You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.

August 24, 2008 10:04 PM

Amazing Olympics recap photos [slightly NSFW, due to an accidental bare ass or exposed boob]

Also: quite a lot of opportunistic ass and crotch shots. Via John Kennedy at Global Voices Online.

posted by KokuRyu (143 comments total)

I'll be in my bunk.
posted by roue at 10:13 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Some very cool shots in there. Thanks KR.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:13 PM on August 24, 2008

Awesome Olympics. True to the roots of the games.
Lame Olympics.
posted by Science! at 10:14 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

BRONZE? BRONZE???? I do all the work and you screw it up???? I'LL SHOW YOU BRONZE, MUTHAFUC...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:18 PM on August 24, 2008

BRONZE? BRONZE???? I do all the work and you screw it up???? I'LL SHOW YOU BRONZE, MUTHAFUC...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:19 PM on August 24, 2008 [6 favorites]

Some of those pictures made me feel like I was magically transported to FARK. Others were awesome.

Is it possible to rent a box set of olympic dvds? There are so many great sports I totally missed.
posted by mecran01 at 10:20 PM on August 24, 2008

As mentioned in the other thread, the Olympics has got to be a massive sex-fest.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:22 PM on August 24, 2008

Some of those pictures really capture the moment. Nice post. The elbow guy just laying there screaming, grossed me out as I accidentally watched the video the other day.
posted by Mr_Zero at 10:26 PM on August 24, 2008

re: the athelete's bare ass cheeks hanging over the side of the sailboat -- accidental de-pantsing, or is that just how they sail in Germany?
posted by brain cloud at 10:27 PM on August 24, 2008

re: the athelete's bare ass cheeks hanging over the side of the sailboat -- accidental de-pantsing, or is that just how they sail in Germany?

It is how they go to the bathroom during the race. Like the runners pissing and shitting all over the place before a marathon.
posted by Mr_Zero at 10:29 PM on August 24, 2008

mecran01: I too would like to see some of the things I missed -- judo, fencing, freestyle wrestling...
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:30 PM on August 24, 2008

Where are the pics of the moment where the US relay-ers dropped the batons? That was epic tragedy.
posted by knowles at 10:30 PM on August 24, 2008

We really need an "OLYMPICS: TOO HOT FOR TV!!!" unrated DVD or something.
posted by Avenger at 10:30 PM on August 24, 2008

I love the olympics.
posted by smackfu at 10:35 PM on August 24, 2008

Some of those pictures made me feel like I was magically transported to FARK.

Yeah what was with all the T&A shots?
posted by shakespeherian at 10:35 PM on August 24, 2008

It is how they go to the bathroom during the race. Like the runners pissing and shitting all over the place before a marathon.

Fo'reals? Man. There is so much stuff they won't show on american television. I had no idea.
posted by brain cloud at 10:36 PM on August 24, 2008

All it's missing is some classic montage music.
posted by stavrogin at 10:39 PM on August 24, 2008

Awesome photos.

And holy crap, that man has the torso of a manta ray.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:43 PM on August 24, 2008 [2 favorites]

(Alternate montage music.)
posted by The White Hat at 10:45 PM on August 24, 2008

I don't think that bare ass was accidental - how long do those yachting stages last?

There was a lot of talk about that blade runner guy, and the swimmer with one leg, but nobody ever mentioned this woman - anyone know who she is?
posted by Chuckles at 10:49 PM on August 24, 2008

no discus?
posted by ofthestrait at 10:50 PM on August 24, 2008

That table tennis player is Natalia Partyka, who will also be in the Paralympic Games this year.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:53 PM on August 24, 2008

Your link is no good. Natalia Partyka, also on wikipedia.
posted by churl at 10:59 PM on August 24, 2008

Disqualified? I'll show you disqualified, mothafuc...
posted by gottabefunky at 11:00 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wow, wonder how I managed that. Thanks, churl.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 11:00 PM on August 24, 2008

There are some great shots in there. But, uh, gotta point out the asshat.
posted by sharpener at 11:01 PM on August 24, 2008 [11 favorites]

Re-education through labor sentence for two elderly protesters

.
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:07 PM on August 24, 2008

Those are great.
And I have to get me a pair of headphones like these.
posted by chococat at 11:10 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

This guy looks like he partied a little too hard in the Olympic Village the night before and couldn't find a toilet to crawl up next to.

Yao did find a toilet.

Then again, who even needs a toilet?
posted by clearly at 11:12 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, I love the acronym for the World Taekwondo Foundation. Rather perfect given the story linked to by gottabefunky above. The only caption for that photo -- and the horrific act of unsportsmanlike conduct it documents --- that makes sense is "WTF Matos."

But that would mean someone would have to come along and say this thread had turned into . . . . WTF MatosFilter.
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:13 PM on August 24, 2008

"Disqualified? I'll show you disqualified, mothafuc..."

That was one angry man. The kick was blindingly fast and right to the face.

Here is the video of Matos' disqualification and the kick that led to his ejection for life from the Olympics. (it is from NBC, and requires Microsoft Silverlight, whatever the hell that is)
posted by clearly at 11:16 PM on August 24, 2008

WTF MatosFilter didn't go over too well.
posted by clearly at 11:18 PM on August 24, 2008

and who's she?
posted by dawson at 11:20 PM on August 24, 2008

and who's she?

One of the beach volleyball dancers.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:22 PM on August 24, 2008

I loved most of the Judo photos, except for the fat bastards in the over 100 kilo division.

I also loved the photo of what looks like a perfect French manicure on the hand of a weightlifter - nice contrast.
posted by rodgerd at 11:22 PM on August 24, 2008

One of the beach volleyball dancers.

I'm pretty confused, but thanks CPB
posted by dawson at 11:25 PM on August 24, 2008

Volleyball cheerleaders. They were all over the sand.
posted by Science! at 11:31 PM on August 24, 2008

BRONZE? BRONZE???? I do all the work and you screw it up???? I'LL SHOW YOU BRONZE, MUTHAFUC...</i?

no, no, NO .... You screwed it all up, that was actually a sneak preview of the new sport debuting in 2012: Equestrian Breakdancing
posted by mannequito at 11:34 PM on August 24, 2008

I don't think that's a weightlifter with a manicure...they don't use anything to grip the bar but their natural hands, and a nail like that would kind of fuck with a hook grip. Archery perhaps?
posted by creasy boy at 11:34 PM on August 24, 2008

Those leather palm protectors are exactly what every gymnast was wearing when I watched, plus they're covered in chalk. Gymnasts freakin' love chalk.
posted by Science! at 11:41 PM on August 24, 2008

Yep. Defiantly a gymnast.
posted by Science! at 11:48 PM on August 24, 2008

I'm assuming this is another of those damned Brits abroad?
posted by mannequito at 11:54 PM on August 24, 2008

These are great photos. I'd have liked this a lot more if the person who compiled them had bothered to at least offer a link or a credit line to the photographers who worked so hard to get these shots.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 12:17 AM on August 25, 2008 [11 favorites]

yeah, that's a hand grip for the uneven bars.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 12:20 AM on August 25, 2008

Wow. A bit heavyhanded on the T&A here and there, but overall cool nonetheless.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:21 AM on August 25, 2008

Was puddle behind a hurdle placed there intentionally?
posted by blasdelf at 12:21 AM on August 25, 2008

I'm kinda bummed I missed some of the stuff pictured here. Anyone know of any venue where I can watch any of it no that the games are over? I'm guessing my chances are pretty slim.
posted by RavinDave at 12:28 AM on August 25, 2008

blasdelf: steeplechase
posted by dseaton at 12:29 AM on August 25, 2008

absolutely amazing.
posted by krautland at 12:43 AM on August 25, 2008

I'm guessing most of those pictures are by the press? If yes, under what orders are the ones that took the artsy ones? Or are they just told 'Go there and take pictures kthxbye'?
posted by Memo at 1:00 AM on August 25, 2008

Great photos.

I know it's said before and often, but these photos just remind me of how much cool stuff there is to see and which never gets the attention it deserves.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:02 AM on August 25, 2008

Some pretty great shots in there! Thanks for posting this!
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:04 AM on August 25, 2008

One of the best posts all year.
posted by hellslinger at 1:21 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'd love to see the photographers credited - and for some of the pictures and explanation.
posted by rongorongo at 1:22 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

So is Puddle Jumping a new Olympic event?
posted by Defenestrator at 1:48 AM on August 25, 2008

Oops. Nevermind!
posted by Defenestrator at 1:49 AM on August 25, 2008

You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.

No, I believe you hotlink them from a German magazine.
posted by cillit bang at 1:59 AM on August 25, 2008 [9 favorites]

But, uh, gotta point out the asshat.

AKA the Reverse Teabag Takedown.
posted by bwg at 2:21 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Booby!
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:26 AM on August 25, 2008

Uh, I think that's more correctly termed a 'bewb'.
posted by blasdelf at 2:48 AM on August 25, 2008

Good stuff, gratuitous cheerleader shots aside, but the lack of captions and credits was pretty annoying.

Memo wrote: I'm guessing most of those pictures are by the press? If yes, under what orders are the ones that took the artsy ones? Or are they just told 'Go there and take pictures kthxbye'?

Um, the orders of their picture editors? Artsy Olympics shots have been on the front pages of newspapers and their websites pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks.

Here's a weblog by the Times' photographer in Beijing, about half of his work there could be described as artsy.
posted by jack_mo at 3:16 AM on August 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

Some quotes, via the CBC.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:29 AM on August 25, 2008

"I'm pretty angry. I'm going to write a nasty letter. This is the Olympics. It's not that difficult to organize a three-kilometre run. We've never run like this before." — Monica Pinette, Canadian pentathlete, on the organization of the modern pentathlon competition in Beijing.

I. Love. Canadians.
posted by brain cloud at 4:11 AM on August 25, 2008 [7 favorites]

It is how they go to the bathroom during the race. Like the runners pissing and shitting all over the place before a marathon.

Or during a marathon sometimes (seriously). Same for long bike races.
posted by bjrn at 4:18 AM on August 25, 2008

How shamefully euro-centric.

This looks like a MeFi Meetup™, except the cameras would all be pointed at each other.
posted by Eideteker at 4:23 AM on August 25, 2008

That was great.
posted by caddis at 4:33 AM on August 25, 2008

Cillit bang found the source, thanks for that! Still no captions or photographer credits though which is what I was after. Bummer.
posted by dabitch at 4:41 AM on August 25, 2008

No love for pole vaulting???
posted by rikschell at 5:29 AM on August 25, 2008

Usain Bolt discusses the 100M final.
posted by horsewithnoname at 5:33 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'm guessing most of those pictures are by the press? If yes, under what orders are the ones that took the artsy ones? Or are they just told 'Go there and take pictures kthxbye'?

Basically, you're there at the Olympics in your little designated press shooting spot with 100 other photographers, all with the same fabulous lenses, all taking the same basic shot. Besides this competition, there's also a pool photographer (like AP) who has priority and a better spot, and your newspaper can always run the pool shot instead. So, there is a lot of value placed on getting unusual shots. They hang cameras from the rafters for weightlifting, they set up remotes at every weird angle you can think of, they bring underwater cameras to shoot synchronized swimming, all while competing with the others who want a unique shot too. And then, if you come up with a good one, everyone will copy it.

If you show up and take boring pictures, they won't send you back.
posted by smackfu at 5:49 AM on August 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

Exposed boob. For the lazy.
posted by theyexpectresults at 6:10 AM on August 25, 2008 [8 favorites]

Seriously, two different people have to rushed to find the booby and link it? You're so busy fapping you can't even read the comments to see that some braintrust already did it for you?
posted by headspace at 6:39 AM on August 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

If you're fapping to that, may god have mercy on your soul.
posted by smackfu at 6:41 AM on August 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

Absolutely fantastic pix, thank you.

(In case anyone else was curious to know how the British reacted to the "handover" segment featuring a double decker bus during last night's NBC Olympic closing ceremony - MOST UK newspapers are patriotically pretending it was charming and quirky...

It wasn't. It was every bit as bad as the London Olympics logo.

The theatre critic of the UK's Daily Telegraph (good for him) is one of the only hacks prepared to say the awful truth...

In my time I've witnessed countless Royal Variety Performances and the opening ceremony of the Dome. This British fiasco was worse than any of them, and even at only eight minutes seemed interminable. No wonder London mayor Boris Johnson looked so uncomfortable beforehand. He must have known what was coming.

I have two tips for you, Boris. Keep your hands out of your pockets when attending high-profile events like this, and secondly fire whoever responsible for this fiasco and hire proper showbiz professionals – from Las Vegas if necessary – to handle the opening and closing ceremonies in 2012. Another toe-curling embarrassment like this would be unendurable.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 6:55 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

headspace, the boob linked to is not the one you may think it is. Bestill your wrath; assuage your outrage.
posted by yhbc at 7:11 AM on August 25, 2008

Cillit bang found the source, thanks for that! Still no captions or photographer credits though which is what I was after. Bummer.
posted by dabitch at 7:41 AM on August 25

Um, the photographer credits are there, lower left below each pic. No captions, though.

And by the way, for those interested in the sexy side of the Olympics, see also this collection ("So sexy ist Olympia") at the same German mag. And more photo collections can be found via the pulldown box below the slideshow.
posted by beagle at 7:15 AM on August 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

My fave olympic photo was this one. Great vantage point...perfect composition...just brilliant.
Wish I could find a bigger version.
posted by rocket88 at 7:28 AM on August 25, 2008

The shot of the lady playing badminton, and the gymnast on the parallel bars, both shot from above, were particularly nice. There is a lot of good stuff there.
posted by chunking express at 7:33 AM on August 25, 2008

The handover bit during the closing ceremonies had more suck-per-minute stuffed into it than a cheap porno film. Oh London, you've got to do much, much better than that.
posted by brain cloud at 7:37 AM on August 25, 2008

>Yep. Defiantly a gymnast.

Pretty much describes Nastia Liuken to a T.
posted by hifiparasol at 8:14 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Keep your hands out of your pockets when attending high-profile events like this

Oh god yes. It was very painful watching him not know what to do with his hands.
posted by monocot at 8:16 AM on August 25, 2008

Wait.... So Tae Kwon Do guys can get a time out, if they hurt themselves by kicking something, when the whole spot is pretty much just kicking things? Do boxers get a 30 second breather if they hurt their hand while punching something? I'm honestly asking. It's not like sprinters can pause the race if they pull a muscle.

I'm not talking about about in between rounds or anything. It looks like Matos hurt his toe when his opponent checked his kick with his shin, which I'd assume is pretty standard technique. Matos took a time out to rub his toe, took too long, then kicked a ref in the face? What a little bitch.

Also, I didn't realize that the Olympics had sports besides swimming, beach volleyball and gymnastics. It would have been cool to see some judo, wrestling or even table tennis.

Excellent post.
posted by Telf at 8:58 AM on August 25, 2008

From The Big Picture.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:01 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Invisible bike, invisible sportsmanship, and invisible outside world.
posted by Monochrome at 9:11 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, I didn't realize that the Olympics had sports besides swimming, beach volleyball and gymnastics.

Really? There were a lot of different sports on, if you didn't just watch regular NBC.
posted by inigo2 at 9:13 AM on August 25, 2008

Great pics. But having missed most of the coverage, there are so many questions raised by some of these, and no answers. I would have liked a little blurb telling me what we were looking at, but I'll be trying to catch up on my Olympic watching soon.

(except it's a saving grace that so many things are on at the same time -- approaching it like any other set of recorded events is a huge amount of material to go through)
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:22 AM on August 25, 2008

Wait.... So Tae Kwon Do guys can get a time out, if they hurt themselves by kicking something, when the whole spot is pretty much just kicking things? Do boxers get a 30 second breather if they hurt their hand while punching something? I'm honestly asking. It's not like sprinters can pause the race if they pull a muscle.

I'm not talking about about in between rounds or anything. It looks like Matos hurt his toe when his opponent checked his kick with his shin, which I'd assume is pretty standard technique. Matos took a time out to rub his toe, took too long, then kicked a ref in the face? What a little bitch

Whats crazy is that here the guy looks all surprised as his coach tells him he has to leave because of what he did.

I always thought judo was more of a bitchy, lame sport but you may be right. At least you're right that this guy's a bitch.
posted by mannequito at 9:32 AM on August 25, 2008

Great pics, full of win and fail, but to fail at that high a level ain't too bad.

What's up with the Muslim woman runner wearing what amounts to a parachute? All that extra fabric must cost a few tenths of a second. Join the rest of the world, and win some medals!
posted by limited slip at 9:35 AM on August 25, 2008

Awesome pics in the post and in the thread. I love human beings and our bodies!

By the way, did I hear correctly on NBC last night that China spent in the neighborhood of $40 billion to put on the 2008 Olympics? That's just...there's no way.
posted by lord_wolf at 9:43 AM on August 25, 2008

China spent in the neighborhood of $40 billion to put on the 2008 Olympics...

You heard right.

"Estimates for the cost of the Beijing Games, apart from the Beijing organizing committee’s operating budget, start at $40 billion. And that does not account for the difference in labor costs..."

posted by ericb at 9:57 AM on August 25, 2008

More Olympics-related links:

1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy floor exercise

1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy beam routine

And... from 1981
posted by KokuRyu at 9:58 AM on August 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

Really? There were a lot of different sports on, if you didn't just watch regular NBC.

As has been mentioned in other Olympic threads the NBC/Olympic webiste has a ton of resources on all of the sports and events, including video highlights, recaps and encores (including full coverage of last night's closing ceremony, etc). You can play the inline streaming video ... and only need the NBCOlympics Video Viewer with Microsoft Silverlight to watch in higher defintion, etc.
posted by ericb at 10:06 AM on August 25, 2008

China spent in the neighborhood of $40 billion to put on the 2008 Olympics? That's just...there's no way.

If it helps --- don't think of it as blowing a $40b wad of cash. Think of it more like leveraging that much American consumer debt! It's almost like play-money.
posted by brain cloud at 10:06 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

More Olympics-related links:1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy floor exercise ...

Be sure to check out last week's Paul Hunt FPP.
posted by ericb at 10:09 AM on August 25, 2008

ah, whoopsies
posted by KokuRyu at 10:11 AM on August 25, 2008

Volleyball cheerleaders.

Ok, that's one question down. But WTF?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:13 AM on August 25, 2008

and only need the NBCOlympics Video Viewer with Microsoft Silverlight to watch in higher defintion, etc.

Yeah, I downloaded and installed Silverlight only to then be told, sorry, restricted to American viewers.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:15 AM on August 25, 2008

More photos (kinda NSFW and kinda boyzone)
posted by KokuRyu at 10:16 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

What I always think about is how some of these shots would have been flat out impossible thirty years ago. Camera technology is pretty amazing these days, in the hands of people who really know how to use it.
posted by Caduceus at 10:17 AM on August 25, 2008

No, I believe you hotlink them from a German magazine.

Nice catch there, cilit bang.

Maybe that link to Stern can be edited into the FPP by a mod? Otherwise, MeFi is aiding and abetting the circulation of the uncredited photos, and the hotlinking dickwad who posted them at thdesign.be without attribution -- plus that site is going to go down when Stern figures out where all their bandwidth is going, rendering this FPP obsolete in the future.

Because they are wonderful photos. And it is a great post. But credit should be given where credit is due for that kind of work. Or for any creative work. Seems like a no brainer to me. Just sayin', not trying to derail.


To add to the irony, here's what you get when you dig into the index of the site hosting these photos:

http://stuff.thdesign.be/___music/

and

http://stuff.thdesign.be/___software/


There's some other weird stuff there too.


posted by fourcheesemac at 10:19 AM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, the bandwidth thievery makes this FPP's title more than a little ironic as well.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:20 AM on August 25, 2008

Addendum 2: Here's the 19 year old hotlinker himself.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:23 AM on August 25, 2008

dabitch: Still no captions or photographer credits though which is what I was after. Bummer.

Not so. Look at the bottom left corner of each photo and there is a full credit to the photographer and the agency.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:30 AM on August 25, 2008

Some of those pictures really capture the moment. Nice post. The elbow guy just laying there screaming, grossed me out as I accidentally watched the video the other day.

I hesitate to ask, but could someone tell me what this is about?
posted by roll truck roll at 10:36 AM on August 25, 2008

roll truck roll:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/13/sports/AS-OLY-WEI-Hungarian-Injured.php

You can find it on Youtube too, but you might not want to...
posted by Perplexity at 10:46 AM on August 25, 2008

The elbow guy ... I hesitate to ask, but could someone tell me what this is about?

"Janos Baranyai was trying to snatch 148kg (326lbs.) in his third lift in the men's 77-kg division, when his elbow popped out of socket. No longer able to support the weight of the barbell, his right forearm bent backward. The 24-year-old Hungarian fell to the floor in shock, shaking and crying out in pain." [video 1, 2].
posted by ericb at 10:47 AM on August 25, 2008

Yeah, don't watch that if you don't want to be shaken all day. Ugh.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2008

Oh God, roll truck roll, why? Why did you make me re-live that memory?

I picked the wrong week to quit smoking.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:57 AM on August 25, 2008

What's up with the Muslim woman runner wearing what amounts to a parachute? All that extra fabric must cost a few tenths of a second. Join the rest of the world, and win some medals!

Oh man, are you serious? Ruqaya Al Ghasara from Bahrain won gold in the women's 200m wearing a body-covering outfit.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 11:26 AM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Performance enhancing hijab. Nice! (Performance-enhancing burka sounds better, but is inaccurate).
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:44 AM on August 25, 2008

Yeesh, sorry for bringing it up.

Thanks for the info; I think I'll go ahead and not watch the video.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:46 AM on August 25, 2008

EndsOfInvention, that was at the Asian games. I think that win is what qualified her for the Olympics. She made it all the way to the semi-finals in the actual games, which is impressive.
posted by chunking express at 12:01 PM on August 25, 2008

Oh man, are you serious? Ruqaya Al Ghasara from Bahrain won gold in the women's 200m wearing a body-covering outfit.

In the Asian Games, yeah. And then won one heat in an Olympic semifinal, and got 6th in the final. I wonder where she'd have finished if she'd been dressed like the other runners? (Then again, maybe they'd all run faster if they shaved their heads, too).
posted by dilettante at 12:07 PM on August 25, 2008

Oh man, are you serious? Ruqaya Al Ghasara from Bahrain won gold in the women's 200m wearing a body-covering outfit.

To be clear, that was in the 2006 Asian Games, not in Beijing.
posted by stargell at 12:09 PM on August 25, 2008

Finally!!

I was SOOOO disappointed with NBC's coverage of the volleyball cheerleaders..
posted by pwedza at 12:14 PM on August 25, 2008

Thanks, cilit bang. The photo of the cyclist hitting the deck is a great capture, and I'd like to share it with folks but tell them where it came from.
posted by fixedgear at 12:44 PM on August 25, 2008

accidental bare ass or exposed boob?
posted by dhartung at 2:40 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

only need the NBCOlympics Video Viewer with Microsoft Silverlight to watch in higher defintion

Yeah, uh, about your definition of the word need...

What I always think about is how some of these shots would have been flat out impossible thirty years ago. Camera technology is pretty amazing these days, in the hands of people who really know how to use it.

Any of those shots could have been taken 30 years ago. It's just that 30 years ago you didn't have ten thousand photographers documenting every single nanosecond of every single event. It's not the technology, it's the vast volume. If they actually had been using film and had to develop those shots they probably would have caused an environmental calamity.

Personally, I weep for their editors.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:40 PM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

1978? No, lenses too slow, film too grainy, flashes too weak and too slow to recycle, clockwork cloth shutters too slow for continuous shooting.
posted by A189Nut at 5:29 PM on August 25, 2008

So many of these photos are amazing in a good way. Emotions caught at their highest--joy, fear, elation, frustration. Technique shown at its best and worst. Zany antics. Failure. Success. Family. Colors. Competition. Exhaustion. Pain.

It just makes me sad, though, that to so many of these photographers the unique/different/gripping approach means closeups of women's disembodied butts/crotches/torsos.

Sigh. C'mon society! If you're going to insist on reducing these athletes to their parts, can't you at least do some male crotch/ass/pec shots as well? And remember not to bother with their faces, either. That way I won't be as disappointed. TIA. Stew.
posted by Stewriffic at 6:22 PM on August 25, 2008

Looks like the link is broken.
posted by humanfont at 6:53 PM on August 25, 2008

Ah, shit. My sister told me about the awesomeness of this earlier today and now it's broke. This is the cherry on the cake of my day.
posted by Miastar at 7:36 PM on August 25, 2008

Google cache
posted by aerotive at 8:13 PM on August 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

No, lenses too slow, film too grainy, flashes too weak and too slow to recycle, clockwork cloth shutters too slow for continuous shooting.

Plenty of fast lenses (the 300 f2/8 was introduced for the '76 Montreal Olympics, for instance). Plenty of ISO-50. Flashes won't do you any good when you're shooting that far, anyway. And cloth shutters will do you fine for one or two shots. No, not for continuous shooting, but that's why there's this whole thing called technique you had to master. See also my comment about the plight of modern-day editors and HD video. And get off my lawn.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:33 PM on August 25, 2008

Er... f/2.8.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:33 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

To be fair, shots like this have only been possible since the mid-80s. But photographers could get a lot closer to the action back in the day. Heck, even today they can still get pretty darned close.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:48 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Dammit, I meant this shot for the "mid-80s" comment.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:49 PM on August 25, 2008

looks like the link is broken

and

Ah, shit. My sister told me about the awesomeness of this earlier today and now it's broke

and

Ah, shit. My sister told me about the awesomeness of this earlier today and now it's broke

Do people read threads any more these days? Or is the urge to see some T&A too pressing? The link is broken because it was a hotlinked site -- as I predicted above, I'm pretty sure the dude was cease-and-desisted by Stern magazine, since it was outright theft of both images and bandwidth.

So you can still see the photos, simply by visiting the site where they were actually, legally hosted with full credit and attribution to the photographers: Stern magazine -- thanks to cillit bang's detective work:

http://www.stern.de/olympia2008/fotostrecken/:Abstimmung-Die-Bilder-Peking/635951.html

Once more, I think it would be a really good idea to fix the link in the original FPP. Now it's hosed anyway.

See what happens when you steal, kids?
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:47 PM on August 25, 2008

See what happens when you steal, kids?

What is really too bad about all that is, the kid who was doing the bandwidth/credit stealing had a much more user friendly interface. Ya ya, I know, it doesn't make it right.....
posted by Chuckles at 11:56 PM on August 25, 2008

Yeah, clearly it wasn't about bandwidth, it was about layout--or lack thereof.

Having.
To.
View.
Each.
Picture.
One.
Page.
At.
A.
Time.
Is.
Really.
Fucking.
Annoying.

That's why I love the Big Picture (linked to already by Astro Zombie). Their collections are totally freaking incredible and well-captioned.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:39 AM on August 26, 2008

Well, I suspect it *was* about bandwidth and theft of intellectual property for Stern and the uncredited photographers. Even those MeFites who think it's OK to steal copyrighted work if it's on the internets where everything wants to be free must believe it sucks to strip proper credit from those works, right?

Maybe for you it "wasn't about bandwidth, but usability." And I hate page-at-a-time flash slideshow viewers as much as the next person. The original and now defunct FPP link took you to a continuous single white page with all the photos stacked one on top of the other all the way down, like something from 1999. But it was a lot easier to view by scrolling down than by hitting "next" 79 times. Or however many photos there were.

Too bad improving the interface doesn't make up for being a thief. For those who don't believe in the right of artists to make a living from their work, surely some of you believe in the right of websites to prevent people from leeching bandwidth, especially when we're talking about dozens of high rez photographs posted to popular sites like Metafilter. If it was your website being leeched, regardless of the IP issues, I think you'd be might pissed about somehwat outright *stealing* something you paid for on a per unit basis.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:37 AM on August 26, 2008

And may I point out that our here the young pirate had graphics up on his website in his "music" and "software" directories of a boy giving you the finger for trying to "steal" *his* music and software.

Hypocrites make poor champions for any cause. And even poorer martyrs.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:40 AM on August 26, 2008

the link is fixed
posted by KokuRyu at 9:01 AM on August 26, 2008

Too bad improving the interface doesn't make up for being a thief.

Shucks. Guess I'm going to room without dinner, again!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:06 AM on August 26, 2008

China's gold medals came at a high price: Athletes sacrificed dearly -- one was separated from her toddler, one was banned from eating dinner, one missed a parent's funeral. While Americans spoke of fun, the Chinese were on a 'sacred mission'.
posted by homunculus at 9:29 AM on August 26, 2008

All the athletes at the Olympics train a stupid amount. I doubt the last four years have been happy fun time for the American sprinters, swimmers, or gymnasts. (Though I have no doubt China takes things to a whole other level.)
posted by chunking express at 9:38 AM on August 26, 2008

Though I have no doubt China takes things to a whole other level.

Re-education camps for protesting sure sounds like a whole other level to me.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:45 AM on August 26, 2008

Right, no re-education camps..
posted by Chuckles at 9:48 AM on August 26, 2008

Well that's unsettling ...
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:58 AM on August 26, 2008

You have no control over your own life. Coaches are with you all the time. People are always watching you, the doctors, even the chefs in the cafeteria. You have no choice but to train so as not to let the others down

Welcome to life in Northeast Asia. The whole concept of self, and self-actualization (the very basis of North American society - I can't speak for other cultures) is totally different.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:57 AM on August 26, 2008

Maybe for you it "wasn't about bandwidth, but usability."

Actually, no, I was speaking for the thief.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:38 PM on August 26, 2008

Ah, OK. Sorry I misunderstood.
posted by fourcheesemac at 1:55 PM on August 27, 2008

Not to belabour the point but... Impromptu re-education camp. That video starts out like your typical grandstanding police against grandstanding protester situation, but if you stick with it, you'll see that the police barricade the protest, the press, and anybody who might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Presumably, from what I can piece together quickly, all but about 100 targeted individuals got out after 20 minutes.
posted by Chuckles at 7:46 PM on August 28, 2008