Sometimes opportunities literally jump into your lap and other times a little legwork is required. One fine Fall morning, as I was sitting in my photojournalism course, an announcement was made by my Professor Jim Fisher, and my ears perked up. As some may remember, Salt Lake City was preparing for for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which were coming the following January. The announcement I heard in class that piqued my interest was that the Utah Governor’s Office was looking for some student photographers to help document the Olympic games, the travels and meetings of Governor Michael Leavitt and Lieutenant Governor Olene S. Walker.

At the time I was working as a photographer for the Daily Utah Chronicle and had also taken several photography classes at the U of U and thought this would be an awesome experience. Classes at the U wouldn’t resume until after the Olympics and I figured what better way to spend the time than traveling with the Governor, attending Olympic events and meeting political figures and the athletes, all the while pursuing my passion of photography. So I gathered up a few portfolio images, submitted my work, later interviewed and was subsequently accepted as one of four photographers for the Governor’s office.

For too long I’ve had what I felt was a unique selection of photos from the 2002 Winter Olympic that just sat on my hard drive, but this blog will finally give me a place to share these. For the next little while, I’ll post about some of the events I attended and the experiences I had. So back to the start of the post, I do think this opportunity did jump into my lap, but also required a little work, as well. I was so glad that I took a chance and applied.

Please note that these photos belong to the State of Utah, but permission was granted to the photographers for display in portfolio, which I’m claiming these Olympic posts to be. These may not be copied or redistributed.

One of the interesting things the Olympic committee did to Salt Lake City was to hang these massive banners on some of the larger office buildings in the downtown area. This particular banner hung on a University of Utah building near Rice-Eccles where both the opening and closing ceremonies where held. In a later post I’ll show an aerial view of the downtown with these banners.

On the Capitol grounds, an artist erected a large fluorescent American flag, which made for some interesting photo opportunities.

Another decoration aspect employed by the Olympic committee was to install a set of large Olympic rings on the mountainside behind the Capitol. It made for a pretty impressive sight and backdrop.