Olympics Insider: Annice Lyn (ANOC)
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The Olympics is known as the Greatest Shown on Earth but what does it really take to keep it going? And what is life really like for its unsung heroes?!
To understand, we have professional photographer & former national athlete Annice Lyn here to give a snippet into her life as a production assistant with Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC):
1. How do you divide your roles in ANOC?
As a production assistant at ANOC, I oversee the digital accelerate program for over 50 NOCs (National Olympic Committees), providing dedicated Games-time support and enhancing their social media presence through the NOC Video Studio Project, portraiture as well as behind the scenes images. Which means I’ll be taking more of a backend role this time around as to compare my role back in Tokyo 2020, in the year 2021 .
What we do is we provide support for smaller countries, for example Palau who only have 3 athletes may not have the resources like Team USA, Canada, Japan and so have their own photographers, journalist to cover the games. That’s when we come in to support by providing them free subscription services such as photo access from Getty Images in partnership with the IOC.
About ANOC: ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees) supports and represents all NOCs globally, providing coordination and resources, facilitating collaboration, promoting NOCs’ interests, and acting as a liaison between the IOC and individual NOCs.
2. What does a day in the life look like for you?
A day in my life will involve waking up in the morning, entering the studio to check on communications from the 50+ countries in the digital accelerate program, liaising with country press attachés, and then moving on to production and photo shoots until bookings with National Olympic Committee athletes end around 6:30, after which I can relax, attend other events, and explore Paris; overall, it requires discipline and is a nonstop, three-week event.
3. What is something people don’t know about working as a photographer at the Olympics?
Many people don’t realize that there’s a group of “hidden” elves backend support personnel working around the venues without accreditation, who provide essential support to the Games, proving that not all heroes need to be in the spotlight.
4. Anything else?
It is very physical and mentally demanding, as a photographer I’m trying to get use to the backend role this time around as in times I do personally get FOMO seeing my peers going to venue shooting but I understand my job and what is required out of me.
Photo credits: Annice Lyn
See more of Annice’s work HERE.