These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public

These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public

The Olympic Committee’s Media Summit in Dallas, Texas was held back in May of this year. A number of photographers were invited to shoot the event. Joe Klamar was one of the the photographers who captured portraits of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. Once the images became public, people were not pleased with the outcome and it went viral. We’d like to hear your thoughts and let us know what you think of the coverage and if you agree with the current public opinion.

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Lindsey Berg of the US Olympic Volleyball team

bross 144490285 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Rebecca Bross of the US Olympic Gymnastics team

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Shot putter Jillian Camarena-Williams of the US Track and Field Olympic team

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Debbie Capozzi of the US Women’s Olympic Sailing team

demus 144372426 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Lashinda Demus of the US Track and Field Olympic team

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Gaby Douglas of the US Olympic Gymnastics team

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Tony Gunawan of the US Badminton Olympic team

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Brendan Hansen of the US Swimming Olympic team

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Kayla Harrison of the US Judo Olympic team

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Jonathan Horton of the US Olympic Gymnastics team

krug 144486019 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Cassidy Krug of the US Diving Olympic team

liukin 144490789 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Nastia Liukin of the US Olympic Gymnastics team

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Siblings Diana Lopez and Steven Lopez of the US Taekwondo Olympic team

merritt 144487945 540x405 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Leshawn Merritt of the US Track and Field Olympic team

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Michael Phelps of the US Olympic Swimming team

robles 144314289 These Photos Of The 2012 United States Olympic Team Have Hit A Nerve With The Public
Sarah Robles of the US Olympic Weightlifting

You can find more in at the gallery here.

[Via Solstice via CBS News]

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http://twitter.com/photobyleighton Jr. Miller
Can’t help but thinking this is some kinda wind-up…everything about it is pretty strange.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WZFNDSQFYXL2TP3NP2AVEQV32U RUSS
HAHAHAHAHA
Even if free, those suck. Did Someone pay for those?
Those pics suck!
http://www.facebook.com/ShannonMatson1 Shannon Matson
Kevin Jariaj was there as well, and his photos are sooo much better! http://www.uspresswire.com/search/fu…20summit/page1
J-Kan Kan
…
loren85022
Now you’ll get any number of ‘photographers’ volunteering to fix this problem for free! And there in lies the problem. They already got what they paid for.
http://twitter.com/Kentuckyyy Kicks and Pics
If you’re in a media event, one would assume you are there as a photojournalist. You know… Photojournalist can shoot at any location with any gear and get good shots. That’s what we do. This is just a guy with a camera and no creativity.
Casey McCarty
Wow. Those do not do Team USA justice at all. Amateur photography makes it look like amateur athletes. So awkward. It harkens back to those godawful shots they take when you’re in kiddie dance… with the stupid costumes, forced expressions and the ubiquitous jazz hands. These are the “jazz hands” poses of the Olympic sports. Ugh.
MichaelMagpie
Following Press Report… US Olympic Team too embarrassed to appear in London 2012 following photoshoot at friends house… Friend is now missing , assumed held prisoner by US Anti Terrorism Agency… Offered to take photos of them too, but shot as he lunged for camera … Location of body unknown but photos soon to be on web for sure… Story ends please !
http://www.facebook.com/paul.zaporteza Paul Zaporteza
The pictures look like beginner college photo class and they just learned to used off camera flash
http://www.facebook.com/willdaescheissnid Christoph Philipp
I think also in this direction… Must be more behind it. Blame only the photog wouldn’t be right…
http://www.facebook.com/willdaescheissnid Christoph Philipp
…had to delete…. wasn’t nice what i said..
Daniel Lisbona
hahahahaha @facebook-1464625865:disqus youre the shit man.. :) hahahahahah
@facebook-1141203452:disqus thats life!
Darryl Delamont
I think we should all chip in to buy him a second light. Or even a reflector… just something to help a bit with those shadows.
Ryan Peterman
I am going to step on a ledge here and say I see where he was going. I like the idea/concept. With that said, technically they are not…well to be kind, good. Poor lighting, focus and subjects that are not engaged. Unedited or not, if these three were fixed he would be held a genius I am sure. No they are not great, however without knowing more than the images and a smear campaign, how can I criticize? Have none of us messed up a event?
PS FS…you have done a injustice to my mind. There are a few good ones (acceptable) in the gallery. Why didn’t you post one or two of these?
http://www.facebook.com/cdjohnson Chris D Johnson
Here is the perfect example of a camera maketh not a photographer.
why the hell did anyone sign off on this 3 rate photo shoot done by
someone who should stick to a job they can do which is not photography
these shots would not even get you into a professional photographers association
they would be rejected , i have rejected better than this tripe, for gods sake there
are so many great photographers out there why not use one, and i mean a real photographer
not someone with no idea of lighting posing direction backgrounds composition
or even how to use a camera, this is rubbish and needs to be reshot by a pro .
Pro Photographer of 20 years.
amanduca
LMAO!
amanduca
I’m speechless. These images are unbelievably shitty. Our teams deserve much better..
Une Herzer
Give Joel Grimes the gig…enough said!… Oh and I’ll happily assist him.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718146730 Phil Stefans
Was Joel Grimes busy that day??????
AIAND
Are these really the official pics? The correct way to photographthese subjects would be in a studio, with lighting assistants, makeup, creative director etc. You cannot blame somebody who has perhaps afew minutes with each subject, people who may or may not becooperative, obviously a tiny space to work with, and probably workingon his own. One point is that Joe is a photojournalist, hence he isnot a studio guy, and very importantly he is probably not allowed tophoto shop his images heavily, as would a studio or nonphotojournalist. He could do levels, curves, color, sharpen etc butyou cannot clone over holes in the paper, take out backgrounds etc.Put yourself in his shoes, and be honest about your own talents. It isall too easy to be destructive in your comments, there may be anotherside.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Igor-InvisibleSounds-Butckhrikidze/723953185 Igor InvisibleSounds Butckhrik
ehhh?! i cant believe this is final
http://twitter.com/AdamOttkePhoto Adam
But they didn’t learn… :-)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Igor-InvisibleSounds-Butckhrikidze/723953185 Igor InvisibleSounds Butckhrik
5 min in PS… yeah its quite shit but i have nothing to do +)
http://twitter.com/luisfaustino luisfaustino
Whether these are final or not, it’s his work and you gotta respect it. I do of course share the majority opinion that the portraits are not to what people expect or, are used to, in a national media campaign. But you have to give to the artist, the work quality & style is consistent throughout the range.
Kevin Gallagher
I think it’s easy to fall into the jackal mentality of shredding the carcass on internet comment threads. Everyone is a teacher…some teach what TO do and others what NOT to do. I prefer to learn from others quietly. I also find that those who are quickest to throw insults at others are the most insecure of themselves. I would like to think that the fstoppers community is better than this.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003024584244 Andrew Gilmore
Uh-huh.
Award-winning photographer suddenly forgets everything he knows about photography, lighting, composition and presumably loses his copy of photoshop along the way.
How likely does that sound?
I think some of you (almost all of you, in fact) are missing the point.
http://twitter.com/grafichouse Martin Ellard
there are far better and more creative photographers on instagram !!!
http://twitter.com/grafichouse Martin Ellard
it’s simple, if they are official pictures then there’s either been an almighty cock up or somebody thought this might generate viral interest and more appropriate pictures will follow. If it’s a case of a bunch of photographers turned up with the opportunity to shoot the athletes and the togs were left to there own devices and allowed to release what they wanted without them being vetted first then someone in the marketing / press department should be fired (unless it is a viral strategy) what leads me to think this was in some way sanctioned is that surely someone of Michael Phelp’s calibre and public status would not be happy about images of himself like these being released and would have had “his people” block them….again , unless it is supposed to be a viral.
http://www.facebook.com/ed.hernandez.779 Ed Hernandez
Wow… was the editor at CBS sleeping, however these images are just bad, and are a disservice to our hardworking and dedicated amateur athletes.
http://twitter.com/grafichouse Martin Ellard
:o) Ha! you’ve got the job.
PixPresEdit
I agree that they are not the best pictures to come from this event.
Many other portrait photographers were there and did a much better job
with what they were given, but that is also their specialty.
US Presswire had some amazing shots from Jim Cowsert. He is also a portarit specialist based in Texas.
ALL the photos from the main International news wires were pretty much
just ok…but these are the guys that cover day to day news, and get
called to events like these now and then. It is not their specialty, so
don’t expect gold. See more pics here from the Reuters guy. Again
lighting not amazing, and some shots you see past the backdrop and the
wall in the back.
http://bit.ly/MapRgE
I think a few things need to be raised before you can go and bash the photographer though.
1. He is a news wire photographer, NOT the OFFICIAL photographer. He is
also not working for Getty Images, but for AFP News Agency, Getty is a
part owner of them. You can see his work here
http://www.imageforum.afp.com.
He is one of the few AFP photogs in the West coast so does ALOT of red
carpet stuff, but there is a lot of reportage in his work, and a lot of
live sports events. Being a wire photographer he has limited time if any
with working in studios, and setting up lights. Many wire photographers
I know have never spent any time at all in a studio, before they get
the odd call to go and do a job in a setup environment. I spent years
covering live sporting events, news, riots, ect….and in all that was
called up to do one studio session….I fully admit it was crap, but I
still had to do it.
2. There is not a lot of post process and that is because he is not
allowed to do much post process. Crop, lighten a bit, darken, and that’s
it. Anymore and you loose your job. Wires are very strict on this, and
yes some slip through the cracks, but if you get caught there are real
consequences. BUT don’t ever ever try to add something to the frame that
was not there, or heal brush something out, that is the best way to
find yourself out of the industry.
If you don’t get it right, tough, you still need to file something. Its
part of working for the wires, you don’t always like it if you don’t
have stellar shots, but you still have to file something. At a shoot
like this the boss wants at least 2 pics (always a horizontal and a
vertical) of every major personality. Short of it being out of focus, you better file.
3. Many photographers would have killed for access like this. Again he
is one of the privileged few that gets access to things like this ALL
the time. Major events, breaking news, presidential elections. I am sure
at times he does not realize how lucky he is and how there are so many
more scrambling to get to where he is. But send the man to a a boxing
ring, a track event, breaking story..and he shines.
News wires don’t have a budget to hire a specialist for each shoot, not at today’s freelance rates. Instead they send their few staff guys on a
salary. The deal is, you shoot anything and everything, the pay is good
(sometimes) but not amazing, and we will send you around the world. So
he got into this event, he did the best he could as it was not his
specialty, but he did it for the company in a cost effective way, and
got what they needed (check the AFP site he got a lot of run of the mill
stock portraits as well). Hiring a professional portrait photographer
for a few days is nowhere in a news wire budget. For instance a day rate
in the US is say 200 USd, in Afghanistan from a local guy it may be
20USD. All for the same work time and effort, and the guy in Afgh is
trying not to get blown up.
4. Alot of these images, feet and hands, are cropped out. Now if you
look at the AFP site and the raw image on the wire, the feet and hands
are there. There are not strange crops at the ankle, or a finger cut
off. It seems the shots were copped by to make them fit into a blog
page, who did that is a mystery.
So if you are not a fan of the work, then you can find the image that
speaks to you from the number of other great photographers that I am
sure where there, that specialize in this work. But he was assigned to
go to this event, and did the best he could with light setups that I am
sure he has never had much time in the past with. Again I think he could
have done better as well, but as we comment on this set of work, it is
always good to keep in mind that we are not all coming at this from the
same background or experience, but as professionals we don’t always have
a choice on what we shoot.
As for the few saying give me a 600 and I can be a good sports shooter
too…. To that I tip my hat and say good luck, cant wait to see the
edit.
http://profile.yahoo.com/H3N2AAX42CFI5VF26MKMDYYKOE Nicholas
Michael Phelps and Lindsey Berg’s images are solid. The rest may not be the best work I’ve ever seen, but they’re certainly not the worst.
Maybe it’s the struggling photographer in me that says, “Well, Joe McNally could’ve wiped the floor against these pics (but he can wipe the floor with any of us) but at least he was lucky enough to get such a job. Good for him.” And perhaps some photographers doing good in the business for themselves, who feel like they’ve earned a free pass to tilt their chins up in disdain, mistake shit talking for constructive criticism.
That said, you better believe I wish I could have photographed these amazing athletes. I’d give it my best shot, and still be unsatisfied in the end, as I always am with my work. And still I’d have no flickr-style pat on the back, but likely chins pointed skyward. The accomplishment would be that I was commissioned to do it and I did it. That’s why I feel Joe Klamar was successful; he got the job. He must’ve been good enough for someone to give the job to him; at least that’s what I hope, because if there was another reason I don’t know of, what are the talented among us fighting for?
http://twitter.com/grafichouse Martin Ellard
I wouldn’t blame the fact that these guys are day to day press snappers. it should make no difference. as Nicholas above said, Joe McNally would have wiped the floor with them on this. but he has made it his business to show everyone how to do it with minimal time and kit, his original background is not much different to press snappers these days only that they’ve got people like him helping them do it better.
http://twitter.com/unnecessaryEv1l Hail Sagan
Mom with a DSLR level pro-tographer.
Totally Uncle Bob’d
http://cinexcellence.com Cinexcellence
Agreed.
http://cinexcellence.com Cinexcellence
Personally, I think that the photographs are deliberately flawed. I think the photographer is trying to show that the Olympians are humans, are flawed, yada yada yada. It doesn’t completely work for me, but that’s another angle to think about.
http://twitter.com/nickfancher Nick Fancher
What is the point, then?
Michael O’Donnell
When viewed in context with the vomit that now covers my keyboard these are not that bad.
MichaelMagpie
Have a look at this photographers other work, just google him .. It is equally as bad so at least he is consistant.. Shame on Getty for employing him, CBS for publishing it and the Media managers of the US Olympic team for letting them out. The pool of talent must be pretty shallow if this is the Getty standard in the US.
http://www.netfalls.com Remy Musser
That’s very good content for the youarenotaphotographer website :-)
http://www.facebook.com/shannon.wimberly1 Shannon Wimberly
maybe he was cheap, and Getty’s getting greedy……. they sure have f*cked the world with their pricing over the years…..
http://profiles.google.com/simon.lynchsae Simon Lynch
The photographer got scared shitless that he would fail the assignment and decided to turn in RUINED photos instead of nothing an admitting that he produced crap.
He lacked composition, lighting techniques, model interaction but the most important thing: self criticism.
Without it, you can’t drive yourself to do better work…
Kim Fjeld
There’s an trend in studio photography that glorifies the amateur look of light and styling – a kind of ironic take that makes the studio shoots look poorly done when in fact they’re not. The images are actually a quite cleverly deviced joke, if you manage to see beyond their deceptive appearance, and I bet the subjects are in on the joke and go with it. A very intelligent joke. And I love it!
perceptionalreality
Generally speaking you won’t have all day to shoot anyone but friends or relatives who are willing to sit that long. You need to be able to get the shot quickly and efficiently. That’s the other half of competence, beyond being able to get the shot at all.
This set is one of the greatest examples of incompetence I have seen in a while. The first time I rented lights and did portraits of my nieces and nephews almost 10 years ago I had substantially better shots than this atrocious set.
perceptionalreality
Absolutely there is more blame to go around than just for the photographer. But if this is an attempt at creativity then it is poorly conceived to say the least. Lifeless eyes, a few poses which are just cheesy in their attempt to say something about the athlete while others are completely devoid of any character or message or interest whatsoever. One shot where the athlete is shot so close and so wide that he dwarfs the backdrop? That can be done to great effect, but one would expect that to be done consistently as part of a theme. Here it’s just a poorly executed shot. And, as has already been pointed out, some of them are clearly unhappy. Perhaps they know how a competent photographer behaves and they could tell it just wasn’t happening here?
Yes, whomever enlisted this guy to shoot this without any concept of his skill in this area (action shots aside) bears at least as much blame as the photographer himself. And to actually run them? Poor judgement.
http://twitter.com/unnecessaryEv1l Hail Sagan
Here’s a behind-the-scenes from another photographer, who WAS able to produce quality results.
http://photographyblog.dallasnews.com/2012/05/photographing-over-100-olypmic.html/
perceptionalreality
While I appreciate your sentiment, I don’t have any intention of contributing anything to this guy. Know when you’re in over your head and get out. This is insulting to the athletes.
perceptionalreality
Solid?? It’s one thing to use a strong lighting ratio (3:1 or greater), but it’s another entirely to not get any light into his eyes. This is the US Olympic Team, not the League of Shadows. Athleticism, determination, hope, and so many other great emotions that could and should be conveyed in an image of these incredible athletes. Instead we’re given a sense of mystery and secrets at best.
So, again, how is that “solid”?? That it’s an effective effect for select circumstances doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for this one.
Also, with very few deliberate exceptions, even in strong lighting ratios there is some detail still present in the shadows.
perceptionalreality
I’m not sure I would go as far as to say that Joe McNally has made it his business to show everyone how to do it with “minimal kit”. As David Hobby put it about Joe, “He uses available light. As in Every Available Light.” And as Joe himself put it, “There’s a reason I drive a Suburban…”
http://twitter.com/unnecessaryEv1l Hail Sagan
Photos from someone else at the media summit apparently.
http://www.uspresswire.com/search/fulltext/jairaj%20summit/page1

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