World class athletes eat huge meals to provide their bodies with fuel during training (you might have heard that swimmer Michael Phelps gobbles down 12,000 calories every day while training). Reuters photographer Umit Bektas recently decided to do a photo project exploring this fact by shooting studio portraits of Turkish Olympic athletes posing next to tables laden with their daily meal intakes.
Read more…

What would you pack if you were assigned to cover a war from the inside? The photo above shows what photographer Umit Bektas decided to pack in his camera bag for his embed with a US military unit in Afghanistan.

I was going to need two cameras but to be on the safe side, I took a third. As I was planning to do a multimedia piece as well, I packed an audio-recorder and GoPro Camera too. Also a Bgan to give me the internet access necessary to transmit my photos and the Thuraya to ensure communication at all events. As I placed my laptop in its bag, I thought “what if it breaks down” and added a nine-inch backup laptop too. Also packed was one spare battery for each piece of equipment that ran on them. For my cameras though, I took two spares each. As I would not be able to carry large lenses, I packed a converter, chargers, cables, memory cards, cleaning kits and adapters. All this filled up my largest bag.

Also in one of his bags was body armor and a helmet: a requirement for being embedded.

Are you ready for your embed? (via PopPhoto)

Image credits: Photograph by Umit Bektas/Reuters