Here is one last post from the 2016 ISU Figure Skating World Championships, which were held here in Boston over the past five days. The event closed out with the “Exhibition of Champions” which is more of a performance piece for the audience rather than a competition with any implications on ranking, medals, etc. 

With that comes different lighting and a chance to get a little creative and try to make some art. These are a few that I liked. I tried to play around with pan, slow shutter speed, and multiple exposure from time to time. 

What a crazy week! I had a blast, but have to admit I’m physically exhausted, and I don’t think I’m the only photographer who was there who feels that way. Covering figure skating is a grind. The days are long. Really long. It’s not so much the amount of hours that’s tough to work with. I’ve shot plenty of events that go all day/night. Instead, it’s the nature of how the competitions are structured that’s tough. There are no breaks between skaters, which lends itself to four, five, even six hour sessions of constant shooting. Most of the time, there’s no chance to leave the rink to eat or go to the bathroom. We got in the habit of planning and buying all of our meals for the day in the morning before competition began. It turns out Whole Foods is a life saver. 

From a creative standpoint, it’s also tough. You try your best to make artistic, pretty pictures, yet at the same time have to ensure that you get the bread and butter, stock action photos of every skater. You try to balance those two needs as best you can, and it’s a fun challenge. 

All that being said, I love the grind, and feel very lucky and thankful to have been asked to cover this for the Getty Images team. A big thanks to the team at Getty, and to Getty’s Boston staff photographer, Maddie Meyer, for all the runs to Whole Foods, Ricoh Theta 360 degree photos, and laughs along the way. It’s all about the people you work with, and we had a great crew of Boston photographers there to share the long hours with. 

And now, it’s baseball season.

Another long, but fun day at the figure skating world championships. One more to go!