pictures. I had shot a half of basketball and had to secure my ceremony ticket. I was tired. Mercifully the ceremony lasts only two hours. The Flame is extinguished and quite frankly, so am I.

 

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as you blink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself
It's later than you think

Music by Carl Sigman. Lyrics by Herb Magidson
My favorite version recorded by the Specials

Huja in Print and Online

Three of my photos made the Houston Chronicle newspaper (print version). Three of my pictures from the U.S.A. vs. Spain gold medal basketball made the Chronicle's online gallery for day 17.

Click Here for a link to the photo gallery. My photos are numbers 23-25.

Fireworks during the Closing Ceremony

 

 

Faces from the Closing Ceremony

Even among medal winners and Olympic athletes, Yao Ming is the big man on campus

 

London mayor, Boris Johnson takes the Olympic flag as symbolic start to London 2012

 

More Images from the Closing Ceremonies

 

 

 

 

Images From the Closing Ceremony

 

 

 

Winner, winner - Chicken dinner!

LeBron James raises his fist to celebrate hitting a jumpshot. The U.S. men's basketball team, dubbed the Redeem Team, close out a perfect run with a 118-107 victory over a game Spanish squad in the gold medal game on Sunday, August 24

 

U.S.A. vs. Spain in the men's basketball gold medal game

LeBron James challenges Pau Gasol

 

Dwayne Wade blows by Felipe Reyes

 

Ricky Rubio's pleas fall on deaf ears

 

Lebron James looks to make a pass by Rudy Fernandez

 

The best way to express the Olympic Spirit . . .

Is through inteprative dance . . . with hula hoops . . . wearing black, leather pants

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, once again the Beijing Dream Dancers

Not everyone was excited about the start of the men's basketball gold medal match

This guy is NOT hidden away in some corner of the arena. He is leaning on the base of the backboard tower - ten minutes before tip-off.

 

Wake up sleepy head!

Taekwon D'oh!

Lots of controversy in this judged sport. If you are reading my Olympic blog, you have no doubt seen and/or read about the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee and was banned for life (as was his coach). On a personal note, huge respect to the ref because he didn't go down.
Ref Kicked Story

The Lopez family of Sugarland, Texas was also on the bad end of dubious judging.
Steven Lopez controversy

The outcome of another match was overturned after it ended and a formal protest was made.
Stevenson Wins Bronze after match result overturned

If I were to wager, I'd bet that Taekwondo would be cut from Olympic games due to the controversy stemming from the draconian and opaque ruling of the sport by the World Taekwondo Federation (per the Steven Lopez controversy article by David Barron linked above). There is a chance, however, that controversy will attract more attention for the sport much like the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan/Jeff Gillooly affair. As they say, there is no such thing as bad press.

Funny, interesting and odd things I've seen or heard . . .

"Ni Howdy!" How a Southerner says "hello" in Chinese

Many of the swimmers scoop water from the pool and drink it before they race. I can only assume it's a superstition among swimmers.

A photographer pointed out to me how all the NBC video cameras were ancient. Said the reason is that the deal NBC struck with the Olympics and the Chinese Olympic Committee is that all gear that NBC brings into China, they have to leave behind.

Someone said to me that the rumor is, the reason China got the Olympics is that the U.S. got their spy plane back. Remember the spy plane that was forced to land on Hainan Island?

Click Here for an old CNN story of this incident

Incident happened in May, 2001. China was awarded the Olympics in July, 2001. Hmmmm

Nikon gear is everywhere this Olympics. If you see photographers on TV, the guys with gray lenses are shooting Canon. They guys with black lenses are shooting Nikon. At the Athens games, you'd have been hard pressed to find a black lens out of a crowd of photographers. Here in Beijing, it's about 50/50. Why is this? The Nikon D-3 is kicking Canon's butt. The interesting part? Only a few photogs own their Nikon gear. Most of it is loaner gear as Nikon tries to spread the gospel and chip away at Canon's market share. I'm sure they'll be many converts. Full disclosure: I'm shooting loaner Nikon gear. Many thanks to the good people of Nikon for their generosity.

The U.S. gymnastics team did not march in opening ceremonies and won't march in the closing ceremonies tomorrow. They are all back in the 'States. CORRECTION. Shawn Johnson is still in the Middle Kingdom. Gotta' love that little sparkplug.

At some early baseball games, one scoreboard listed strikes and balls, but not outs. The other scoreboard listed outs, but no strikes and balls. Neither listed the "Runs/Hits/Error" stats either. It drove me crazy. But remember, baseball is still new to the Chinese.


In the pin trading corner just outside of the MPC, I offered to buy a pin from a women. She looked at me as if I had just told her she had an ugly child. Evidently, buying pins is bad form. It's all about the trade. Lesson learned. A guy offered to trade me some ugly pin that had nothing to do with the Olympics for my Houston Chronicle pin of the Bird's Nest Stadium. Out of principle, I said no. Funny thing is, had he just asked if he could have it, I would have given it to him.

In the much-anticipated women's 4x100m race, Team Pompom narrowly defeats Team Fuwa. The Jamaican women finish a distant third to earn the bronze

 

In a post-race interview, Beibei Fuwa (on left in blue and inflated) said, "Though I would have loved to hear the Olympic anthem, "Forever Friends," played during the medal ceremony, it's an honor to win the silver and to be on the medal podium. My teammates Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini and I want to thank all the fans for their support. We would also like to congratulate Team Pompom (on right, wearing yellow, holding ummm well . . . pompoms) on winning the gold medal. We knew they would be stiff competition from the close race we ran against them at the World Championships in Berlin and they were the better team today."

Ho-hum . . . Team USA defeats Argentina to advance to the gold medal game

LeBron James elevates over Fabricio Oberto of Argentina for an easy score in the first half

 

Carmelo Anthony of Team U.S.A. disagrees with a first half call

 

Teammates intervene as Carmelo Anthony eyes Andres Nocioni of Argentina after a hard foul

 

Guard Pablo Prigioni of Argentina dribbles past Chris Paul

 

Laker Girls need not worry about their job security

Halftime and timeout entertainment during the basketball games: Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of applaus for the Beijing Dream Dancers! (I'm not making this up. That is their name)

 

The Beijing Dream Dancers have many costume changes during the course of a game. Not every costume is as unflattering as this outfit, but most are.

 

The Beijing Dream Dancers even "honor" the ethnic people of China - the blonde on the right is probably adopted

 

. . . and let's throw in some Faux Flamenco Dancing while we're at it