UPDATE: Joe has responded after the images went viral:

“I was under the impression that I was going to be photographing athletes on a stage or during press conference where I would take their headshots for our archives,” he explained. “I really had no idea that there would be a possibility for setting up a studio.” It was the first time AFP had been invited to participate in the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Media Summit, which was held this year, in May, at a Hilton Hotel in Dallas.

I work for a news agency and I wasn’t taking pictures for a Nike ad.”

Original Post:

People are not happy (per the comments below) about the quality of the photographs by photographer Joe Klamar at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Media Summit in Dallas, Texas. The complaints came as a whole, but primarily from photographers, who claim that these photographs do not represent the upcoming U.S. Olympic team very well. 

The U.S. Olympic C.M.S. invited photographers to take pictures of our country’s best athletes. 

What are your thoughts on the photographs? Are people over reacting or or do you feel they could have been done better? Keep in mind that the media during these events do not have much time for setup and execution. You can check out this article for what goes on behind the scenes. 

You can see the full set over at CBS: Link.

You can also see how Germany did in comparison: Link.

Our friends over at Reddit.com have also looked further into the event. Take a look at the conversation for more on the backstory and some other speculation: Reddit Link.

With that in mind, we’d like to know your thoughts. 

Michael Phelps of the US Olympic Swimming team 

Jonathan Horton of the US Olympic Gymnastics team 

Cassidy Krug of the US Diving Olympic team

Nastia Liukin of the US Olympic Gymnastics team 

Rebecca Bross of the US Olympic Gymnastics team 

Siblings Diana Lopez and Steven Lopez of the US Taekwondo Olympic team

Sarah Robles of the US Olympic Weightlifting

Tony Gunawan of the US Badminton Olympic team 

Leshawn Merritt of the US Track and Field Olympic team 

Debbie Capozzi of the US Women’s Olympic Sailing team

Gaby Douglas of the US Olympic Gymnastics team 

Lindsey Berg of the US Olympic Volleyball team

Shot putter Jillian Camarena-Williams of the US Track and Field Olympic team

Lashinda Demus of the US Track and Field Olympic team

Kayla Harrison of the US Judo Olympic team

Brendan Hansen of the US Swimming Olympic team 

Credit to Matt for sending this story in.