Brutal Day 1

Just like the rest of the world, the entire Media Center was in shock over the tragic death of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. It set a somber tone for the day leading up to the Opening Ceremony.
Photographers and scribes covering the Ceremony from inside B.C. Place were to board buses at the MPC at 2pm. It's only a mile or so distance between the two so media had to sit on their hands until the 6pm start. I on the other hand was going to shoot the outside fireworks from the Athletes Village which is located across False Creek from B.C. Place. Our rendez vous time was 4:15. About twenty photographers marched to the Waterfront Sky Train station to take public transit to get to the Village. After arriving at our stop it started raining. We waited at a McDonald's (an official Olympic sponsor, after all) until we got the go ahead to enter the Village. The Village was devoid of any athletes at this point - they of course were marching in the ceremonies. We set up our cameras on the esplanade overlooking False Creek at approximately 6pm and waiting for fireworks. It rained. It cleared up. The winds picked up. The winds died down. The winds picked up again. It sprinkled. It drizzled. The clouds filled the sky. The skies cleared up. We covered our cameras with plastic bags. We wiped the moisture from the front of the lens. If we craned our necks, we could see a TV inside broadcasting the ceremonies. Just after 9pm, a quick burst of fireworks shot up over B.C. Place. It lasted 10 seconds - maybe 15. And that was it. Then fireworks started from Burrard Inlet, which is unfortunate since we were no where near it and only saw one explosion which clear the buildings that were blocking the view. It was a pitiful fireworks display and a big waste of time. On average, the photographers got one, maybe two frames for a 6 hours investment of time. The best frame I made didn't even involved the fireworks.