Does WHO need that many? Me? No. But they all probably work for different outlets. Each outlets needs to have a cameraperson there, right? - Andru Edwards

Yeah, juxtapose this with the fact that there was only one video feed for the opening ceremonies. - Alex Scoble

Which is how China was able to inject the computer generated images of the "firework" footprints. - Alex Scoble

Wow. Corral is definitely the right word. I wonder if it's first come, first seated? - Lisa L. Seifert

At least they have paying work. - tom sparks

Also think of it as commiditising the images - one camera, one source, one expensive picture! - Simon Bisson from twhirl

If they actually were spread around and had different points of view it might make sense but my guess is that 5 or 10 total would guarantee complete coverage. Of course Nikon and Canon are happy - Brian Sullivan

If copyright law wasn't so screwed up, then yes, it might make sense to have one or a few photographers, and then distribute their photos. But that would never work in our screwed up world... - Josh Bancroft

Why? If you've ever seen the crying accordion player at FDR's funeral you would know why. Everyone was taking pics of the funeral, and one photog turned around to take this classic shot (which I think won several awards) http://www.mishalov.com/images... - Andrew Leyden

and maybe some of them are simply doing it for their photoblog :) - Midori

Not all photogs are created equal. not all are looking for the same shot. Some might be better at shooting one sport than another. I know I can shoot rowing better than I can shoot baseball. - Andrew Feinberg

Andrew: You mention rowing. Did you mean sculling? Have you done much shooting of kayaking? - Mathew A. Koeneker

I'd shoot sweep rowing (one oar per athlete) differently from sculling (two oars per athlete). I haven't shot kayaking at all. but I'd probably be shooting sprint, not whitewater. - Andrew Feinberg

If only we could have access to all of those pictures, and digitally combine them into a single explorable gigapixel image... - Chris Hollander

i wonder if they realize that they could take a high quality video and capture like a trillion stills from it ;) - Steven Livingstone-Pérez from twhirl

seriously ridiculous amount of photogs in attendance in the "corral" - Susan Beebe

Probably not... but who decides who actually gets to shot that? Who are the best photographers, do they have a 'club'? If I'm not the best photographer, how am I ever gonna get the chance to try or indeed learn if I'm never accepted into the club. Not every lens is always aimed at the one thing. If we didn't have a variety of pictures then complaints would be raised about the lack of coverage. Or maybe the government could pick them. I'd take oversaturation to maintain freedom of the press than say... China - Johnny Worthington

Can you see Thomas Hawk in there? - Adam Helweh

you can say the same about blogs - Antonio Altamirano

The better question is : Do we need THAT much RebelXT's lol ;) - Martin Gommel from feedalizr

Do we need THAT many newspapers? Do we need THAT many news websites? Do we need THAT many magazines? Do we need THAT many news TV stations? Why won't we all be hooked up to our big brother central news feed and live like drones???? - Amit Morson

Do we need this many blogs? :-) - Colby Olson

If you were paid to go by FastCompany to cover the tech angle would you have gone and my other question (like colby) is do we need so many bloggers at each conference covering the same thing. 1. Its bad for your carbon footprint and 2. The noise is the same with a slight twist. - sam sethi

For a great behind-the-scenes insight into the work of photographers at the Olympics I highly recommend this Newsweek blog, co-authored by their 3 photographers in Beijing: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs.... - Ole Begemann

Sam: seriously? I am the one who makes the resource decisions for Fast Company TV and I could never justify taking so much time off to cover an event that so many others are covering. I try not to do that anymore even when the event is in my backyard, much less in China. No, we don't need so many bloggers covering the same thing at events. That's why I don't try to go to things anymore with lots of other bloggers. - Robert Scoble

do we need this many tech bloggers ? - Dave Ploch from fftogo

Dave: probably not. But one thing, we aren't using up lots of resources and we're not complaining that we're getting laid off from our jobs (hundreds of journalists in San Francisco area alone have lost their jobs recently thanks to the business model of newspapers changing radically). So, the comparison does not stand up. - Robert Scoble

I blame copyright laws. They're all taking essentially the same photo, but IP laws prevent them from sharing it. - Gabe

agreed, but I would argue the point about resources. Bloggers are extremely green. Also, how many blogger have this as their sole income or even as their only responsibilty in a business? - Dave Ploch

not green I meant - Dave Ploch

Gabe: that's not true. The Associated Press exists for sharing photos and saving journalistic resources. My photo of John Edwards was given to the Associated Press and dozens of newspapers and TV stations used it. - Robert Scoble

Robert. Really - I don't understand the schadenfreude? It's actually starting to sound chippy. Andrew was actually spot on. Out of the thousands of photos taken, only a very few are actually goint to be sufficiently interesting to warrant sticking on the page. One of the things I miss about newspapers and like when I do still pick them up, is a great page composition with a fabulous photo. - mattpovey

you're right. One guy with a flickr Account would have been enough. - Bertrand Duperrin

I really don't see the semi-obsession with this. Who is supposed to now decide how many is enough? Who is supposed to tell us how we can make a living, or what is worth taking a picture of. I know I wouldn't;t be thrilled with only one or two photographers being allowed to shoot there. What is this supposed to be saying about us? That all around the world humans are interested int he performance of the most gifted athletes on earth? Why am I supposed to feel bad about that again? - Soulhuntre

Similarly I don't "blame" IP laws - though obviously they are a factor here. But that's a good thing. It is a GOOD thing that humans are allowed to own what they produce... anything else is slavery. The right to decide what I produce, and who benefits from it, is to me a core human right. Besides, many of those photos will be resold time and again. - Soulhuntre

I agree with Soulhuntre -- let the market decide. Those photog are there meeting someone's demand, right or wrong. - Charles Barthold from Alert Thingy

I think it would be easier if all these outlets just told common people , send us your pics, we'll pay if its used in our publication. However, I dont think the common man has faith with the MSM.. as MSM are perecived as crooks .. take the pic, pub it and dont let any1 know who sent it in. - Peter Dawson

I guess that if you consider the number of events that will take place in that area, the number of competitors taking part in those events and the number of countries that might want photographs and the various styles of photography of those publications, then its not too surprising. I does raise a good question though why do we all feel the need to take so many photographs i just went walking in Wales and took shots of some hills that if i search on flickr i would find thousands of images shared under cc. - david coxon