Olympic #ObservationalDocumentation

A little over ten years ago, I started to make photos for the provincial government of B.C. The impetus for this was the lead up to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where I hit the road, following the torch relay as it made its way across the province toward Vancouver. Accompanied by my videographer colleague, we travelled east to west and north to south, arriving in Vancouver the week before the opening ceremonies.

I was recently asked to rummage in my archives for images to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the games. Nothing like looking at old work to put a few things into perspective.

First, I consider this the beginning of my Observational Documentation. This is my way of describing how I see and what I photograph. In essence, following the torch relay was a combination of documentary, street, event and portrait photography. It was a great learning and life experience.

Second, looking at these images makes me aware of how unprepared I was and how much I needed to learn. Still do, but I have to give myself a little credit. I have learned a bit in the past 10 years.

Third, I am so fortunate to have access to my current kit of Fujifilm cameras and lenses. Wow, they are good and easy to use. 10 years ago, I used a combination of oldish, work Canon bodies and lenses, plus my personal Nikon D3 and lenses. As the weeks went on, the more I relied upon the D3 and in particular my 50mm f1.8 lens. That lens saved me on a few occasions and is responsible for most of my favourite images. Lesson learned, you can do a lot with a fast prime lens.

A few images captured early in 2010 follow.

NB: as this was the infancy of iPhonetography, I definitely saw more people taking pictures with point-and-shot cameras than with smartphones.