I travelled 24 hours to cover a soccer game! And the unveiling of the Russell Clicker Ticker!

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Well,..., I travelled a lot more than to cover a soccer game. 

After I got word that a game was scheduled in Coventry at 3pm the day I was to arrive in London, I wanted to cover it.

It was a challenge, I made my way from Downtown Toronto at 2:30 p.m. to the airport to catch a flight was to arrive at 7 a.m. London Time. After landing I had to make my way to Paddington Station, to my hotel and then to the Olympic Park.

At the Olympic park I had to finish my accreditation process getting the required photo vest, getting a locker and certifying my radio remotes.

Thankfully the time of the match was 5 pm, I needed those two hours.

I had to get to Coventry, a process that took me two rapid transit trips with a 15 minute walk and a train trip that was lengthened and required a transfer after a fatality occurred on the route. 

Arrival in Coventry meant another 25 minutes in a bus and a 20 minute walk to the media entrance at the pitch.

I made it, just after the original game time, sweaty, tired and with just one hour of sleep in the prior 36 hours.

Here are some pictures from my journey and pictures from the game I travelled 25 hours to cover!

And as a bonus, the unvwiling of my Olympic feature, the Steve Russell Clicker Ticker!

The trip got off to a great start, a double truck picture of Jennifer Abel in the Olympic peview issue of Maclean's Magazine.

Olympic prep, take a peek inside my camera bag

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Most of the debate for photographers before an Olympics is not about a specific athletes medal chances. Photographers debate gear and what to pack.

We might be covering a sport for the first time or covering a sport with memories of covering it with a camera that is now two generations past. 

But what it breaks down to is how much gear do you want to haul around with you.

This year I'm cutting down on my kit, and hoping that the Canon camera pool at the Olympics can help me out with a few lenses during the games. I'm hoping that the new 200-400 is there!

A the guts of the gear I'm bringing, 2 Canon 1DXs, Canon 1D mkIV, 14mm, 16-35, 24-70, 70-200, 300 f/2.8, 500 f/4 (which is my favourite sports lens), some remote gear, cards, extra glasses. And, of course, pit stick, also known as "Shower in a tube"

The most important things, passport and media accreditation! What are the Green markers for? Find out here!

Pocket Wizards on a remote camera give us another angle on an event.

The iPhone is a must piece of kit, the battery case equaly important.

A piece of kit that I love to use next to one I hate to use. The Canon angle finder allows me to line up a picture without having to lay down on the ground, great for low angle photography. The rain covers are a must in England. While I hate taking pictures in the rain, I love pictures taken in the rain. I know its strange!

The pair of newly released Canon 1DX in my kit require me to read the manual. Very different from the previous generation.

Everytime I'm lucky enough to shoot an Olympics I get a T-shirt made up for it. This year I had a pair of T-shirt's made up, each pays tribute to a friend that will not be at the Olympics. The black EP shirt, is a take off on the Queen's ER logo. EP is the designation for Photographer's on Olympic credentials. The crown has the initials SB in it for Shaun Best, a Reuters photographer who passed away last year. The Red shirt is the Toronto Star team shirt that reads "Keep Calm and File Fast" honours our Olympic writer Randy Starkman who passed away suddenly a couple months ago with a RS in the crown.

 

Summer Olympics past as I look to Olympics future

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Tonight I board an airplane to make my way to cover my third Summer Games.

While I look forward to the challenge, I worry about the assignment. Just like and athlete before a big event I feel the butterflies.

Here are some of my favourite pictures from my two previous Olympic experiences, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.

Some of the pictures are not the greatest but they are special to me.

The Harbour Bridge climb at Sydney Harbour takes three hours and allows you a different view of the Harbour. Climber are taken to the summit of the bridge, almost 150 metres over the water.

Olympic gear? For Graham Bezant in '72 it included a 500mm mirror lens, a green marker and wine.

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

My trip to London is less than a week away.

The arrival of my Olympic credential starts the clock ticking with much left to do.

I have a new camera to learn and a new workflow to figure out as well.

But, the first thing I double checked, well triple checked was to make sure that my credential had the all important "EP" classification.

The EP is the designation for Photographers, writers credentials just have an E on them.

While researching a story on a group of  Canadian water polo players who witnessed the tragic events in Munich I came across  the work of retired Toronto Star photographer Graham Bezant's work from those games.

Canadian high jumper Debbie Brill jumps, Graham Bezant shot this image with a 500 mm mirror lens giving it the interesting background. 

Docs duke it out for charity fundraiser

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer

They are both men who heal, who treat the sick and comfort the ill. Normally! On Saturday night, they were just two guys with a grudge, and a good cause. And although neither was liqoured up, the two middle aged, moderatly overweight and aerobically challenged, climbed inside a boxing ring and went toe-to-toe.

Fireworks, handheld at two seconds, results not what I thought!

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

Shooting fireworks is one of the toughest things to do with a tripod never mind without one.

On Canada Day, Richard Lautens was assigned to shoot the fireworks at Ashbridges Bay, he did it right.

At those same fireworks I left my home with my family in tow, a stroller filled with blankets, snacks and at the last minute a camera with a 24-70 lens on it.

RICHARD LAUTENS did it right, he arrived early to stake out a spot. He brought a tripod and a remote trigger. He made this picture with a 15 second exposure at f/14 and ISO 400. He used his hand to cover and uncover the lens between firework bursts and used an off camera flash to light the couple on the lifeguard chair.

Best of June 2012

 

RICHARD LAUTENS - 95 year-old Ida Herbert (she turns 96 in August) teaches her first ever yoga class in Toronto.  She held a class for the 30 or so students at Breeze studio in the Junction.

40 Years ago, Kim Phuc found heroes

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

It is an image that every photojournalist wishes that they had taken.

But what I find the most incredible about that moment in time captured 40 years ago is what happened after the picture.

When bullets fly

Rick Madonik - Staff Photographer - @RMadonik

I'm resistant to change, especially technological change. Even when The Star switched to digital cameras, I was reluctant to take that step. (For work purposes, I can't imagine going back to film. That's not to say I don't miss film, I do.)

Last year, when I was headed to Libya to cover the ongoing conflict, I was asked to "Tweet" and declined to do so. Even with recognizing the role of social media, and its affect on the Arab Spring, I didn't want to be committed to Twitter. First, I was not a fan of letting the world know exactly where I was at any given moment since who knows who would be "following" my tweets. Secondly, there was the question about whether or not my phone reception would be working at all. (Often, in such circumstances, celluar phone activity is severely disrupted). 

Last night (Saturday, June 2, 2012) the newsroom was alerted to the shooting at the Eaton Centre by a Tweet from Toronto Blue Jays 3rd baseman Brett Lawrie (@blawrie13) who was inside the mall and heard the gunshots. When picture editor Canice Leung (@canice) dispatched me to the scene, she told me it was based on a tweet by the baseball player. I'll admit I rolled my eyes at the source, and gathered my gear and headed to the car.

Turns out Lawrie's information was right.

I would soon send out two tweets myself. "Shooting inside Eaton Centre. Two transported to hospital," and "One victim 13 yr old male. 2nd victim adult male." I tweeted this AFTER photographing the two victims as they were taken to ambulances. I chose to "report" one of the victims as 13 years old, when I overheard EMS personnel discussing which hosptial to transport the victim. (St. Mike's Heath Centre is the "trauma" centre and Hosptial for Sick Children, obviously, is for kids.)

The next time I checked my phone, perhaps 15 minutes later, the number of people "following" me had nearly quadrupled. Previously, I had a following of 40 people, and now its 145. Certaintly I don't have numbers like Lawrie - he has 125,000 followers - but I was surprised by the bump in numbers.

I can't say my opinion of "citizen journalism" has changed much, but there is some merit to it. Time will tell if such methods of reporting go the distance. After all, anyone could post something and it could "trend" worldwide before the information is verified, or proven wrong, or the facts lay somewhere between.

 

An adult male, with what appears to be more than one gunshot wound to his upper left chest, is moved to an ambulance for transport to hospital.

Cavalia returns with a new production - Odysseo

 

Elise Verdoncq, aboard Omerio, a 10 year old Lusitano Stallion, rehearses in front of the waterfall set.