With balmy weather unusual for the winter games, Sochi, Russia is an exciting stage for photography. Today's temperatures in the Black Sea resort town reached into the 60's, and the deep blue sky created a fantastic backdrop for sports typically clad in gray.
Today's photo of the day, captured by San Francisco-based Ezra Shaw, capitalizes on the dynamic setting with bright color and plays off the circles in the Olympic logo with angles. The lens flare perfectly matches the angle of the slope, directing the viewer through the athlete's course.
"The skier wearing red, the blue sky and the white snow in the jump, with the colors of the Olympic rings in the snow, make the image bright and bold," Shaw told Mashable in an email.
"Another powerful element is the highlight that rims the jump, which is created by the backlight of the sun."
The colors and balance of the image bring a sense of quiet power to the photo.
"The skier is in mid-air with his skis crossed in a perfect X and almost appears to be floating in the deep blue sky," Shaw wrote.
As Shaw told us for a previous photo of the day, there's a lot of preparation and waiting that comes before taking the shot. Luckily, with today's weather, he spent all that waiting in the sun.

Image: Getty Images