Our Olympic Photographers
Meet our official photographers for the 21st Winter Olympics.
Dan Himbrechts and Jake McBride are 2 of Australia’s most renowned and prolific snow sports photographers this country has seen. Jake from Manly, NSW & Dan from Randwick, NSW have spent decades in the mountains of Australia and the world travelling the globe while creating award-winning images of our top athletes.
They both have their own unique perspectives and experience in the snow that will provide to deliver a variety of incredible images from the Games. Unparalleled access to athletes they know and have worked with for years will only add to their ability to take us inside to see the games and our Australian athletes like you won’t see anywhere else.
Both lens men will be submitting a daily photo feature that’s exclusively for you right here on the Mountainwatch.com network, starting February 12, 2010 from Vancouver. Be sure not to miss it.
Before their camera bags were packed and excess luggage paid, they were kind enough to fill us in on their hopes for the games, the sports they’re looking forward to and what lenses they’ll be packing.
Dan Himbrechts
Years behind the camera: 9 shooting snowboarding, quite a few more prior to that learning how to use a camera.
Website: http://www.danhimbrechts.com and http://www.danhimbrechts.com/blog
Photography gear you are taking to the 21st Winter Olympics
Number of cameras: 3 (Nikon D3, D300s and a D2x for remote work)
Number of flashes: As many as I can pack. Probably 4, but I don’t imagine there will be much opportunity for remote flashes in competition. Only for training sessions.
Number of memory cards: I run about five (4x 4Gb, 1x 8Gb) and a few old 1Gb cards for custom settings and emergencies. Two external hard drives for double back-ups.
Number of lenses: (400m 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8, 17-55mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 20mm 2.8, 16mm fisheye, 10.5 mm fisheye (for the D2x or D300s)
Number of bags: Hopefully only two camera bags!
Any film cameras: Yep a little Lomo LC-A 35mm
Jake McBride
Years behind the camera: 10
Website: http://www.jakemcbride.com
Photography gear you are taking to the 21st Winter Olympics:
Number of cameras: 3
Number of flashes: 4
Number of memory cards: lots and lots.
Number of lenses: 6-ish
Number of bags: 2
Any film cameras: Still thinking but I will have a medium format film camera for sure. Maybe even a large format one.
Photo: Heli-boarding NZ. Dan Himbrechts
Q & A
Other than snow, what else have you been shooting recently?
DAN: A lot of presswork for Australian Associated Press (AAP). I’ve been shooting Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Aussie cricket team, circuses and other random daily news stories.
JAKE: Fashion, advertising, weddings.
Is this your first time shooting the Winter Olympics? If no, are you excited to go back?
DAN: First time for me. I’ve always wanted to shoot a Winter Olympics, it has been a goal of mine since I started getting snowboard photos published.
JAKE: I was in Italy 4 years ago (2006 Winter Olympics Torino). I am excited to go back for sure. I am pumped to watch the Aussies most of all. I would love for Torah and Damon to do well as I have known them both for a long time and consider them good friends. I would also love to see Nate Johnston do well as he is a rad talent, although I just heard he injured himself so I hope that is not to bad. (Ed note: Nate Johnstone recently suffered a fractured leg and has been replaced by 15 year-old Scott James for the Vancouver Games.)
Photo: Chris Boadle cable slide, Russia. Jake McBride
Do you have any extra expectations because it is a Winter Olympics?
DAN: Only that I expect to be prepared to have to shoot snowboarding way differently to the way I’ve shot it in the past. I imagine the photographers’ area is going to be a long lens only situation, so that’s one of the reasons I’ll be packing a 400mm monster.
JAKE: No not really, I think the atmosphere at the halfpipe in particular will be incredible though people tend to lose it a bit at the Olympics. I think the Canadians will do a good job as they are usually very organised people and the Vancouver/ Whistler area is perfect for an Olympic games (although the pipe in Cypress could be interesting!)
What special preparations do you have planned before hitting the Vancouver games?
DAN: Not much, just knowing my accommodation and everything is already booked and sorted is a big relief. Every photographer I know that has shot an Olympic games has told me to prepare for less than 4 hours sleep a night.
JAKE: To be honest not to many really, just to remind myself to stand back and take it all in and look for the good shots, not get all caught up in the hoopla.
Photo: Scotty Lago halfpipe handplant, Snow Park NZ. Dan Himbrechts
What events you are particularly keen to shoot?
DAN: For sure curling! No just joking! The ski jumping (Eddie the Eagle style) is one event I’m really looking forward to, as well as the events at the bobsled track like luge, skeleton etc. And also the downhill skiing events should be rad.
JAKE: The downhill skiing would be great, it has a history and importance to some European countries that is hard for us to understand, this is the big one for sure. Having said that I think that halfpipe is going to be the same one-day.
What tactics are you employing to deal with media scrums?
DAN: I’ve had a bit of practise the past year shooting news outside the courts in Sydney, so hopefully that helps a bit, but I’m sure it’s going to be crazy.
JAKE: Like mentioned, just standing back and looking for something different.
Are you going to buy heaps of Winter Olympic merchandise?
DAN: No.
JAKE: That’s a given.
Are you prepared for mainstream publications to crop the life out of your photos?
DAN: There is a saying in the news business that makes me cringe every time I hear it – “tight and bright”. It’s horrible! I don’t understand the “guy in the sky” thing.
JAKE: No, but what are you going to do?
Photo: Jake McBride
The Winter Olympics will be a great experience, what other big events would you like to photograph one day?
DAN: I reckon it would be great to do a Summer Olympics as well. Would be pretty cool to have done both, but I think the Soccer World Cup would be pretty amazing to cover.
JAKE: To be honest the Winter Olympics is one of the only big events that interest me, I would prefer to shoot portraits and art-based photos. I guess the Soccer World Cup would be interesting, as would the summer games.
After the ‘5-ring circus’ do you have plans for photographing more while you are there? (Magazine Trips, Athlete profiles, travel articles etc..)
DAN: Unfortunately no other magazine trips this time round, just the Olympics for me, and a few days shredding and catching up with old friends around Whistler.
JAKE: I will probably fit in one trip but that will be it as I have a really busy schedule back home and a little family that will be missing me.
Words :: Paul Colby
