It's incredibly hard for professional Olympics photographers to set themselves apart from the crowd

Everyones a pro.But with the rise of digital and mobile photography, capturing the landmark moments of the Olympics is a much harder gig today than it used to be.Countless people inside the venues have their own high-quality camerasand what they dont manage to capture, they can find online from someone else in the audience, simply by following a hashtag on Twitter or Instagram.This army of amateurswhich includes the athletes themselvescan even publish their photographs online without worrying aboutgetting in troublefrom the International Olympic Committeeprovided they dont use the images for commercial purposes.Getting creativeAs a result, todays professional photographers have to be more creative and more innovative than their predecessors. They have to develop a unique sense of what makes a photograph historically important. And even then, theres a chance that someone will have the same idea; remember that iconic photograph of Usain Bolt smiling over his shoulder during the 100 metre heat' Well, there are actuallytwo of these.High techSo, to set themselves apart from the crowd, professional photographers are having to use technology more creatively. There are some remarkable gadgets on show at Rio; from cameras which can go in the water and fly through the air, to rigs which can take 360 footage.Working for freePhotographers are also having to share more of their work for free, in the hope that this exposure will help them to secure new commissions. Platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Flickr are key destinations for photographers to showcase their latest snaps.Maintaining controlThe challenge here is that controlling ones images online is not so easy, as people repost, copy, and distribute often without seeking permission, paying royalties, or even attributing properly. One of the leading photo agencies, Getty, dealt with this recently by allowing people to use a certain number of photos online for free, using a simple embed code, which links the image back to their website.Going mainstreamNewspapers still want to illustrate their front pages with the iconic image of any given sports event: the photo that everyone expects to see. New platforms attract millions of users, withreports already indicatingthat most social traffic comes from the photo and video sharing platform Instagram. Social media also creates a simple way of measuring images' popularity through likes or favourites. So the mainstream media has good cause to sit up and pay attention.Fun social media stories are also a big hit at the games, as was true of US athleteBen Kanute, who staged his own opening ceremony, when he couldnt make the official one.Avant garde artistsWith the rise of citizen generated media, the photographers future may be in jeopardy: Instagram likes dont always pay the bills. But challenges like these are often a catalyst for major shifts in how avant garde artists make new work. Consider Gerald Andelone of the first Olympic Artists in Residencewho is using Twitters six-second video app Vine to make unusual work.A new agePhotography is no exception and to get a glimpse of this transformation in the sports genre, take a look at the work of these extraordinary artists whose work may prove to be indicative of sport photographys new golden age, where photographers have now become videographers, animators, and much more.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: What abandoned Olympic venues from around the world look like today
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