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| Photo by Robert Hanashiro/USA Today |
| U.S.A. light heavyweight Andre Ward is photographed in front of the Parthenon in Athens on August 8, 2004. Click photo for a gallery of Hanashiro's images from the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. |
AP: How does covering the Olympics compare to other major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl or World Series?
RH: NOTHING compares. Period. There is no other sports event that I have covered that extends over 17 days involving multiple events. The Super Bowl, the World Series, the Final Four and the World Cup -- these are events that are just one sport. The Olympics has numerous sports, spread over an entire region.
A typical day for me at an Olympics would be fencing and wrestling in the morning, gymnastics in the afternoon and beach volleyball in the evening. I also edit and transmit images during and after each event. Often just getting from venue to venue is more hassle than you would have for an entire weekend at a Final Four. Olympic transportation is often the weakest link in anyone's coverage.
Most of the time we have to get to a venue four or five hours in advance -- sometimes more -- just to secure a shooting position. The travel between cities when covering a World Series or an NBA Finals is a hassle. But having over two weeks of 15-18 hour days -- there is NOTHING like the Summer Olympics. I love it. But it definitely takes a toll on you physically and emotionally.
AP: Which sports do you prefer to photograph? Will you choose what you'll be shooting in Beijing?
RH: For some reason I became USA Today's boxing expert. I guess it's because Porter Binks (former USA Today sports picture editor, now at Sports Illustrated) assigned me to cover the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials in 1988. Before that, I had shot exactly four bouts in my life. So I usually cover boxing at a Summer Olympics and it is actually one of the things I look forward to. I also enjoy the grace and beauty of gymnastics and was fortunate to cover a lot of that sport in 2004 in Athens. I know a lot of the beach volleyball athletes because I live and work in Southern California, so that's something I look forward to as well. Variety is something I like, so a mix of a few different sports is good for me. I don't know how some wire service photographers take having to shoot the same sport every day during the Olympics. But they do it and they do it well.
The "minor" sports like wrestling, softball, fencing, weightlifting and taekwondo are just as compelling to cover as track and field or swimming and often make great photographs. As far as choosing what I cover, it's up to the assigning editors. In Beijing it will be sports picture editor Michael Madrid and director of photography Mick Cochran. I am at their beck and call! (Note to Mick and Michael: Boxing, badminton and taekwondo would be great -- but how about a few days of gymnastics with Bob Deutsch this time?) However, what I enjoy most is the 10 to 12 months or so leading up to the Olympics because USA Today does a lot of advance features and previews. This gives me the opportunity to really get to know the athletes because I spend a lot of time with them working on portraits and picture stories.
We do a wonderful series of features before each Olympics called "10 To Watch." We run one big feature on an athlete every day starting ten days out from the Opening Ceremony. Four years ago Michael Madrid and I came up with a great concept for the "10" series. I flew around the country photographing 14 Olympic athletes wearing traditional Greek robes on large format black and white Polaroid film. It was one of the most time consuming but most fulfilling assignments I had done in while.
Our final portrait was of boxer Andre Ward shot in front of the Acropolis in Athens. The hassles and finagling Michael had to go through to get us the access to the Acropolis was unbelievable -- but his work paid off and we were the only U.S. organization that was able to shoot a portrait there. It was a great example of teamwork with Michael handling the logistics and access and my USA Today colleague H. Darr Beiser helping me with the shoot.
AP: I always enjoy reading the "In the Bag" feature in the Sports Shooter newsletter -- what gear do you have in your bag? What equipment do you use on a daily basis? What do you plan to bring to Beijing?
RH: It's funny you should ask because it seems to be topic number one among friends of mine that will also be covering the Beijing Olympics. Restrictions on how many pieces and the weight you can bring on a flight is a huge concern. You want to bring everything, but you really can't.
There is also the concern about getting all of your gear not only through the airport once you arrive, but also on the buses going from the Media Village to the Main Press Center and to the various venues to work every day. Carry more than you can handle and you'll bash someone on the head with a misplaced monopod -- as I've seen a New York photographer do on a couple of occasions -- and have trouble boarding and departing buses. If you don't bring enough gear you might find yourself missing something you really needed.
I put a lot of thought into what I am bringing and what I am packing for this trip. So you'll get a little sneak preview of the next Sports Shooter "In The Bag" column. We recently switched to Nikon, so [with the full frame D3] the 600mm becomes a more important lens than it did when we shot with cameras that had a 1.3x crop.
I think my everyday gear will be:
• 2 Nikon D3 bodies
• 1 Nikon D300 body
• 600mm f/4
• 200-400mm f/4 zoom
• 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom
• 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom
• TC-14 1.4x converter
• TC-17 1.7x converter
• SB800 Speedlite
I will have a 400mm f/2.8 plus various remote gear, including Pocket Wizard MultiMax transceivers and various mounting rigging. Also, a MacBook Pro laptop will be with me at all times with the various accessories I use to edit and transmit from the field.
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