‘You Have to See It Before It Happens’

Chang W. Lee, a staff photographer for The New York Times, is photographing the Olympics. He spoke with James Estrin from London on Sunday night. The interview has been edited.

Q.

You shot Usain Bolt tonight.

A.

I had three remotes. Only one mattered because he didn’t react much where the other remote cameras were.

Q.

The race lasts less than 10 seconds. How long does it take for you to set up the remotes and plan?

On Assignment Chang W. Lee Chang W. Lee has covered sports, among other things, since he was hired at the Times in 1995. Now Batting for NYT »

A.

About four hours. I had three cases of gear with me.

Q.

You shoot your camera during the race, and that triggers the other remote cameras wirelessly?

A.

I use a pocket wizard. Today, I was shooting inside a moat: a little enclosure partially below ground level. One of the remotes was right in front of me. My two other remotes were not within my eyesight, so I had to use a pocket wizard midpoint that relays the signal to trigger those remotes. It happens so fast. You just hopes it works. My remotes fired, but nothing happened in two of those spots.

Q.

You’re taking pictures with the camera in your hands, too, right?

A.

There were nine runners, and out of them, seven were possible gold-medal winners. So, do I go tight on two or three? Or do I want to shoot a wider angle and have four or seven or nine? If you don’t have a remote, you only have one chance.

In less than 10 seconds when they are running at you, it’s hard to see who’s winning. From the side, on TV, you can see, but from the front, you can’t.

The gold-medal winner can be in one place, and the silver medal winner can be five lanes over. You never know, and in a split-second decision, you can’t really get everything.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Q.

Can you even make a decision in 10 seconds?

A.

Before it happens, you decide what you’re going to do. But you never know what’s going to happen, and the remote is for that.

Q.

It took 4 hours of preparation to photograph for 10 seconds?

A.

Less than 10 seconds. It’s just the finish line, and a few seconds of reaction.

Q.

What did you shoot this morning?

A.

I shot field hockey this morning.

Q.

I don’t understand the rules of field hockey.

A.

I don’t either. I have no ideas what the rules are.

I shot basketball and baseball for more than 15 years, and I don’t know all of the rules.

Q.

What do you focus on then?

A.

One thing I’ve learned covering sports is if you see it — it’s too late. You have to see it before it happens.

Every sport — actually not just sports, but everything that I take pictures of, whatever the story — is being done by human beings. There are things you never can predict. Things can happen that you don’t expect. As a photographer, you have to open your mind to different things.

So if you see it — it’s too late — you need to anticipate.

In sports, like everything else, it’s human stories. And with human stories, anything can happen. Sometimes, there’s magic in front of your eyes. In the Olympics, these athletes have put their whole lives into it, and when it comes to the end, the finish line or a gold medal match, a lot of things can happen that you never expected. You need to be ready for it.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Q.

How many Olympics have you shot before?

A.

Nagano, Sydney, Beijing, Vancouver and this one. Two winter and three summer. I couldn’t do 2002, because I was in Afghanistan.

Q.

How can you make a photo that’s different?

A.

Making a different picture is one thing, but making a great picture is another.

You can use techniques like slow shutter speeds that will make photos look different, but the best pictures are always about the human story. For me, the best picture doesn’t necessarily have to be different. The Olympics is about enduring hardships for one goal, for that one moment.

Making different pictures is important — like the arrow shot I had — but it’s just a picture. It’s not storytelling. What really matters is life and feelings and emotions.

Q.

Tell me about that arrow photo.

A.

We have a six-column floater picture every day in the newspaper, and I was assigned to find a photo that we don’t have story for. I tried archery. I had never shot archery either.

I shot an elimination round of 32 competitors, and then had to go to my next assignment. When I was leaving, I thought maybe I should try to get the arrow in the air by itself. I was almost at the exit, and then I saw there was a practice round. To be honest with you, my new 1DX camera can do 14 frames a second with fixed focus, and I thought it would be perfect. I thought I would blur out the background. There were 20 to 30 athletes shooting, and I focused on one. In order to do that, you can’t wait until they shoot — you have to click before they let go.

Q.

You’re at what? 1/8000th of a second?

A.

No — I don’t remember, but the point is not the shutter speed. The point is, you let it burst for 14 frames a second. This is how you make a different kind of picture. You have to see it beforehand, and then figure out how to get it.

Q.

What has it been like at the Olympics, other than shooting?

A.

There is nothing else. We get up, go to the venue, take pictures, then edit and go to the next one. We do two or three assignments a day. It’s just busy — tired and sleepy, but it’s worth it.

Q.

Why?

A.

Because we get to witness history here. I get to really feel the efforts of the athletes. And share great moments with the rest of the world. It’s an important job.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified Lucija Polavder in Slide 10 as Slovakian. She is from Slovenia.

You can find more Olympics photographs by Chang W. Lee, Doug Mills (whom we featured on Lens on Tuesday), and others published daily here.

You can follow @JamesEstrin and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.