Getty Images photographer Quinn Rooney explains how he captured this photo at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
I took this shot at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. I’ve covered summer and winter Olympics for Getty Images and they’re always amazing experiences. It’s often very long hours working, but the rewards are in the pictures. The athletes have been waiting four years to get there so there’s just that bit more emotion. Another bonus is that there are no sponsorship boards, which is unique for a modern sporting event.
Working at an event like the Olympics you have to find a balance between getting stock shots of all the athletes and finding the creative shots. I spend a lot of time before I shoot thinking of ways to capture something different. Especially at an Olympics where there are so many photographers, shooting images that stand out from everything else that’s being produced is important.
This photo shows the Polish team in the men’s team pursuit. I picked a spot where I could get the stock shots I needed – the skaters’ reactions as they crossed the finish line – and this pan shot as the skaters raced down the back straight. I like the way the reds and blues looked in this shot and it works well that the skaters are nicely isolated against the white ice.
To get this shot I set the camera up so I could easily switch from a fast shutter speed – one-sixteen-hundredth of a second – to a slower shutter speed for the pan shot. I tried several shutter speeds and worked out that the slowest I could get was one-quarter of a second while still making the skaters recognisable. I tried half a second but there was just too much movement. I like this shot as you get the movement in the legs and the colours blending into each other, but you can still see the faces.
Canon EOS 1DX, EF400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, 1/4s @ f/16, ISO 100. Photo by Quinn Rooney, Getty Images.
Photo by Quinn Rooney, Getty Images.
