Dateline Beijing: Well, the opening ceremonies of the XXIX Olympiad are history.

They say that Paris is the city of lights and Las Vegas is a town glowing in neon. Well, that probably is true but during the opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, Beijing firmly laid claim to be the city of the LED. LEDs everywhere. They were in the floor, they were on the walls, people were wearing them - as part of their costume, people were waving them. It was dazzling light show!

We all lined up at 3pm for the 8pm show, pretty much standard procedure when dozens of heads of states are in the stands. My buddy Rod Mar from Seattle spent his "extra time" making sure all his cameras were clean and ready to face the elements. It was also hot and humid. It must have been 100° F in the stadium. Everybody was soaked to the skin. You can see a picture of my friend Rob Gauthier from the Los Angeles Times, soaked all the way through his photo vest. (and this was before it began!)

I managed to set up a remote camera with a 14mm ultra wide angle lens to get the panorama shot using a special home built chain clamp (it was an interesting adventure getting that through the security screening). This camera is setup and refocused and run by remote control. Auto exposure all the way, and this was primarily to shoot the fireworks and motion lighting effects, and I used a model that gave me the ability to lock the f-stop and use a very long exposure time.

Around 10:30 pm the photo marshals came around to warn us of an upcoming rainstorm! Which never came, they even went as far a passing out ponchos!

The lighting of the flame was done in a way that had never been done before, and will probably never be done again. There was a gymnast hanging from a wire 150 feet in the air, going around the stadium and finally lighting the torch.
It was unbelievable!





So much for the words. I'm a little tired. It's 2:00 in the morning and we just got back from the Bird's Nest Stadium. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

From the Main Press Center, Beijing China
Richard Mackson
The Photon Wrangler.

Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea... Decades ago when Walter Winchell made those words so iconic, he had no idea how small this world would become. So Good Evening (morning or afternoon) Mr., Ms., Mrs. World and all the ships at sea, airplanes in the air and cars and trains the ground. Let's go to press!


Packing for the trip

Dateline: Beijing. Well, I am here, halfway around the world, 12 time zones from my home in Pittsford NY, photographing my 12th Olympic Games. It's hard to think back some 32 years to Montreal where, as a 20 year old "Photo Journalist" full of enthusiasm and armed with several hundred rolls of TriX film, I was covering the games for Volleyball magazine. A time when auto focus was an engineer's dream and light meters dangled from our necks. ISO (then ASA) 200 was a "high speed film." It was the year that E6 EKTACHROME was debuted. It was also the first Summer Olympics after Munich - an event which changed the Olympics and the world for ever. Where has the time gone? For me it's been a long and wonderful road including 20 years as a contract photographer with Sports Illustrated and even a stint as the Director of Photographic Services for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee in 1984.

Working in my temporary office

Here in Beijing, the Olympic spirit is ever present and the city is energized! This is a city of some 13 million people which over the past 20 years has become a high tech metropolis that in many cases appears to risen from a science fiction novel. It's a unique blend of the ultra modern mixed in with thousands of years of tradition and culture. Truly a country on the move.


In front of the MPC

Over the course of the next 18 days, I will be sharing with you some of my pictures featuring the Athletes of the XXIX Olympic Games. They are the true stars of Sport and we photographers are only spectators capturing their grace, strength and artistry. I will also share some of my personal adventures and, when I can, descriptions of how I made the shot.


Broadband infrastructure in front of the hotel

So to answer a few questions in advance:
I am shooting these games 100% digital.
Lenses will range in length from 14mm to 800mm.
I predict that I will shoot almost 700gigabites of "data."
If you dig deeply enough, you will find yourself in South America..

Regards from Beijing,
Richard
The Photon Wrangler

Having grown up in Southern California near Malibu the events of last week really hit home.  The question is not "if" but "when" is the next natural disaster or (man made) catastrophic event is going to strike.   Early in my career I worked as a photographer for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook and later Time Magazine so whenever those events occurred I was called to provide coverage.  The loss of one's personal possessions, no matter the circumstance, is always an emotional event, and unfortunately through these disasters we are reminded that we often fail to protect possessions that we value.  And though we tend to focus lots of attention on the big disasters, local or personal disasters also cause a tremendous amount of damage.  

When faced with a quick evacuation, many people, while gathering important documents or mementos, will grab photo albums or a box of pictures as they flee.  Lacking the time to do so, important documents and photos are left are at risk.  Amazingly, I have witnessed people running back into burning houses to save their photos.  While furnishings and household appliances, and for that matter the house, can be insured and replaced, one of a kind mementos are lost forever.

One of my co-workers, Betty Noonan, wrote a post in the 1000 Words blog about the house fire that changed her life.  Betty was lucky.  Though her house burned nearly to the ground, many of her pictures and personal mementoes were saved.

Photographs and "data," no matter what form they are in, are vulnerable to damage in many ways.  Kodak routinely receives calls from consumers after a disaster asking for our guidance on salvaging images. I'd like to talk about damage to our photo collections caused by fire, water or debris (soot, dust) and steps we could take to fix or prevent that damage.  But first, a few scary statistics:

• In 2006, fire departments responded to 412,500 home fires in the U.S.
  • >  1000 calls/day
  • Every 20 seconds a U.S. fire department responds to a call (residential, commercial, ...)
• In 2005, residential fires caused nearly $7 billion in damage
  • Fire breaks out in a home every 83 seconds
• The average home fire burns for 20 minutes at 700⁰ F (371⁰ C) -- business fires at 800⁰ F (427⁰ C)
  • Average heat intensity in a home fire = 1200⁰ F (649⁰ C)
• 95% of all fires have water present (sprinklers, fire hoses)
  • Fire hoses squirt out 100 - 250 gallons of water per minute
• None of the above counts water damage or flooding due to storms, snow, ice or plumbing

Now consider that:

• Paper chars at 450⁰ F (232⁰ C)
• Digital media is impacted at temperatures > 125⁰ F (52⁰ C) and 80% humidity
  • "Impacted" means melting, warping, etc rendering media non-viable
  • Digital media includes CDs, DVDs, hard drives, tape, memory cards, memory sticks

Just to give you a frame of reference for your digital media, the optimal brewing temperature for a cup of coffee is generally cited as being in the range 175-205⁰ F (79-96⁰ C) with a holding temperature of 180-190⁰ F (82-88⁰ C).  In addition, a 20 second exposure at 160⁰F (71⁰ C) can produce 3rd degree burns on skin

So back to the story ...  We're looking at damage to both hardcopy and digital collections.  But we also need to address both the possibilities for recovery/restoration and, more importantly, the steps we can take to prevent the loss of our collections.

Recovery
Burned paper is burned paper - not too much you can do about that.  However, if your prints or albums are wet or soiled, there are techniques that can be used.  These techniques are very well described in an article produced by the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology, "A Consumer Guide for the Recovery of Water-Damaged Traditional and Digital Prints."  A summary excerpt is included below.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER: Because successful salvage of water-damaged prints depends upon the specific situation, it isn't possible to recommend exact, universal procedures that should always be followed. Consider the following critical factors before beginning the salvage operation.

1. Availability of replacement prints. First, determine if new prints can be made, either from the original negative or from a digital file. This would  save labor and would result in a more satisfactory print.
2. Time constraints. If the number of damaged albums or prints is so great that they cannot all be treated within 48 hours, or if there are other constraints that prevent quick treatment, the wet materials should be frozen until salvage can be started.
3. Extent of damage. Contaminated or soiled prints must be washed before they are dried and before any salvage activities begin. If they are not saturated with water but are wet only at the edges, it may be possible to employ relatively mild drying techniques such as air drying.
4. Storage mode. Prints stored in boxes or envelopes must be immediately separated and then washed (if necessary) and dried using either the blotter-paper or air drying technique.
5. Print removal. If the prints were mounted in the album, they should be removed from the pages before drying to prevent additional print distortion.
6. Types of prints. Traditional photographic, dye diffusion thermal transfer, and pigment ink jet images can withstand considerable water exposure.  However, ink jet materials featuring dye images are very susceptible to damage. You will have to decide if enough image remains to justify a   time-consuming salvage operation or if the prints should be discarded. Color photographic prints and ink jet dye prints on swellable paper should be air dried with nothing touching the image surface. Black-and-white photographic, dye diffusion thermal transfer, and ink jet images on microporous paper should be dried between blotting paper under uniform pressure.
7. Optimum result. Generally, the most satisfactory result will be obtained if water-damaged prints are removed, dried, flattened, and then remounted in new albums.

There are limited techniques available for the recovery of digital media -- minor scratches or water damage.  But again, fire damaged media is generally unrecoverable.

Prevention
One could say that an ounce of prevention is worth a whole lot more than untold hours of recovery.  A few of the possibilities are
1. Back-up CDs or DVDs          (Stored in an alternate location  
2. Back-up hard drive              or in a fire safe)
3. Remote backup service or remote photo storage

REMOTE SERVICE:   They are out there.  These range from services that will literally backup your hard drive on a regular basis to photo storage sites such as the Kodak Gallery.  The remote backup services may be a bit pricey, but they do guarantee that all the data on your computer is preserved.  Many of the photo storage sites offer free unlimited storage.  Some offer unlimited storage for a small fee.  In either case, your photos can be reprinted for a nominal fee if needed.

CD/DVD/HARD DRIVE:  Many of us already back up our digital photos to CD or DVD and increasingly more avid photographers back up to a hard drive.  Either system is only as effective as our ability to protect the media.  Unless you choose to store your media in a remote location (take a copy to work), your best bet may be a fire safe.  The current generation of safes are surprisingly affordable, are available in a variety of sizes and are rated for protection time, temperature and type of contents protected.  Some safes are specified as media safes -- remember that digital media is destroyed at 125⁰ F (52⁰ C) while paper is destroyed at 450⁰ F (232⁰ C) -- while others also carry a waterproof rating.  You can also purchase a fireproof, waterproof USB, Firewire or NAS hard drive.

 

Though the above measures are aimed at your digital collection, they also work on digitized images.  Many of us have thousands of paper prints that we have captured over the years -- in albums, in shoeboxes, in photo sleeves.  Many photo or imaging retail locations provide photo scanning services.  Your entire paper collection can be quickly scanned, uploaded to a storage site and written to CD or DVD.  Kodak has such a system deployed in a vehicle called the ScanVan.  Aimed at demonstrating the value and ease of use to consumers, the ScanVan is traveling across America.  In fact, many Kodak employees had the opportunity to use the system recently when the ScanVan stopped in Rochester.  You can get the details in another recent post by Joel Rosen entitled "Meet the ScanVan!"

So you have a few choices.  You can try to recover your damaged images or you can take preventive measures.  But better yet, why not share your images broadly?  Any picture/image sent to friends and family -- whether hardcopy or a photo gallery album -- is a good insurance policy. 

 

So what if we threw an implosion and nobody came? Fat chance of that! Over the weekend, Kodak used the method of "explosive demolition" to bring down two buildings in Kodak Park.

Like all events of this type, there is an opportunity for great photographs and for lead-ins to many bad puns! I will spare you the small photographs and just provide blow-ups.

The one thing about implosions is that it's all about Physics and the findings of Sir Isaac Newton. Once the detonation takes place, the building is going to fall. And it is going to happen at 32 feet per second/per second! Not exactly gone in a flash but you get the picture.

Normally when photographing a building, you handle it as a still life. But implosions turn an inanimate object into an architectural version of Michael Jordon bringing down the house with a nitro packed dunk shot, and with all the grace of a free falling refrigerator cratering in after being dropped from an airplane.

The way we handled the coverage was the way Sports Illustrated would handle a horse race. Find the best angles, man them with photographers (out of harms way, of course), or put remote cameras in places that would question a person's sanity. In our case we did both. Did you ever wonder how SI got those "dynamite" shots from under the rail? Primed and ready, we did the same.

Several cameras were positioned with wide angles lenses (17mm-35mm) within the exclusion zone (500 foot perimeter) with wires trailing back to assistants whose job was to "push the button" as gravity did the rest. Well back from the potential debris zone, other photographers with longer lenses blasted away. To get a sense of place, we had a photographer positioned high atop a building recording the "establishing shot," just as you would photograph the infield at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May.

Unlike a horse race, there is no starting gate. Once the detonation sequence begins, the building is coming down. So to make sure we got the shot, each of us had motor driven digital cameras capable of shooting up to 8+ frames a second. Some of the remotes were the venerable Hasselblad ELX, dubbed by many as a battle tank, medium format cameras loaded with 24-exposure rolls of film. We even had one photographer dedicated to covering the event in stereoscopic 3D for that explosive look. Both 35mm and super 16mm motion picture cameras were used, as well as the latest in HD video recording.

The camera survived!... But did I get the shot?... Yes! Got the shot!

Why so many cameras and so many angles? You never know what is going to happen. All the pre-planning helps but, in reality, it's an educated guess. Besides, there is no re-shoot. In other words, there's no provision for a false start.

So there you have it - briefly how it was done. Now that the dust has settled and the rapture of adrenalin has worn off, hope you enjoy the pictures. Photographing the implosion was a blast; everyone did a bang up job and it really rocked the house! (Ugh!)

For more implosion coverage check out Tom Hoehn's post at 1000words.kodak.com.

. . . or how the shoebox can rise from the dead.

The shoebox is a wonderful thing. Though originally designed to hold footwear, the lowly shoebox has become the symbol of our photography collections. Many of our photos and slides - you know, the ones that we always meant to put into scrapbooks or albums - are wallowing away in obscurity. They are destined to fall victim to fading memory or, worse, natural disaster. And we have the technology to help. Over the next few blogs, I'll be talking about how you take your varied collection into the digital age. The first installment -

So having reached middle age, my high school reunion is just around the corner. I was confronted with an obstacle and an opportunity - how to convert my "collection" of high school newspaper and yearbook photography into a "Hi Tech Show" from negatives that at the time were great because some image actually appeared! Didn't pan-thermic mean leave in the soup longer? And Dia-Fine translated to "perfect processing"-not. In other words a collection of under or over exposed film processed under some dubious conditions. Get the picture? Unfortunately the options have been extremely limited.

From a technological sense it should be pretty easy to get B&W slides made directly from negatives that would be suitable for display, right? Unfortunately that is not the case. The B&W negative to positive system was primarily designed for contact or projection printing. If done correctly, an exposure made based on the contrast of the original subject, combined with appropriately processing the negative will "lay down" on a mid contrast paper (number 2 or 3). While under extremely tight control, beginning with the originals exposure and processing, you could try and "reverse dupe" the negative directly to film. However, that would require perfect negatives and perfect negs are few and far between. And film, while you could fudge a little via exposure and processing, does not come in contrast grades. The other alternative is to print the pictures then copy them using either Color Slide film or via a B&W direct reversal processing. The latter is at best a quirky process limited to one's darkroom, or through a few very specialized labs. And even then the original negatives need to be pretty good.

Well so much for the traditional methods-

Once you accept that digital photography and conventional photography are the same - the understanding and use of light - things become a bit clearer. A digital camera and associated workflow and editing software are a fantastic set of tools. Gone are the limitations of highlight to shadow contrast ratio, and the limits of the Neg-Pos system. Gone are the days of smelly B&W reversal chemistry. Hello to the days when the underexposed, some badly processed, but wonderfully captured and composed images can, for the first time in their lives, be released from their silver halide shackles. BOOYAH!

Digital cameras make wonderful copy devices for both reflected and trans-illuminated subjects. The simplest way to make digital files from B&W negatives is to set up a simple backlit copy stand. Here's how I did it. Using a KODAK DCS 3700 with an auxiliary close-up lens added to the camera, I photographed the B&W negatives. This should be done at the highest resolution available. Once captured, the files can be taken into an editing package such as PhotoShop. One of the nice tools these packages have is the ability to "invert" the image, e.g. make a negative into a positive image or visa/versa. In most cases the resulting picture will not immediately look very good, so a simple application of "auto levels" will do the trick. In other cases the white and black points need to be modified or the exposure curve need adjusting. It is not inconceivable that B&W images that anyone would be proud of will appear. In fact in many cases the results will be far better this way than conventional enlargement printing would yield.

And most importantly resulting images will be suitable for a digital slide show, and even better, they are now part of a digital picture collection.

Next time, we'll talk about how to digitize your shoebox prints.

Wow, what a morning! As Susan mentioned in her blog The Inkjet Story, today we launched one of the most exciting products in Kodak history - our lineup of KODAK EASYSHARE All-in-One Printers. Broadcasting from NBC Studios in New York City, this event was hosted by Nathan and Max - stars of Kodak's marketing campaign Ink Is It! This special edition of Ink Is It! featured Antonio Perez, Kodak CEO; Molly Shannon, former Saturday Night Live cast member; and David Morrish, Senior Vice President at Best Buy with music provided by The Nerds.

I was the lucky guy who got to photograph the launch. So enjoy a few Kodak moments. And be sure to check out Nathan and Max at http://www.inkisit.com/.

Max & Nathan welcome Antonio with a shower of rose petals

The Great Unveiling - A cheer goes up as Antonio reveals the printer with a flourish

Antonio extolls the virtues of the new printers

Max & Nathan do the "Ink Dance" as a page prints

All three do a rousing sign-off chanting "Ink is It!"