Four Canon R1 bodies, 5 lenses, remote triggers, a monopod, and more. What Getty Images photographer Sean M. Haffey has in his 60 lb (27 kg) backpack at the 2026 Winter Olympics. And that's before we get to the dedicated ski bag...
Sean M. Haffey has been a Sports Photographer for Getty Images for over a decade. In that time he has captured a wide range of stunning sports imagery across a wide range of sports including the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, football, basketball, hockey, World Cup skiing and extreme sports to name a few.
Before his time at Getty Images, he worked at The San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Associated Press, covering a wide range of news and sports assignments both nationally and internationally.
In other words, he has a lot of experience. He spoke to us via email from his current gig at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina about what he has in his kit bag, the special equipment he needs to capture winter sports, how to get 'the shot', and more. The piece is illustrated with the favorite winter sports photos he's taken in recent years.
RedShark: What will you have in your kit bag for the Winter Olympics? What are the main tools of the job and why do you use these specifically? Any special considerations that you have to make for the potential cold?
Sean Haffey: I have three bags of gear that I have brought over to Milan—a camera gear case, a ski specific bag and then a clothes bag. My camera bag has: 800mm lens, 600mm lens, 70-200mm lens, 24-70mm lens, 85mm lens, four Canon R1 Camera bodies, remote triggers, a monopod, digital discs for the images, a floorplate to put a camera on with a remote trigger and a large backpack that weighs roughly sixty pounds when full.
My ski bag has a pair of short slalom skis that are easy to turn on steep icy slopes, they are not like recreational skis, they are shorter and the edges have a racers edge to hold when it gets icy. I also have a helmet, goggles, gloves, crampons for when we are on steep icy slopes, a climbing harness and ropes for when we are lowered into steep runs like here in Bormio and all terrain ski boots.
My ski clothes include insulated ski bibs, various layers in shirts for the changing temperatures, a down jacket worn under an insulated goretex jacket, five different types of gloves, kneepads for kneeling on ice, a knit hat, ski socks and hand warmers. This is all essential to keeping warm when on the side of the mountain preparing before events start and throughout the competition.
How far in advance is the Getty Images team preparing for events of this nature? What’s essential to the team’s preparation when covering the competition and athletes?
The Getty Images team begins planning years and months in advance ahead of the Olympic Games, thinking through coverage plans and the technology set up. As the Official Photographic Agency of the IOC, we deploy are large team of photographers, editors and operations staff to shoot and edit millions of images throughout the Games. This isn’t something that just happens overnight. There’s a ton of thought, care, precision and collaboration that needs to happen. Our operations staff and technology team go weeks in advance to ensure our set up across the 16+ venues is in place for when competition begins.
When it comes to coverage plans and having an understanding of the athletes and teams, we’re always thinking ahead. Many of us are specialists in the sports we cover and have a deep understanding of these specific sports and can anticipate, react and pivot when it comes time to covering events and delivering standout coverage. I cover alpine ski racing year over year, so it is safe to say we are always preparing and improving our imagery—whether that’s through different camera technology, finding new ways to shoot something or bringing creative elements into our pictures. The racer field changes each year, so we need to know who the best racers are as well as the up and comers. We cover World Cup races to prepare for the Winter Olympics.
You also captured surfing during the Summer Olympics. How do the two different jobs contrast? What does your day look like on competition day at the Winter Olympics?
Shooting surfing is very similar to shooting skiing, the images you make depend on where you put yourself to make the picture. Surfing is fluid, the conditions determine the look, and skiing is the exact same. Shooting from low angles, through trees or in the case of surfing from the water enhance the images dramatically. Both surfing and skiing are not like a lot of sports I shoot where the photo position is determined before the event. I like the freedom to choose where I shoot.
What are the main challenges of the job? Obviously, some of the action you are capturing is rather fast, so how do you ensure you’re getting “the shot” and all angles are covered?
The main challenge of alpine ski racing is being fit enough to carry a heavy pack, on a very icy slope while trying to read the course for a good position. We have a team of us covering one single event and we take various positions on the course. We show up hours in advance before the competition starts to assess the mountain conditions, lighting and the ideal positions to be in to capture the best action and reaction photos possible.
We search and locate areas on the course where athletes will take off to grab those epic photo finish-line emotions and celebrations from athletes and fans. It's a lot of factors all at once, but when it all comes together, it is very rewarding.
Any favorite events? How would you describe your creative approach to photographing skiing and snowboarding? Does your approach shift when you go from photographing, say, Halfpipe to Alpine Skiing?
My approach for snow events is similar—study the course, know the athletes, take chances to make unique photos when possible. I find snowboarding to be more creative and it also allows you to take a wider variety of creative images each session because you can move around on the halfpipe whereas with skiing, once you choose a spot, that's it, you can't move until the race is over. The failure rate is higher with alpine ski racing in my opinion.
How do you choose where to stand? Is capturing sporting drama a matter of luck or good judgement and specialist knowledge?
Choosing where to shoot during the Winter Olympics changes day-to-day. Where the light falls, what the background looks like, where it is safe or not safe, all these factors determine where to shoot from. I use lighting, shadows, various shutter speeds, mountain scenery and even the Olympic rings to add creative elements to my photos. Crashes and upsets on the course are also part of this.
How many photos do you tend to take per event and what happens when the pictures leave your camera?
On an alpine ski race I generally shoot between 2500-4000 photos. The main reason for that is that the cameras now shoot 40 frames per second, so it adds up. We are looking at the files through the camera in real-time and transmitting them to our editors during the event. We put a voice tag on the images we send which allows the editors to know who they are looking at for the captioning. Getty Images has come to be known for its speed of delivery from camera to site—with the complete process in under 30 seconds for key moments, even outpacing television replays. It’s not just about photographing great shots but getting them out faster than anyone else.
Each day during the Winter Olympics, thousands of images are sent to more than 20 editors live-editing from Getty Images’ London office and remotely around the world. Approximately 10,000 daily photo uploads across 16+ sports are actually published to Getty Images’ site.
How has the job changed since you started? How has technology played a role in capturing major sports events and moments? What opportunities and challenges has it presented?
The job has changed a lot since I started especially as it relates to camera technology. We used to prefocus on spots where we thought the racers would go, then hope it was in focus. Now the auto focus is so good that we are able to focus on a skier coming out of a blind jump in the air at approximately 80mph. The rate of in focus photos is very high.
Any tips for those looking to get into professional sports photography?
My advice to people considering sports photography, is shoot, shoot, shoot. Follow photographers on social media to get ideas and follow along on photo agency websites, like Getty Images to get inspiration. Ultimately, it's like anything, the more you practice the better you'll get. The more passionate about the process, the better you'll get. It's definitely a process.