20 August 2008

One-upmanship















Copying iconic images is old news for photographers covering the Olympics. So it was inevitable that someone would emulate the famous 1972 shot of Mark Spitz displaying his – count ’em – seven bits of bling against his hairless chest. (Out of shot are the stars-and-stripes budgie smugglers.)


Michael Phelps, of course, has earned his right to this pose. It’s just a shame that Beijing’s imposing medal ribbons have made it look like he is wearing a fetching halter-necked top borrowed from
J Lo. (Out of shot is the taffeta cocktail frock.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not nearly as good a photo either: odd lighting, cut off his elbows, bit of a lean on, embarrassed facial expression, and - of course - none of the drama of black and white.

Kit said...

Actually I thought it was Borat! (yeah, okay, getting the specs adjusted soon....)