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2010, through the lens

Four professional photographers share their favourite Olympic moments with the masses
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What: Olympic photography exhibit opening

When: Saturday, Feb. 12, 8 p.m.

Where: Blake Jorgenson Gallery

Cost: Free!

This time last year, four professional photographers had a very important (and fun) job: they were tasked with capturing the faces and places of the 2010 Olympic Games for the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), contributing to the official commemorative book,  "With Glowing Hearts." One of those four photographers, Blake Jorgenson, calls Whistler home, and to help celebrate the one-year milestone of the Games, he has teamed up with the other three shooters and the Whistler Arts Council to host a special photography exhibit at his own gallery.

"As a Getty news photographer, you're not concerned with the crowd, you're only concerned with the events, with the athletes and who has won, as a news journalist," Jorgenson explained.

"But the project we were working on is sort of the moment behind the moment, so expressions, feelings, any environment."

"...It was really cool because it was just straight-up photojournalism and the brief was pretty wide. It was really just me going by myself to all these events and venues and just watching and observing, and just shooting what I thought was necessary, which puts a lot of freedom and enjoyment into your photography."

The assignment was worlds away from Jorgenson's typical shoots: "The things I normally do are big logistic nightmares with huge group dynamics, with all of these other factors."

Instead, Jorgenson shot the Olympics as is. He showed up and worked with what he discovered along the way.

"You're forced to be out there all the time, and when you're out there all the time, that's how you see things that don't get overlooked."

He attended two to three events each day for 21 days straight, all in Whistler, bouncing back and forth between Whistler Olympic Park, Whistler Sliding Centre and the alpine venue in Creekside.

"It was still quite challenging, because I didn't really have an all-access pass; I really only had the same pass that the spectators had. Then I could call venue managers where I could get an escort around, but I definitely did not have free reign, because one of the things that was difficult is that the media is incredibly controlled and all the 'official media' are only allowed to stand in one little spot. They're not allowed to wander around."

He actually became a VANOC volunteer staff member, discreetly wandering around venues and events to capture the atmosphere and magic of the Games.

But going into the Games, Jorgenson, like many other Whistler residents, didn't really know what to expect.

"I was pretty open-minded. I didn't really have any negative political feelings about the Olympics," he reflected, "When it started, it was rainy, it was horrible, and that big accident happened (the death of Georgina luger Nodar Kumaritashvili) and it was like 'Oh my God.' I remember sitting on the bus the second day and I was like, 'Oh man, this is not much fun.' Then it got sunny; a week of sun in Whistler in February on an El Nino year is just a miracle, basically!" he laughed.

"There are always negative things, but I think anytime you have a huge group of people like that, there's a big mess, and you can look at the big mess, but at the same time, there's so many positive things, and basically the positive energy that comes out of all those people is the number one thing."

He paused.

"I kind of got the feeling that it wasn't really even about the athletes. The athletes were just the catalyst to make it all happen, but it's really the unity of all these countries and all these people."

That national pride took root and slowly blossomed as each day passed. Jorgenson has the proof.

"In my photos, at the beginning of the events, everyone was wearing their normal clothes: lots of different colours. Then slowly over the two weeks, going through the photos every day, everyone is wearing more and more red! Basically, by the end, the last day, almost every single person is wearing red. And Canadians aren't really known for being gung-ho patriotics, so I say these Olympics brought it out of them, and that was a really cool thing to see."

Clearly, the community of Whistler has a few special events planned to mark the one-year anniversary of the Games, but as a private gallery and business owner, Jorgenson also wanted to mark the occasion. So he decided to showcase some of his favourite Olympic photographs alongside the shots of the other three shooters from the "With Glowing Hearts" project: Rick Collins, Sterling Lorence and Steve Simon.

"These photos are meant to be seen, and a lot times as a photographer - pretty much all the times as photographer - you don't get to choose which photos get used for the project that you're working on," Jorgenson explained, "So to do an exhibit like this where the photographers have chosen their favourite photos, it's almost like you're asking what the photographers' favourite moments are, purely just based on the moment and not because it has room in the product that's getting created."

The fun part, he added, was combing through the thousands of images to find shots that would really spark people's memories.

"The collection had to be rounded: each photographers' photos had to sort of balance with the other ones, so my selections were also based on what the other selections were," he explained.

"And then it was also the idea that it was to be based on what somebody that wants to come to the show, and a Whistler person that remembers these moments and these venues, and that's what they'd want to see."

Another Whistler shooter, Joern Rohde, has also contributed a poignant panoramic piece to the show.

"We needed a more recognizable Whistler moment to round out the show, so we got him to put in the panoramic of Blue Rodeo playing in the Village after Canada won (the gold medal hockey game), which was probably one of the greatest moments of the whole thing!"

Jorgenson is hosting an opening show on Saturday at his gallery in the Westin, though the exhibit will remain in the gallery until the end of February. For the duration of the exhibit, all of the pieces are available to purchase custom-ordered prints, but during opening night, some of the pieces will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going towards WAC.