Olympic Torch

I exhibited no real excitement on the way to Hong Kong Island yesterday. My mission was to shoot a few quick shots of a no-name somebody running with the Olympic torch through Hong Kong. The truth is, I have a bunch of non-published Olympic-related stories waiting for an accompanying photo. And I know my loyal fans back home wouldn’t be disappointed to see some shots of the Olympic torch in Hong Kong.

Around 3pm I ambled off the Lamma ferry and walked a hundred yards to some police tape. I estimated an hour of wait time, and luckily no one was standing in front of me. Whipping out a Canon EOS 400D, my finger activated the “click, click” amid loads of eye-candy. Most of it was red eye candy, considering that Hong Kong crowned May 2nd as “wear red day” in honor and in allegiance to the mainland.

Michael Malone stood directly next to me. He introduced himself and I quickly found out that he was a New Yorker, married with two kids in college. Malone said he was living in Beijing and working for Volkswagen.

He said, “The guy that’s going to run past us now is the only torch bearer from Volkswagen.”

“Oh, you know him?” I asked.

Malone nodded. “I gave him some parting advice: Run slow and don’t catch your hair on fire.”

I suddenly noticed that Malone was wearing a bunch of tags…the ones that look like important back stage passes to a Rolling Stones concert.

After inquiring, Malone revealed that he was on a Beijing coordination team for the Olympic torch relay.

“So what are you doing standing here, with me, when you have all those passes.” I asked, being a bit snarky.

He showed me a missing slot on one of his badges…a slot that would have granted access to the police cordoned area.

“Oooooh.” I nodded with understanding.

Malone added, “I’ve been volunteered to stand here and take pictures.” He pointed directly in front of us. “You see that yellow dot on the light pole over there?”

We both peered directly ahead and found the spot next to a bunch of policemen.

“Well,” he continued. “That signifies the spot where the torch will be passed from one person to the next.”

All of a sudden I felt important, privy to information that I actually had one of the best locations for the passing of the torch.

I looked him up and down, and then slowly asked, “If you’re here to take pictures, where is your camera?”

Malone pulled out a small digital camera from his knee pocket.

“Oh,” was my only comment.

Both of our eyes gently fell to my weighty camera.

In the end, because I liked Malone for being a down to earth New Yorker, I offered him all of my digital photos of the day. I know he’s greatly appreciative.