OffWing Photo: Serena Williams Kicks Off World TeamTennis In DC

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July 10, 2008

Serena Williams Kicks Off World TeamTennis In DC

I am both a photographer and a tennis fan so I was excited to be covering the first home match of DC's entry into the World TeamTennis league, the Washington Kastles. Unfortunately the Kastles fell to the visiting Boston Lobsters, ending their unbeaten string of matches for a 2-1 season record.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 8: Venus Williams of the Washington Kastles hits a forehand during a World TeamTennis match against the Boston Lobsters at Kastle Stadium in Washington, DC on July 8, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

The match analysis will be left to OffWing Opinion, here at OffWing Photo I wanted to give you some insight on shooting the event.

If the number of photographers is any indication, the Kastles have to be happy with having Serena Williams as their marquis player. The sidelines were crowded with photographers, most sitting knee to knee to cover the inaugural match on home turf. My guess is that there were approximately 20 photographers shooting the event.

The Kastles and Qorvis, their PR group, did a good job by being open to questions and planning in advance for many of the needs of the press for the opening match.

Now to the nitty gritty of shooting the event. The toughest challenge to overcome was the lack of enough light once the sun set behind the buildings of downtown. Of course everyone wanted to photograph Serena Williams but her singles match was held as the last match of the night. This meant shooting at high ISO's and the unfortunate side affect of noise in the shots. It also forced me more time post-processing the images to get them to a suitable quality.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 8: Justin Gimelstob of the Washington Kastles hits a backhand during a World TeamTennis match against the Boston Lobsters at Kastle Stadium in Washington, DC on July 8, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

It may just be me but it also seemed that the south side of the court was darker than the north side. The players had more pronounced shadows on their faces when playing on the south end of the court.

Here are a few humble suggestions:

If possible bring in another set of lights near mid-court. I know the photographers will appreciate it and maybe the players too.
There should be a ramp at the press entrance, many of us have heavy equipment bags on wheels that we had to carry up and down 10 steps. (simple plywood would do)
Open up the player entrance so that it is easier to get the shot of the players coming through smoke machines. It was really narrow so the shot was blocked by a single video camera.

I am looking forward to covering the rest of the season and happy that Washington has added another tennis event, now if we can get a women's tennis tournament to return to DC.

For more photos from the event please visit our complete photographic match coverage on our Flickr site.

www.flickr.com