More 2010 Olympic Torch Relay Photographs Available

We have added another 4,830 torch-relay images to the VANOC records already available on our AtoM site. These images belong to series AM1550-S08: Olympic Torch Relay – highlight photographs. The images were selected by VANOC from hundreds (sometimes thousands) of images captured each day from the photographers assigned to cover the relay. The selected images were sent to the torch relay sponsors: Coca-Cola, Royal Bank of Canada, and Government of Canada for the respective sponsors to use for their own purposes.

The images in the newly released series show more diverse scenes than the torchbearer series published by the Archives last fall (AM1550-S07). While VANOC’s intent for the previous series was to document each person that participated in the relay as a torchbearer, the newly released series features images showing the torch lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, crowds gathered to watch the relay, special events held during the day, shots of landmarks along the route, and other scenes that capture the spirit of the relay.

As with the images in S07, the titles of the images in this series were based on metadata present in the original image files. The images have been arranged into three subseries that correspond with VANOC’s organization of the images – one for each of the sponsors. A fourth set of images was included with the transferred files – the “VANOC Highlights”. These were images set aside for VANOC to use for its own promotional and marketing purposes. However, when we examined the files during processing, we discovered the images in the “VANOC Highlights” were identical to the images present in the “Government of Canada Highlights.” Consequently, only one set of images was kept.

Here are some of our favourites from this latest release:

We have one more series of torch relay images to release later this year, series AM1550-S09, the Olympic Torch Relay source photographs. This series will include all of the images taken by VANOC’s photographers during the relay – over 300,000 in total. Unlike our treatment of the images now available our AtoM site, these will not be available as individually described images. Rather, they will be made available as zip files – one or more files for each day, collectively containing every photo taken during the relay. Keep watching our blog for news of this.