olympics Archives ⋆ Bree Herbert

Happy New Year 2010 to all my friends and readers!

I’ve been having fun reviewing various “Best Photos of 2009” lists and online galleries. There are WAY too many to share here (and I’m sure you’ve already found many on your own), so I thought that I would share one specific photo and then let you get back to your celebrations.

I actually hadn’t seen this one published during the past year, and I’m bummed I didn’t see it earlier because it is pretty awesome!! I love the colors and the contrast between them, the terrific dusting patterns, the shape of the toes and feet, and the subtle vignette. Any photo that can tell a great story using only the bottom 6″ of a person’s body gets two thumbs up in my book!

You can see more great photojournalism pictures here or do a Google search using the phrase “Best of 2009 Photos” or “Best Photos of 2009.” Happy surfing!

(Great wide-angle image of “The Bird’s Nest” here)

Let’s talk about artistry in photographs created during the recent Olympics in Beijing. Many people (and understandably so) would say that the performance of an Olympic sport is art, or that the physical form of an Olympic athlete is art: look no further than super-swimmer Michael Phelps for evidence of this. It would then be enough to say that you took a picture of either of these subjects and voila! Photographic art!

But good artistry in sports shooting will transcend the event and the athlete, and the photographer will create an image that is more than a fleeting, “here’s what happened in the second quarter with 3:47 to go” representation. (Don’t get me wrong… these types of images have an important place, especially in the news and editorial worlds, but my quest is for the fine art element.) Even though the competitions are over, the sweat has dried, and the Nest is empty, here are a few of my favorite images from the Olympics with the art to last… (all of them from swimming events… I mean, how cool are water shots??!

BHBlog_Beijing Olympics_01