So long Salt Lake City!

One thing I must say first, I apologize for the lack of updating my blog on my experience in SLC. I really thought I would be able to update on a daily basis but little did I know what was in store for me.

I was averaging about 5 hours of sleep a night after a day of physical endurance on the mountains or whichever assignment I was supposed to cover. Then of course, when I was finally finished by the end of the day which was usually after the last hockey game that would finish at 10ish, I didn't want to miss out on the social aspect of the Deaflympics. Every night from Saturday, February 3rd til the last night, February 8th, there was a gathering at a local bar/club, Port O Call's. It became well-known as the International Deaf Club and this is the "center" of the social aspect of the Deaflympics. I would go to bed around 2 to 3am every night and get up at 6:30 or 7:30am every morning. This continued every night because I knew I wanted to get the most from my experience at the Deaflmypics.

No words can describe the enrichening experience that I've gained here at SLC. Despite my frustrations with the structure and organization with the DeaflympicsTV Media Team earlier this week, I have to say I've gained some great new friends, LOTS of memories and experience in shooting sports photography. After shooting for the Deaflympics, I've come to realize that sports photography is most definitely not my thing. I've also gained a lot more respect for sports photographers because it really requires a lot of patience and knowledge of the sport to be able to capture the true essence of the sport. I met a well-known deaf sports photographer named Michael Pimmental who has photographed for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Sports Illustrated, NFL, NHL and so forth. One of the highlights of meeting him was the fact he shared some tips on sports photography and allowed me to borrow his 300mm lens for one of the hockey games. It was pretty neat.

The Media Team covered 5 sporting events during the Deaflympics, alpine skiing, ice hockey, curling, snowboarding and nordic skiing. I must say that my favorite sport to cover was snowboarding because it was a challenge to try to capture the perfect moment and it was more exciting to watch compared to the others. Really in the end, each sport has its own niche for me. Alpine skiing and snowboarding happened in the well-known Park City skiing resort in Utah where the 2002 Winter Olympics held its winter events at. Park City is absolutely gorgeous. I really need to learn how to SKI for once!!!!!!! I got some color from being out in the mountains with the sun reflecting on the snow. I was sunburned at the beginning and it slowly envolved to become somewhat of a tan on my face. It will fade as soon as I get to Rochester but return as soon as I get to Thailand for Spring Break. :)

To be honest with you, how can I put 10 days worth of my experience of the Deaflympics into words? Really I can't. There's too many people that I've met, so many things that happened that I want to regale and so many more things that I will forget to remember.

That's why I'm glad Mich came with me. That girl and I made the most of our trip here by meeting people, doing what we do best, writing and documenting the Deaflympics and just simply soaking up the experience. So my love to Mich for making the trip much more memorable. *squeeeze*

With that said, once I get back to Rochester, I will get the appropriate wires for the small digital camera and post up the personal pictures. The pictures I took during the Deaflympics has to be approved first by the International Committee something of the Deaf (ICSD) who has a contract with DeafNation (the people I worked for) to cover the Deaflympics. So I have to await permission before I can publicly show my images. The first post should't have happened but since I already made it, I'll just leave it there. But DeafNation said that they will eventually post up each photographer's pictures from the entire experience on the website (www.deaflympics.tv). How soon will that be? Who knows? I will let you know once it's updated. :)

And now as I head off to bed on my last night in Salt Lake City, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me on this trip and endured my lack of response to people in reality. I have to admit I pretty much neglected everything that happened outside of SLC. Now reality will bite when I get to Rochester. Oy vey! Not looking forward to that.

So long Salt Lake City! And hello to Rochester once again!

XO,
Sarah