Fauxtographer Ruins Olympic photos.

[KyleSTL]

Agreed with everyone else.  The outrage over the photographs is not in any way an over-reaction.  They are some of the most poorly composed studio shots I've ever seen.  Clearly the photographer does not know how to look at the whole frame and know what is included and excluded.  The wide angle shots are clearly the result of inexperience.

Wow!  Those pics are horrid (especially the Phelps one).  I'm no expert, having owned a DSLR for a mere 4 months, but I'm pretty sure even I could do better than that with a 7d.  I expect perfection from an Olympic photographer.  This is why they are called "professional."  OMG the one with track and field star Merritt, seriously.  I guess low expectations have moved into photography.  These horrid photos have motivated me to kick serious @$$ with every pic I take.

edit:  wow, check out Kevin Jairaj's photos of the team
http://www.uspresswire.com/search/fulltext/jairaj%20summit/page1

Kevin did pretty good with the exception of lens choice for the headshots with the glittered background.  What was he using?  35mm?  The noses looks outrageous.  Should have been 85mm or 135mm prime to keep composition and background compression the same throughout.

[unfocused]

Before everyone gets too carried away, I'd like to know the full story.

The description sounds like this was a cattle call with a bunch of photographers each given a few minutes to shoot the athletes. (Can you say: Popular Photography "Model Shoot") Not defending this particular photographer, but I'd like to know more about the set up and who on the Olympics Committee decided a "shoot off" was a good idea.

At least with the "model shoot" the models know something about what they are doing. Here, you have athletes (not professional models) at a cattle call, most of whom look like they don't' want to be there. Criticize the photographer if you want, but I say the blame lies with the Olympic Committee.

Irony is, if they wanted something edgy and creative, they probably could have gotten people like Ryan McGinley, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston or Lee Friedlander to create some true art with the athletes. Now, those would be interesting.

[Chewy734]

Is this for real?     It's appallingly bad.

[picturesbyme]

After reading all the comments about the people who know they could dotter, why did they not post their images to show us?
 
We do not know under what circumstances the images were taken.  He certainly seems to have a lot of prominent images, including photographer of the year in 2009. 
 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Joe+Klamar+&qpvt=Joe+Klamar+&FORM=IGRE

Sorry but there is NO excuse for this.
Shooting a crazy amount of snapshots (and not learning from it) or having connections are not going to make him a good photographer.
Don't know how he got the award but if he's pro he should't give these out of his hands.

Agree. A gallery or website should be advised to register on the forum.
I was hoping that this post http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=6114.0 will help to get to know people's work but this is a gear/rumor page after all...

[Wideopen]

That was awful.

[RLPhoto]

After reading all the comments about the people who know they could dotter, why did they not post their images to show us?
 
We do not know under what circumstances the images were taken.  He certainly seems to have a lot of prominent images, including photographer of the year in 2009. 
 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Joe+Klamar+&qpvt=Joe+Klamar+&FORM=IGRE

Your only as good as your last shoot. Unfortunately, this is going to be hard for him to live down.

[captainkanji]

I looked through bing images and it looks to me like he specializes in sports/action and red carpet shoots.  I don't think portraits are his forte.  I kinda feel bad for the guy, but then again, he gets paid to do this.  I'm just a schmuck with a camera, so no one cares that I suck :p

[dafrank]

After looking at the link to his work, it appears that the photographer was merely out of his element, or even out of his depth, and should not have been given this assignment. Granted, I don't know the precise circumstances behind the shoot, but the best of these images just seem to be "undeveloped" and the rest just plain not good enough in general. I really, really hate to be so critical, especially if the shooter is suffering from inexperience and its attendand lack of knowledge of how to pull off such material, but the results do speak for themselves - mediocre to poor.

I just feel plain sorry for the photographer and embarassed for the person from the Olympic organization who misappropriated this opportunity to create some competent material. My guess is that should he eventually learn how to shoot in a style consistant with this assignment, the photographer will be forever haunted by this highly public failure; this is a personal tragedy for him, and a not very good representation of our best athletes for the world to see. Pity, pity, pity.

Regards,
David

[AprilForever]

These remind me of the corny refuse one finds on lame photo-edu-inspiration sites... "Now show the edge of the flag/white for realism. Make sure you have a hole in your backdrop; this adds a gritttier feel. Also, what swimmer doesn't want to be photographed looking like the cover of a cheap and sleazy magazine? Use ultrawide on gymnasts; nothing gives an in-your-face action feel like ultrawide distortion on an otherwise attractive female athlete. When you light the subject, keep their eyes dark to add a feeling of tension." And so on.. this is why I never go one those websites anymore...

But, yes, to me it looks like he had his college assistan taking the shots while he played solitaire. Maybe he was paid by the russians to make the USA look like idiots. Either way, were I the olympic committee, I would have him pummeled to death with a 600 f4...

[lopicma]

I have a feeling the photographer did not have unlimited access to these folks.  Probably less than a minute each, because there were 100s of other photographers, all waiting their turn.  You get what you can and hope for the best.

One thing for sure, I don't think any of these shots will make to a box of Wheaties!  LOL

[Axilrod]

Wow the tears in the white paper look terrible, couldn't he have taken a few minutes to shop those out?  It seriously looks like these images are for some comedy publication making a joke out of the olympics.  I bet some higher up insisted that they let his inexperienced son take the pictures.  There is no way this guy got this gig based on talent.

[picturesbyme]

I don't see how/where this guy became The Photographer of the Year as one cited but I found that he received an award - picture of the year 2009... 
http://dalje.com/en-bestseller/joe-klamar-wins-picture-of-the-year/278595
.. for a photo he took of Obama...
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/090331/GAL-09Mar31-1812/media/PHO-09Mar31-157031.jpg

[captainkanji]

Wow.  Looks like a guy who got an award for doing absolutely nothing.

[wickidwombat]

I don't see how/where this guy became The Photographer of the Year as one cited but I found that he received an award - picture of the year 2009... 
http://dalje.com/en-bestseller/joe-klamar-wins-picture-of-the-year/278595
.. for a photo he took of Obama...
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/090331/GAL-09Mar31-1812/media/PHO-09Mar31-157031.jpg

WTF? i kept scrolling waiting for the rest of the picture to load until i realised that was it.
 

[DanoPhoto]

WTF? i kept scrolling waiting for the rest of the picture to load until i realised that was it.
 

now I know what you meant...picture of the year?