I have been covering the Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia for two decades, and had always wanted to do a behind-the-scenes photo story of these performers. 

Above: Performers dressed as priestesses attend a practice for the Paris Olympic flame-lighting ceremony, in Athens, Greece. The flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics is lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris). Sony Alpha 1, 50mm f/1.2 lens, f/4.5, 1/30-sec., ISO 400.

My recent assignments have included wars and other disturbing news stories, so I counted myself lucky to be able to capture this image of dancers who would participate in an act of peace and culture for the world’s biggest sports event. 

I took the picture during a break in a dress rehearsal at the Athens velodrome, as the dancers checked mobile phone videos of their routine to see whether they had made a mistake. They’re wearing the new dresses introduced this year that are meant to reproduce the swirling capitals and elongated fluting of ancient Greek Ionic columns

I used a Sony Alpha 1 camera with a Sony 50mm f/1.2 G Master lens, and shot the picture as a RAW uncompressed file. My settings were 1/30-sec. shutter speed, f/4.5, and 400 ISO.