Another crazy week with lots to share! I thought it would be fun to give you guys a little taste of the village that I am staying in. It is very hard to believe that none of the below existed 16 months ago! This is the normal view as I go to breakfast every day. Not too shabby!
One morning, I noticed the moon close to the mountain and a little smoke and fog. It was pretty cool and had a very “Sleepy Hollow” feel.
One day, my colleagues JD Mercer, Guy Rhodes, and I had a break in between shooting and so we came back to the village to check out some of the festivities. This guy cooks all sorts of yummy meats and serves tea out of this huge thing. (Russians like their tea almost as much as the British!)
So, where do we end up on our search for food? Why Pizza of course! Well, we had to try the Russian pizza and I must say THUMBS UP! The crust is super thin, but that is how I usually like it anyway!
Next, we decided to hit the local market to get a few items and of course I had my camera with me. 😉 One thing I noticed is that Russia loves beer lol. There were hundreds of different kinds on two aisles! There were also quite a few local delicacies which we left alone. 😉
By now, the security forces have grown used to all the people around wanting photos and generally sharing pleasantries, so we got in on the fun…
On our way back, we saw a ONESIE store. Yes, you read that right! They must be very popular here it seems. I am just afraid that if I bought Alycia one, she might not wear anything else again. 😉
So, for the action this week, I shot a bit of Skeleton, Snowboard Cross, and Bobsled. A funny moment happened when I was setting up a remote camera in curve 5 of the track. I was doing some testing when NBC analyst Lewis Johnson snuck up on me and took a photo. We chatted a bit and I later found out that he actually lives in the DFW Metroplex as well! Small world for sure!
I know some of you may be asking what my remote camera shots look like, so here is one from that night…
First up was the Men’s Skeleton final where Russian Alexander Tretjyakov simply dominated. I think my venue has to have the record for most winners jumping into the stands lol!
Next, I got the chance to shoot Snowboard Cross for the first time in my life! It is pretty much where snowboarders will race each other down a mountain full of ramps, etc… It would normally be a blast to shoot, but this day would be absolutely miserable weather wise! It rained, snowed, and as you can see got really foggy! In fact, on the fog photo, I could not even see the racers until they jumped! But, not much you can do when mother nature intervenes!
Some of you that have seen me on tv have asked what that cable is sticking out of my camera. Well, it actually allows us to tag our photos as we shoot and send them to editors right away. That way, the photo are edited remotely and the world sees what we are shooting in a matter of seconds! (USA Today has the cool pink cables.)
My friend Aja Evans who is represented by my college buddy Kelli Masters competed in the women’s bobsled race last night and it was awesome to see her win a bronze medal! In fact, the USA won both a Silver and a Bronze and it made for some great photos! It also helps when you are buddies with an athlete as you know they will react and celebrate right at you! Congrats Aja! So happy and proud of you!
And the Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse took the Gold…
I had the afternoon off after covering Bobsled practice today and so I thought I would travel to the coast to check out the Media center as well as the Olympic Park, etc… I couldn’t believe that it was near 60 degrees and people were walking around in Tshirts and shorts!! This is the WINTER Olympics after all!
In the media center, there are monitors set up showcasing the work of each agency. It was cool to see a few of my images on the USA Today feed…
I then went outside and walked around the Olympic Park. This one is for Alycia as she loves all sorts of tropical trees incuding palms…
Of course when I made it to the flame, I had to take a selfie!
Then an artistic shot as the light was pretty neat…
We are in the last week and I have several events left to cover. I’ll also do a full wrap up and security blog later. I’ll leave you guys with a few more bobsled favorites I took from the last week…
