What do you get when you mix incredible athletes, global participation, and the exclusiveness of a happening that only occurs every four years? The Olympics of course! Rhode Island-based photographer Jason Evans was excited when the International Olympic Committee commissioned him to cover the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Rio was not Jason’s first Olympics, though; it was actually his fourth! Having an already very established relationship, the IOC was quite aware of Jason’s capabilities to adapt and navigate the intricacies of the Olympics as well as his ability to deliver high-quality images, and, in turn, Jason understood the needs of the client. The IOC hires photographers to create content that fulfills the requirements of many different media, ranging from publications to internal documentation, to commercial and promotional projects.
Before heading to the games, Jason, the IOC, and other photographers covering the Rio Olympics participated in numerous meetings and conference calls. It was important that everyone involved was on the same page before leaving, and the shot lists of each event were planned out accordingly amongst the photographers so that everyone knew where each other were amongst all the events. The wider team also discussed the equipment that would be coming along for the ride and any new techniques that would come in handy as each photographer shot their respective events.
Each Olympics is different, and Rio was no exception. It was hot, humid, and very crowded.
The biggest challenges are that nothing is controlled or setup or repeatable. You get one shot, no matter the weather, conditions, lack of sleep, or any other factor, you must be ready to take a picture when the moment happens.
Jason loves the excitement and emotion that goes into the Olympics, and he does a great job showing the emotion and passion that goes into these games and telling the stories behind each event.
One of my assignments was to shoot the men’s soccer final between Brazil and Germany, a rematch of the previous World Cup in the same country… I created one of my favorite pictures from Rio on the final penalty kick from Neymar that won the gold medal for Brazil. The game was tied at the end of both extra time periods and the match went to penalty kicks. For about 5 minutes, no one knew which end of the field the penalty kicks would be taken. The entire field was surrounded by photographers and 1/2 of them would be on the wrong side of the field. As the players came back onto the field, the photographers next to me realized that the kicks would take place on the opposite end of the field, and a mass migration took place as 200 photographers rushed from one end of the field to the other. I decided to stay where I was to line up a shot of the crowd. I felt that the crowd’s reaction was an important story to tell as Brazil had never won an Olympic Gold Medal in soccer and this was their national sport. On the final penalty kick, Neymar scored the winning goal and I had a shot with the kneeling players in the foreground, Neymar and the ball in the net in the middle, and the crowd bursting with celebration, in focus, filling the frame.
The IOC was very pleased with the outcome of the photos. The images made it into the exhibition “Rio 2016 Seen Through Lens of Four Photographers” in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The exhibition was a possibility before the games, but the museum had to see the images first to approve them. Jason loved seeing his work hung in a museum.
Having the museum validate the work and beauty of what I do elevates the pictures to a place where they can be appreciated by a large audience outside of the sports world. These are not only great “sport” pictures, but can stand on their own as great pictures.
See more of Jason at jasonevansphoto.com!