Dealing with Security...at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi...

There is more to taking pictures when working at an event like this than camera technique.  Dan  is there to capture pictures of as many Canadian athletes as possible, so he has to plan his days in order to achieve this.  Some of the events occur at the same time...which one does he attend? There is a sports coordinator who makes sense of the scheduling for all the different sports and provides Dan with a summary. 





He then reviews the schedule for the next day, determining the number of Canadian athletes competing in the events, taking into account the stats, if and when there are finals and in the case of some events – is this their one and only chance to compete as they may be eliminated, as in sports like boxing and  wrestling.  And other events like pole vault and the cycling road race only happen once, so in order to photograph them, you need to work them into your plans.  The logistics are not always easy, as venues may be distances apart while lugging cameras, computers etc.  in the heat.

An example of his day....

After swimming, Dan returned to the media centre then waited for a bus to go to lawn bowling, but the bus never showed up so they put him in a private car and he arrived at lawn bowling just before 3:00. 

After taking some shots of that event he had to hurry over to gymnastics  to get there before the start at 4:30.  The driver didn’t have a clue where to go and Dan was giving the driver directions according to his handy pocket map.  Cutting across lanes and almost running over a bicycle, they passed the gymnastics stadium three times before they figured out how to go in, and finally arrived there at 4:20.  One photographer  just arrived in time for the medal ceremony because his driver couldn’t find the stadium.

"The security is beyond belief ! They put stickers on your cameras that don’t peel off, kind of like peeling off wallpaper. The stickers say “ the anti sabotage check – Delhi police department".  All the guys were upset that their high end cameras had these stickers on them –  Security is so intense that every camera gadget is scrutinized at every point.  All you want to do is get in and get to your position. "

Imagine their expensive camera equipment bouncing through the xray machines ....everything is clunking around! The TV equipment is bouncing through too. One TV cameraman had his equipment settings changed so much he couldn’t figure out how to get the settings back!

The Gymnasium stadium is huge and holds about 10,000, but there were only about 300 people there hmmm.  Dan, eager to get to a photo position as quickly as possible, wanted to use the staircase, but they wouldn't  allow him and insisted  he take an elevator because of security reasons...a small elevator and a longer wait.... When the photographers wanted to get up close for the medal ceremony, security argued with them... but....finally  they let the photographers close enough to take the medal shots. 

The Canadian team won a Bronze medal.   Their individual performance counts as well,  and if the individual is in the top 8, they can compete in those individual events.

Look who is in the crowd...

Two Princes....



It is 44 degrees and he is melting.

Until next time...

Penny