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On The RoadFebruary, 2006
With Torino in mind, these questions have come up frequently over the past few months "Hey Dave, are you going to the Winter Olympics in Torino and What Equipment Do You Take?" Well,......here are the answers...................
Well....That about does it for me. I hope you all have enjoyed this insight as to what I take On The Road to the Winter Olympics. Remember, I won't be reading or responding to any emails during February, please email questions you might have sometime in March...thanks. Adios, Dave
May,
2008 (click here) |
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Image
#1 Yes. I am going to Torino. This will be my 12th Olympic
games. I will be working for Newsweek Magazine where I will
be one of three photographers hired for their Olympic coverage.
I am looking forward to these games for a number of reasons.
First of all it is always an honor to photograph the Olympics.
No event is bigger and no event seems to bring forth so
much emotion. Second, it is always a pleasure to work for
Newsweek. As a freelance independent photographer I seldom
work with a group so I really enjoy being part of a team
of writers, editors and photographers. Third, I have never
been to Italy. I have been to events overseas all of my
career but never to Italy, so, I am looking forward to seeing
new places and meeting new people. Fourth, there are many
athletes that I have been photographing for several years
and I always enjoy seeing them compete. Lastly, it is a
great job to be able to photograph history being made, sometimes
as many as 4 or 5 times each day for 16 days in a row. This
image of the Winter Olympic Flame is from my first Winter
Olympic games in Calgary 1988. 
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#2 As far as the question, "what equipment do I take,"
here is an image of my collection of equipment before I packed
it up for Italy. The Winter Olympic Games require a number
of items not usually included in the normal road trip. Standard
pieces like 3 Nikon D2X cameras, Nikon 10.5, 12-24, 70-200,
200 f2, 200-400, 300 f2.8, 400 f2.8, 600 f4, 1.4 Teleconverters
are a given. I will also bring nine 4G, twelve 2G, twelve
1G and twelve 512MB Lexar Flash Cards....these are several
years worth of accumulated flash cards. I will be shooting
raw/jpg although Newsweek requires only the jpg unless a cover
or 2 page spread is running. I personally use the raw files
for future sales from my archives. I bring a couple of Pocket
Wizard Transceivers for the occasional remote camera use and
an assortment of Bogen pieces like a Magic Arm, Super Clamp,
Tripod and Monopod. I will also take five Nikon SB800 Speedlights
for location portraiture assignments. Although I'm expecting
to cover mostly blade sports and freestyle skiing I will bring
my Olin Radius skies with Marker M-44 Twincam Bindings and
my NORDICA Syntech Rear Entry Ski Boots just in case I am
called upon to shoot some alpine events.
Image
#3 Here are few odd items most photographers don't carry
to the daily job. Cramp-Ons, Nikon Pistol Grips and an Ice
Screw. The Cramp-Ons are the most important. They are a
rack of 2 inch spikes that fix to a ski boot or climbing
boot that will enable me to climb up an icy ski slope like
Spiderman climbs up a skyscraper. They are extremely sharp
and a nuisance to pack but are a life saver (and sometimes
a requirement when working on the mountain). This season
I am using the STUBAI brand. Cramp-Ons are usually worn
when covering the alpine racing but can be useful at the
Freestyle Events, Snowboarding and Ski Jump venues as well.
I will bring 2 Nikon Pistol Grips ...1 for my 200 f2 and
1 for my 300 f2.8. The Nikon Pistol Grip is no longer available
(please don't email me and ask where to find one) but they
can sometimes be found in a used camera store. I do not
use the pistol grip to trigger the camera but only as a
support grip instead of a monopod. The next odd item is
really odd...an Ice Screw ...or at least that is what I
call it. This tool screws into the icy slope to which I
can then clip my backpack to with a caribiner. Sounds extravagant
but the pitch of the mountain is so steep that you cannot
set your bag down without having it slide hundreds of feet
down the mountain. I can also caribiner myself to the Ice
Screw and take a nap without sliding down the slope.
Image
#4 Laptop, Hard Drive, Card Reader and Olympic Identification
Card...round out the packing process. I am currently using
the Fujitsu S Series Lifebook, model S 7010. It is very
fast, very lite, very thin, a beautiful Crystal Screen,
has plenty of storage (about 70 G) and has a really fast
DVD burner. It is my favorite PC since going digital. I
use a lexar USB 2.0 Compact Flash Card Reader. It is very
small and fast. I also bring a LACIE 500 G external Hard
Drive. I will burn DVDs quite often but have all the images
on the external hard drive as well. Last but not least,
my Olympic Identity Card...worth its weight in gold. No
Credential is harder to obtain. My Olympic ID Card will
be activated by the Torino Organizing Committee upon my
arrival in the Torino airport. Once activated it becomes
my Olympic Credential. It is an ALL ACCESS accreditation
which means I can go to all the Olympic venues. Some photographers
represent magazines that only cover a specific sport. Therefore,
some credentials are single sport credentials that allow
access to only one venue, like Speedskating or Curling.
Photographers with a single sport credential can only access
the one venue that has their sport. 
