Shooting the Olympics

James Estrin, interviewing staff photographer Doug Mills for the New York Times about what it is like to shoot the Olympics:

Q. You did have a remote in the pool earlier this week when Michael Phelps was swimming.

A. No, It was through a window underneath the water.

Q. What?

A. Yeah, they have windows underneath the pool, and I was shooting through a four-inch piece of glass. It’s hot, humid and dark there.

The thing about shooting through that glass is that you have to study the window and where the swimmers are coming when they’re swimming at you because there’s a single sweet spot. Otherwise, you get distortion when you tilt your lens left to right, or up and down.

Check out the full interview for great pictures and an interesting behind the scenes perspective.