Settling back

I’m back… Now that I have had about 24 hours to digest China I guess this is the right time to reflect on my journey to the East. The question I get asked the most is how is Yum Yum. Well the good news is Yum Yum is still in China. He is traveling for another couple weeks with owner Mark Kolbe and his wife. Yes, the owner of Yum Yum has a wife. I’m glad to keep you all up to date on the adventures of Yum Yum post the Summer Games. Yum Yum is in the right line

Yum Yum gets some good face time with Getty Images CEO JDK
Yum Yum watches CCTV on the biggest TV in the world
Yum Yum visits the Beijing Getty office Yum Yum ponders his order at the McCafe

So far I am feeling ok after the nearly 30 hours of traveling the last couple days. I am trying to adjust quickly because I want to feel ok for the start of the U.S. Open. I leave for the Open in just three days and the hours should be just as long as a typical Olympics day. Luckily instead of staying in a dorm room I am at the Grand Hyatt. I will miss the fact my roommate won’t be there though. We had a good time sharing a dorm in Beijing.
Reflecting on a trip like what I just went through is funny. I mean going through it it’s easy to complain, get frustrated, irritated, sleep deprived whatever. However, so quickly the mind forgets even though I did a better job than most (I think) trying to stay positive. But now, all I seem to remember are the good times. The attractions (The Great Wall, Cargo, 798, Tiananmen Square, The Bird’s Nest), the events (track, swimming, basketball, and gymnastics) and the people I met (the Aussies in pod 1 to name a few.) I feel bad for Toni and my family because I know I’m going to talk about China a lot the next couple weeks. I especially feel bad when I get to NY and the whole Open crew all went to China and you know that’s all we will talk about.
I have been asked to reflect on a couple different topics:
Scariest time in Beijing – Any time I got into a cab. The taxi drivers spoke absolutely no English (do I speak Chinese, no, so I can’t fault them for that.) However, these guys don’t know to drive but either does anyone else in Beijing. Crosswalks, never heard of them, pedestrians have no right of way. Stopping on a right turn, no chance. Changing lanes, don’t look just go for it. Driving in Beijing is a relatively new thing and they have a long way to go. The other issue with the cab drivers is our media village (home) was so new and so far away they had no idea how to get there. It was the blind leading the blind. The cab drivers would stop in the middle of the road and ask for directions but that didn’t usually help. If we could make it back from the city within an hour it was a luxury.
My roommate Streeter experienced his scariest time in Beijing the other day. Himself and Chief Al Bello wanted to go the market. They hopped in a cab from the MPC and went on their way. What should be about a 20 minute cab ride was taking about an hour and fifteen minutes. Al asked the cabbie to pull over and he wouldn’t so they started yelling. Streeter gets out of the cab and the driver attempts to run him over, he misses. Al gets out of the cab and the driver attacks him. Luckily, Al, a trained New Yorker, fought him off with some karate moves. Al block some of the guys punches until Streeter was able to calm him down. To make a long story short. Streeter and Al were left on the side of the road and paid a quarter of the fare that the driver wanted them to pay.
Funniest moment – I would have to say any funny moment usually came around 2 a.m. All coped up in the office usually something funny would happen. A joke, someone falling over in their chair anything at that time in the night after about four hours sleep was hysterical. The most fun moments usually happened at Cargo.
Weirdest moments – I guess just dealing with everyone’s drama. You get 78 guys together, many who have known each other for 10 plus years and drama will ensue. Typically the drama only lasted a night and was never carried on back into the field the next day. But with everyone out to impress and competitiveness and masculinity at its highest there will always be drama. I haven’t heard this much shit talking since hanging around sorority girls back at UA.
Weirdest food – Luckily I stayed away from dog, cat, horse, sea horse, bugs, etc but some of the weirdest food I ate was random combinations at breakfast. Typically the breakfast was the worst meal of the day until I just stopped eating it altogether. My staple would be fruit, yogurt and OJ. But they served the most random items at the MPC and the village for breakfast. Other than that though we ate like champs. The food around Beijing was so good and fresh. I had some of the better meals I have had in my life in Beijing and all of it was so cheap.
The part about eating out that frustrated me the most was that restaurants would serve the food before all the food was ready. So one person would get their entrée and then 20 minutes or so later someone else would get theirs. It was annoying to eat, finish my meal before someone else even got served.
That’s it for now… I just want to add a quick post about the bathrooms in Beijing.
This blog was really a lot of fun to write and people who I never even met read it everyday and some seemed to even enjoy it. I think I will continue to write on this blog and my travels (leaving for NYC in three days) and other topics as well. Feel free to ask any questions about Beijing or anything. Thanks.

The Bronze "Medal"

An article written by/for my roomate Streeter Lecka III

BEIJING – Lewis “Streeter” Lecka waits to be jetted off from his Olympics of a lifetime on Tuesday night, zooming into a future that includes newfound celebrity status, oodles of money and a possible redo four years from now at the London Games.
The photographer who won a historic one bronze fake media medal and set no world records in Beijing is departing on an overnight flight to Charlotte, North Carolina where he'll eat the hell out of a mexican dish of his choosing, sleep in his gigantic bed for countless hours and watch the television in English. Then he's going to steal away on a vacation by shooting American football three days after working 24 hour days for a month straight.
"I'm just taking everything step by step, enjoying the ride," Lecka told Getty Images in an interview hours before leaving.
Since winning the last of his bronze medals on Sunday, Lecka has been on a whirlwind of sponsor and TV appearances in Beijing, and he's enjoyed some of the city's nightlife including the exclusive CARGO. The exhaustion was evident in the 27-year-old champion's droopy eyes.
"I really want to spend as much time with my friends and family as I can," he said. "It's coming up on two months on the road. I want to be able to see them and just relax."
Lecka’s world changed dramatically during his 3 and 1/2 weeks in Beijing. After one TV appearance, he was driven off on a 40 year old bike and promptly got mobbed.
"It was scary," said his boss, Brandon Lopez. "That's what will be the different thing for him."
But he's letting his playful side come out. Lecka was waiting to be introduced last night at yet another sponsor's event Wednesday when he spied a spread of McDonalds on the bar. He ducked over, grabbed a Big Mac, Chicken Nuggets, fries, coke more fries and teasingly put his fingers to his lips to quiet the server. She responded by saying, “thank you for your cooperation.”
Lecka recalled sitting down to enjoy his first alcoholic drink with a colleague after an epic conquest of one record, survival. He raised his glass and said, "Well, my career's over, let's toast. All downhill from here."
Actually, the ride is only uphill.
Lecka plans return to Charlotte to be honored at the University of North Carolina home football game on Sept. 27.
Aussie Olympic greats Chris McGrath and Nick Laham have noticed a change in Lecka, too.
"It sounds really cliched but it's true, he's really grown as a human being," Laham told Getty about his former rival. "That in itself is going to serve him well as he makes these decisions in the upcoming few months and few years."
Lecka’s agent is sorting through a mountain of offers that could propel the one time bronze medalist into a household name that lasts long past the Olympics. Sponsors photographers were thrilled to have the champion around.
"I don't see him being an actor," Travis Lindquist said. "I think he'll just want to be a celebrity, whatever that means. He'll just have to keep improving if he wants to do that. He handles himself so much better than he did. I was just amazed at some of the answers he gave to a lot of these questions this time."
Lecka can always ring Down Under and seek Stuart Hannagan’s advice.
"I'm happy to help him out if he wants a hand with some of these things including the Intercontinental lobster," the Aussie said.
Lecka will hopefully return to the international sports photography stage at the next Winter Olympic games, where he will focus on colder events.
Lecka hopes to return for his second Olympics in 2012 and he's not ruling out working more hours.
"I'm never, ever ruling it out," he said. "We just have to play it by ear and see how things go, but definitely start some new events and see where it takes me."

Rain Rain Go Away

It’s absolutely pouring today. Events are getting cancelled right and left. The bad news about that is they will happen tomorrow (if weather permits) doubling our workload. Now that Mike Heiman is leaving China today (for the US Open) it spreads us so thin. It will have to take some creative planning tomorrow to get all the events covered. The funny thing is that the beach volleyball gold medal game is still going on. Our CEO, who is in town, wanted to go but it’s raining so hard I think he is choosing indoor volleyball instead. I don’t blame him.

NPR

Another media opportunity came up last night as I got a chance to help out on a segment for NPR. NPR was doing a feature on one of our staff photographers Michael Steele out of the UK. Included in the piece was a portion about my manager/fellow editor Rebecca Butala How.
So, what NPR was looking to do was to have a microphone between Rebs and myself during the 400m final in the Bird’s Nest. They timed our process of seeing how long it would take from the end of the race to get the picture to our laptops, edit the photo, caption the photo and send it out. Luckily, all went well (other than American Sanya Richards losing the race) and the picture was sent out to clients/newspapers/magazines/wire four minutes after the race ended. We were quite happy with that and were grateful that under the gun we got out a nice photo in that short of a time. Thanks Field IT.
It was funny because before I even heard the piece I got a couple emails from friends saying they heard my name dropped on NPR. (I know my friends listen to NPR.) To read the article and listen to the piece (where they cut out my speaking parts) go here.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93749562

The Adventures of Yum Yum

It all started with a round-trip ticket from Sydney to Beijing, China on Qantas Air. Packed away in a suitcase so he would be hidden from the airline personnel, quiet he would lay. Yum Yum, a golden retriever creeping up on his fifth birthday (in dog years) was going to make his first journey off Australia with owner Mark Kolbe to the Olympic Games, the best sporting event of them all. Some dogs are afraid to go to China (do I need to explain?) but Yum Yum isn’t some dogs, he is the bravest, toughest, smartest dog in all the land.
Before the trip started Yum Yum didn’t know what to expect. Would he be kept in Kolbe’s room all day or even worse put into a kennel for 30 days until he could be claimed to fly back home to Sydney. Happily no! Even in Yum Yum’s wildest doggie dreams he could not have expected to have the adventures he has had so far in Beijing.
The Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, opening ceremonies and swimming in the Water Cube are just a snippet of the Yum Yum adventures thus far.
"I think my favorite thing I have done so far is going for a swim in the now famous Water Cube," said Yum Yum through an interpreter. "To swim in the same pool as Steph Rice (she is so hot), Leisel Jones and my hero Grant Hackett is a dream. I think my fellow Aussies did a little better knowing that Yum Yum was ‘rooting’ them on."
Also completely unexpected, Yum Yum has met a friend named Herman. Herman, six-year-old English Bulldog from America belongs to some swimmer named Michael Phelps. Yum Yum and Herman have been seen around Beijing sniffing trees at the Summer Palace and relaxing at Taipan massage.
"We are just good friends," said Yum Yum. "I usually don’t like English dogs being an Aussie but Herman is pretty cool. I bet we stay friends for a long time."
Yum Yum still has another couple weeks in China and is hoping he can still met new people and experience new adventures. Say tuned!

The Bird's Nest

The Birds Nest
Yesterday I got to work my first event live at the “Birds Nest” aka China’s freshly built National Stadium. Just by me being here it obviously brought luck to my fellow Yanks as we had our best day thus far at the track. A sweep in the men’s 400m hurdles and another gold in the women’s discus throw topped off a good evening at athletics. I’ll be at the track for the next three days so hopefully we can maybe put a dent into China’s commanding lead in gold medals. Probably not! Can Phelps run?

Yesterday was also the first day since opening ceremonies that got into a cab and ate a meal outside of the media village (home) and the MPC (office). With the crew from the track we went to a Thai place and had a nice meal. It was nice to get a different flavor after eating nearly 90% of my meals at the MPC. The MPC food tastes pretty much the same no matter what you order. My staple has been the make your own salad and then if I’m lucky (have time for) dinner then I try to get a wrap. They do have Beijing duck but it sells out so fast everyday that I still haven’t had the chance to try it. I’m sure the duck we had the first week is much better anyways.

The weather the past couple days has been fantastic during the day and then rainy at night. It’s nice because the rain cools it down but sucks to walk back to the MPC in. Hopefully we can continue to keep the nice light for the next couple days at the track. The screaming light makes such a difference for the photos. It gives the photogs and editors the ability to be a little creative. With haze aka smog it really hurts photos. I hope I don’t sound to negative.

Day 10 already, seems like it just started. Well, not really, I have now been in China for three full weeks. One more week to go. I think the thing I’m looking to most is of course seeing Toni then probably avoiding getting into a shuttle/bus. I hate how they pack 50 people into a bus (worse than the London tube) and the majority of them don’t have the same cleaning habits we do. Not a pleasant way to start/end your day, especially when it’s hot and humid.

I tried watching TV last night and literally feel asleep with the remote in my hand and the TV on a Chinese station. Nothing like waking up to a bunch of Chinese broadcasters screaming at me (or at least that’s what it sounds like) when I wake up. Sleep can and will be had nearly anywhere. Dean feel asleep in a cab yesterday and Streeter the day before took an hour nap in the office hiding behind my desk. Kolbe feel asleep on a media shuttle on the way home the other night and didn’t wake up until he was woken up by a volunteer. Problem was, he was at the wrong media village. Streeter sleeping

If you haven’t heard the song “Forever Friends” its literally played 500 times a day. The song is so damn catchy it sticks in your brain the entire day and night. I’m sure you can download it on ITunes if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Or turn on NBC and watch some of the coverage and I’m sure you can hear it in the background.

If you want to see our best images from Day 10 of the games go here:
http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/GYI_Multimedia?object=a116010662

The Bird's Nest

I got to spend my first morning in the Bird's Nest today. It is one of the best stadium's I have been to. Lambeau first. Then???
Pictures and more to follow.
Have to finish the edit.

Me on Kiwi TV

Anyone happen to live in New Zealand who is reading this blog? If so, you will see me on TV Monday night on the big news station there NZTV. That’s right, me on TV for all the Kiwi’s to see. The story happened due in part to a feature story they are doing on Getty Images staff photographer Adam Pretty. They wanted to do a feature on Adam and then show how his pictures were edited. Lucky for me I got to play the part of the editor. I was interviewed for 30 minutes or so and then I was filmed working in the office for about an hour. Being the company man that I am I just happened to be wearing a Getty Images shirt that day. I was told that they will post the story on their website so I will be sure to post it here.

The Strain

It’s day 6 and the toll on my body is starting to hit. It reminds me of what it felt like last year at the Toronto International Film Festival aka the worst event I ever worked. My right shoulder is constantly tingling and its sore to even touch it. Can it be that I can get injured from sitting on a computer all day long? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Tylenol and constantly stretching is about all I have time for. I would love to get a massage but my hours are so long (18 hours yesterday) that it is near impossible to leave the village. Staff photographer Harry How rubbed my shoulder (his wife was sitting next to me so there was no funny business) and it felt great but I think I just need to get through the games and rest before I head to NYC for the Open. But it’s the Olympics baby and I’m here and I’m living the dream.
Day 6 has brought me to the men’s individual all-around gymnastics where you guessed it China won another medal. Then it was on to some table tennis, some judo, a men’s basketball game and finally the tennis. The tennis was great for the men (Blake upset Federer) but for our local Los Angelenos the Williams sisters they saw their Olympic run end early as they were both beaten.
The National Stadium (aka the Bird’s Nest aka where the Opening Ceremonies happened) opens in the morning but I won’t have a chance to get over there until I’m scheduled to be there during Day 10 of the games. The pictures should be amazing if we could ever get a nice day.

Weather report – Day 6 was marred by a rainstorm that cancelled a couple different events and postponed some. Let’s hope the rain clears the clouds and we have a nice day tomorrow. We haven’t seen blue skies in awhile now.

I’ve been really into the gymnastics because I have worked the event the last couple days but without watching it on NBC like every Olympics I have ever watched I really miss out on the emotion and the back stories. The back stories are such a major part of the Olympics it’s the one thing I miss the most about not being able to watch them at home. If we aren’t at the event we get to see every event on the TV but its on the direct feed so there are no announcers or sound. It’s an aspect of the games I miss.

If you want to see Getty Images best pictures from Day 5 of the games click here:
http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/GYI_Multimedia?object=a115906180

Broadway Brett

Security

Something must have happened or tipped off the Chinese because security around the MPC (Main Press Centre) and the Northland Media Village (my home for the month) has been increased. Why, you might ask? Well it could be a number of factors but the increased presence has been noticeable. So far they have added armed guards (normal), baggage screening (normal), and a giant tank outside the MPC (kind-of-odd.) Yeah, so they (China?) decided a giant tank would sit in front of the MPC and that would protect all us journalists. So far, so good, because as of 7:56 p.m. on August 13, 2008 all is good. The tank is more like a photo op than a military vehicle that can ward off the bad guys.
The security in general has been a lot less than I thought it would be. I was expecting to be searched coming into the MPC everyday but even that has been a breeze compared to airport security in the United States. We can keep our shoes on, don’t have to take out our laptops and if something tips off the x-ray machine they just wand us quickly and let us go. Sometimes they have us take a sip of our beverage and sometimes they don’t. I have been asked about my Pepto-Bismol (no need for details here) and luckily they don’t make me test that everyday. I hope we can get through the games with security the way it is now even if I have to wake up to a tank outside the building everyday.

Day?????

Al Bello (Back) grabbing a picture at gymnastics

Wow, what a hectic morning. I was assigned to the women’s gymnastics team final along with Rebecca and four photographers – Harry How, Al Bello, Shaun Botterill and Ezra Shaw. For those of you who don’t understand exactly what I do (I know there are some people who read this who don’t even know who I am) is that I edit photos in practically real time. Photos are spooled into my laptop through different areas located in the arenas and I go through all of the pics and choose the best ones. Once I finish, I edit each photo in photoshop (cropping, levels, sharpness, etc.). Next I caption the photo and then I send it out to our various clients around the world. So, for example an Aussie wins a gold (even miracles happen) then I would route the photo to certain clients in Australia.
Between the four photogs today Rebecca and I looked through 2,258 photos. Out of those photos we sent 123 total out to our clients and to gettyimages.com. That’s roughly 18 percent of photos that were shot will ever see the light of day. The other 82 percent sit on a server and might never be looked at again. So that makes what we do as editors ever so valuable to realize what photos will be both newsworthy and sell.
Enough about work lets talk the Olympics. As of now, and it’s mid-way through day five, China holds a commanding six gold lead on the USA 16-10, however we have more total medals with 28-24. Luckily for us Americans, we still have three more medals for Phelps to claim after already going five-for-five. He’s the man.

Weather report – It’s umm, I don’t know. I honestly haven’t been outside since early this morning. I would guess its about 15% visibility but it could also be raining.
Jamie Squire taking pictures at the bike race

The birdsnest

It's amazing what a little work in photoshop can do, huh? Thanks Will for putting this together.

I wanted to write a post about the beefed up security but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm going on my 16 hour working today and I'll I want to do is go to bed.

From the looks of things tomorrow should be better.

It was actually a nice day today but I hear rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Not going to be fun for the cycling road race I'm working tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

BTW - If anyone wants me to email you a copy of the picture above let me know.

Day 1

The view from my room

A great sunrise

A nice day

Everyday since (smog???)

With day one in the books, or the archive so to speak, I would say it was a very successful set of pictures for Team GYI. Like I said earlier I was working both the men’s cycling road race (through Beijing and ending at the Great Wall) and six women’s basketball games. After getting just about three hours sleep from the end of Opening Ceremonies to the start of day one it took some getting adjusted to. So far in the two days (opening and day 1) I have worked 34 hours which does not include the nearly two hours of driving to the MPC, getting ready in the morning and settling in at night. I know, I know it’s hard to complain, right? I’m at the Olympic Games. I just need to take advantage of the off hours that I can sleep and not waste time shopping, drinking or watching TV. This blog might get pretty boring, you say? Nope, I won’t let that happen. I have a couple good ideas floating around the old head of mine. Bathroom feature? Food feature? Let me know as well if you have any ideas.
By the way the buzz around town is really about three things right now. The sad story about the men’s volleyball coaches in-laws who were killed here in Beijing, the domination of Phelps in the pool this morning and of course the anticipated USA men’s basketball game against China. I have been asked by a couple people at home if they added any new security restrictions because of the murder. So far, nothing and it doesn’t seem like they will. Security is extremely good and it seems the incident was random.
On a lighter note, I’m excited that I get to work the hoops game. We have three guys covering the game, the most for any event thus far minus the swimming. It should be pretty good.

Weather report: It’s dark and rainy today. Some sports are getting washed out including tennis. I am working on the women’s road course today which should be crappy because of the lack of light. I’m sure our boys will figure something out.

Let the games begin…

I’ve been here nearly two weeks and finally today the actual Olympic Games begin. On the docket for me today is the men’s road race through China and the entire schedule of women’s basketball.
Last night by the way went fantastic for Getty Images. We uploaded nearly 1,800 images from our 35 photographers stationed all over China. It’s hard to pick a best frame but there will definitely be a few that I will remember forever. To check out a best of gallery go here:
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=82204797
I was finally able to leave the office around 4:30 a.m. and was back in the saddle again just before nine.

Opening Ceremonies - A guest commentary

Being that I was working the opening ceremonies last night and couldn’t enjoy the spectacle I asked my fellow co-worker (and friend) Mary Ciecek to write a guest blog entry. I know going to the opening ceremonies would be one of the biggest thrills of her life so I wanted to she what she thought about the experience. Here it is plus pictures she took.



By Mary Ciecek
A dream of mine came true last night. During this, my third Olympics, I finally got to attend the Opening Ceremony. After getting my hopes up in Athens only to spend the Opening Ceremony running all over Athens trying to catch a cab, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably work during the Opening and I will get to watch it like all of you, on TV, only with Chinese commentary. So the plan last night was to watch the ceremony in the office and then run out to the Olympic Green to watch the many fireworks displays. About 2 hours before the start of the ceremony, a ticket arrived and with all the photographers and editors in place and working, the ticket was offered to the sponsor’s team and I was the lucky winner as the veteran of the group. It all happened so fast that it wasn’t until the Bird’s Nest came out of the “fog” and appeared before me that I really got excited about what I was about to experience. My ticket did not have a specific seat assignment so I went to where the other Getty editors were working inside the Bird’s Nest and looked for an open seat in that area. I found one near my good friends Garrett and Jesse from the NBA and had only a few minutes to go before the big countdown. As the fireworks went off counting down from 10 to 1, the lights in the Bird’s Nest went down and….I began to cry. (I still get misty thinking about it.) I love the Olympics. I love the traditions, the rituals and the symbolism that surround the Opening Ceremony and I couldn’t believe that I was actually there and actually experiencing this once in a lifetime event. I loved it all from the beginning drum display, the acrobats, the ever changing scroll that evolved throughout the ceremony, the fireworks and I even loved the 2 plus hours of the parade of nations. My favorite part was the lighting of the flame. At the time, I could not tell you why Li Ning is so important to the Chinese people, but I again got teary when he began his lap around the upper portion of the stadium to the giant cauldron that had slowly unfurled itself during the parade of nations. The lighting of the flame was exactly as it should be, a spectacular surprise with the flame racing up the scroll to where it will reside for the next 16 days. To know that so many Olympics have started in this same way with a flame being lit and I was there to see it, was very special to me and something that will stay with me for a long time.

More from 798

Went back to 798 and just got a couple different pictures that I didn't capture yesterday. I probably could even go back and get a completely different set of frames. It's so cool down there and makes taking pictures so much fun. I wanted to go back as well to get a gift for a friend whose birthday was today. Happy Birthday! It made the trip even easier because we had a Getty bus escort like eight of us over there. It was a great piece of local art by a local artist and something that would not have even been allowed to be displayed just a few years back. The artist sold me the work and signed it so it made it even better.

Getting ready for the Opening Ceremonies…

Well today is the day 8.8.08 that China is going to make their coming out to the world, so they say. What we do know is that there will be lots of fireworks, Lopez Lomong will be the US flag bearer and President Bush will be in attendance. Getty has photographers located all over China including 12 inside the Olympic Stadium which includes one in the catwalk, and others in famous areas such as the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. It should be quite the show.

798

With some free time in the morning before an afternoon in the office Heiman, Cameron, Kolbe and I took advantage and went over to the 798 art district. Beginning in 2002, this area in Beijing, once filled with factories and cheap housing, has turned into a "soho-esque" area with galleries, bars, housing and places to shop. We probably spent two hours there but we spent the majority of our time making our own "art." Graffiti lined walls, local workers and old doors became a photographers dream. I hope we have time to go back because there was sure a lot we didn't see.