Micro Blog: 10th September 2010 (Youth Olympic Games)

Originals, Selected, Edited_Sent.....these were the names of the folders that I was creating everyday for about 2 weeks.

The first Youth Olympic Games was held in Singapore (from Aug to Sept 2010) and I was one of the shooters appointed by Host News Agency (HNA) to shoot and supply images for usage by websites and newspapers the world over. Yes, I was nervous for I was quite a greenhorn when it came to sports photography. My usual photography either sees me panning along with horses or standing by the tripod adjusting ND grads. Thus practice was essential and I found myself covering sporting events months before the actual Games itself.

Our task for the Games was simple. Every match or event had to have at least 5 keepers (selects) that we have to post-process and upload 45 minutes after the event. The specs for uploaded files was sent out and we are expected to follow them for all the images. The only problem I had was whether I could churn out 5 keepers per event. It will be all about planning and luck thus I decided to return to the mindset of a landscape shooter and recced whatever location I could way in advance.

The first few days was Basketball and not much problems with the keepers. My confidence level went up and on the last day, I received a call to cover Archery for just a day after Basketball. Sure I will go, afterall, it will be an eye-opener and shooting a variety of sports adds much needed flavour.. Now, Archery is known to be not the most exciting of sports and I knew it would be a major challenge. There will not be much action and reaction shots will tell the story here.

The rainy day soaked me from head to toe. The cameras started acting up and with no proper meals (long story but it is all about branding issues), it was a shoot that I was glad to finish. The action was not exciting but there were reactions from the young archers that were worth their weight in gold. Having these shots made me forget about the weather and soaked gear. A variety of lenses was used for Archery, from 16 to 300 on a 5D2 and 7D.

Hockey was next on the list and again, it's one sport that I have had zero experience with. With that in mind, I told myself to head down earlier to watch at least a match before my turn comes. It turned out to be not complicated at all and seeing the players dribble the ball with the agility and skill of what Lionel Messi could do with a ball at his feet was memerising.

By the end of the first week, I was a changed photographer, from landscapes and macro, I was now constantly on the move and no more am I fixed in a single position. There was no waiting for the tide to go out, the light to arrive or the wind to die down. My thinking of minimal cropping had to be thrown out and shooting high ISOs was going to be the norm. That said, I was still in my old habit of stopping down my lenses at least a single stop to improve the level of sharpness. Tripods, as much as my affection for them was not allowed and in all honesty, I never needed one. I however had a strong decade-old Manfrotto monopod that saw more use in the 2 weeks than in the years I owned it.

The second week consisted mainly of indoor events. The one I was to cover was Judo though I did wander over to the Handball arena to have a go. Boxing, just a fewhalls away did not have very ideal shooting positions as only the Pool photographers had access to the ropes. There were period of free time in between events and it was during these periods where I could set the camera to RAW, use lenses such as the tilt-shifts and get as creative as my juices could flow. I was in the stands, low on the ground, metres away from the players. Oh, I did rush off to the Diving venue for the finals and it was just amazing.

On my only rest day, I was hired to cover Equestrian for the Singapore Turf Club. Having covered horse racing for close to 8 years, it was however my first time shooting Equestrian. Arriving early was again on the schedule and the light was okay. Nothing fantastic and ISO 3200 had to be used. The D3 with a 70-200 VR allowed me to cover the action when it was too close for the long lens. The long lens setup was another D3 with the Sigma 300-800. Zooms are preferable for sports and Equestrian was one event where I full appreciated the ability to change focal length on the fly. Primes as fast as they may be would have been too restricting.

The prize ceremony for the Equestrian saw me shooting from a much further distance than the other shooters. I wanted as much compression and as narrow an angle of view as possible and using the long lens, I was shooting in the stands and got the shots I wanted. Had I been with the other shooters out in the front, the background would have been a big mess of spectators and not to mention the stark white sky that was clearly seen.

It was pure fun shooting without the pressure of the 5 keepers but I have to say that the 2 weeks was really full of good pressure. Pressure that made me smile when I got the reaction shot of the American judoka as he came out victorous over his North Korean counterpart. Pressure that made me nearly scream out everytime I had to go through the scanners, onlyfor my belt to trigger off the alarm. Pressure that made me laugh when I saw the expressions of the young diver that had his mouth wide open when he was in mid-flight.

Would I do it again if I had the chance? Sure I would though given the number of excellent shooters we had, I would have to say this was a chance of a lifetime. Oh, and the endless supply of Minute Maid Orange was something I was looking forward to everyday as well.

To view the YOG portfolio, click here.