Six months later, hearts are still glowing

A little over six months ago, I participated in what can only be described as one of the most exciting and fun events I’ve ever experienced: the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

I put together a highlight video of my experiences but realized that I hadn’t actually put that much into words to describe the experience.

This was my first Olympic games. I was inspired to dig a little deeper due to the previous experiences documented by my good friends, Robert Scales, Kris Krug and Dave Olson. All these guys have been to multiple games over the years, all documenting their experiences and sharing them freely with anyone that was interested. What was compelling for me was the fact that they were on the ground, in the crowds, interacting with athletes, politicians and regular people that were fans of the games.

Myself, I was indifferent in the beginning about the games being held in Vancouver. I’ve watched the previous games on television with interest but it was more of the spectacle that was interesting to me, rather than the sporting side of things.

Seeing Scales & Kris walking around Beijing with their cameras during the Summer Games really struck a cord with me. The games are one of the few global events that bring people together for positive reasons rather than war or disaster.

This concept was something I completely underestimated with Vancouver. Despite the years of debate, dissent and protesting, once the games actually started, the negative pall quickly faded away and the city was awash in positive vibes and genuinely happy people…to the likes I’ve never witnessed before in my life.

Even up to a few weeks before the Winter Games, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do during them. I had thoughts of getting out of town for a good portion of the time. Then I received an email that my media credentials had been approved. All of a sudden, I had a means to really see the Games in a way that I wasn’t expecting. So I booked off the balance of time with work and started gearing up.

At the same time, the True North Media House was taking off. People began to see that we all were doing and they began printing their own badges and documenting their own experiences and sharing them through our hashtags and Flickr group.

The week leading up to the opening ceremonies things started picking up with invites to media events leading up to the start of the Games and it never slowed down until the very end.

Over the next few weeks I’d managed to shoot a little over 23,000 photos and dozens of hours of video during the Winter and Paralympic Games.

I met so many amazing people during the Games and am constantly reminded of those people whenever I pass by a spot that I visited during the Games.

On October 4th, there will be a screening/fundraiser for the work in progress documentary, With Glowing Hearts, about the Games impact on Vancouver which I and a lot of friends appear in. I can’t wait to see how the film turns out.

As a result of my experiences during Vancouver’s Games, I’ve already decided that I want to do whatever I can to attend and chronicle the London 2012 Summer Games in a similar fashion and I’ve met with some other members of the True North Media House who want to do the same.

I know it’s difficult to pick one memory that stands out from the Games (I can’t pick one), but what was your favorite moment?