My last few Olympic opening ceremonies have been photographed from far up in the stadium. Photographers sit in assigned seats, crammed together with their two or three cameras, multitude of lenses and a laptop. At the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, I shot this picture on film (remember film?) with an 18mm lens. Much more civilized. (Photo – Mike Ridewood)

I photographed my first winter Olympics in 1988 as a staff photographer for the Calgary Olympic organizing committee. After those Games, I knew I had caught the bug.

Since 1994, I’ve worked nine Olympics, the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, three Pan Am Games and two Canada Games.

The upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will be my tenth Games working for the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) as one of its two team photographers. There is really nothing quite like an Olympics in the sports world. It is the most intense and satisfying 17 days you will ever experience.
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We had six hours on Saturday and five on Sunday to complete our stories.

My first day shooting was spent up a tree, deep in the woods, perched on a platform waiting for deer to appear. We had to be very quiet and still which I found very difficult to do. We couldn’t even speak for the six hours and nothing happened. Wi-Fi would have been great.

Tim Hillriedgel, 19, climbs down from a tree stand that he uses to keep himself out of sight when deer hunting in Jeffersonville, New York. Hillriedgel, who primarily hunts primarily with a compound bow, will spend up to 12 hours in a tree waiting for a deer to come within range. (Photo – Jason Prupas)

Unfortunately, I was not able to produce a wide variety of photos because I was confined to one position and not a single animal was in sight. I found out later we never stood a chance since it was a windy day and the deer could smell us from a quarter mile away.
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After two attempts, I was finally accepted into the Eddie Adams Workshop XXVI (EAW) in July 2013. While I have experienced some incredible things in my life so far, from the places I have travelled and the people I have met, this workshop was one the most unique and incredible experiences of my life.

The day I found out, I got an email notification from Mirjam Evers the EAW executive producer. The subject line was “Congratulations”. Needless to say I was floored.

Arriving students walk up towards the barn on the first of day of the Eddie Adams Workshop. (Photo – Adnan Saciragic)

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Embracing the Bubble

Once a story is approved, participants have until Friday at noon to complete the photography. There is also another catch – we are given a 400-frame limit. No pictures can be deleted, even if you accidentally photograph the ground with your hip. This proved a very valuable lesson to a photographer like myself who has learned to take photos on a digital camera where every frame is free. It made me change my mindset, from everything being free to making every moment count. I could see the results almost right away.

It forced me to slow down, think about the telling moments for this story and put myself in the best position to anticipate them. It also made me pay attention and really observe what was happening. Most of all, I think it made me put down my camera and just talk to the people I was photographing.

Margo Nichols greets daughter JilliAnn Mathews, 11, and stepson Luca Nichols, 11, as they come home from school on Tuesday September 24, 2013, in Trenton, Missouri. (Photo – Marta Iwanek)

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Finding the Story

The Missouri Photo Workshop was an incredibly intense, emotional experience that showed me so many lessons in storytelling that I’m excited to keep pushing towards.

Each year, about 40 photographers are accepted and arrive in a small town in Missouri, US. This year’s town was Trenton, population about 6,000.

On our first day, we were all sent with a maximum of 40-50 frames to explore the town, find a few ideas and pitch them the next day.

As I was wandering, I found a football game and noticed there was one girl on the team. After the game, I talked to the family and found out JilliAnn had joined the team because her stepbrother Luca, who was the same age but smaller, asked her to join to protect him. It started off as a story exploring the dynamics of their relationship as step-siblings.

Eleven-year-old stepsiblings Luca Nichols (L) and JilliAnn Mathews wait for their mom to start the play as they practice tackling in their front yard on Tuesday, September 24, 2013, in Trenton, Missouri. Luca asked JilliAnn to join the all-male 5th-grade Trenton Little League Football Team with him to protect him. “If it’s a big kid coming at me, it’s usually her or Jake hitting him,” he says. JilliAnn disagrees. “Sometimes,” she says. (Photo – Marta Iwanek)

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