July 18, 2008
Washington Kastles Fall To Sacramento Capitals
Enjoy the pretty pictures here, for more on the match up between the Washington Kastles and the Sacramento Capitals visit OffWing Opinion.
As always, if you are a blogger and would like to use our photographs please contact us.
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Posted by Allen Clark at 06:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 16, 2008
Kastles Get Big Win Over NY Sportimes with John McEnroe
We will be publishing through the day photos from last night's victory in overtime by the Washington kasltes over the NY Sportimes. Please come back to the site as we update, you can also visit our complete photographic match coverage on our Flickr site.
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As always, if you are a blogger and would like to use our photographs please contact us.
Posted by Allen Clark at 11:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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.
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As always, if you are a blogger and would like to use our photographs please contact us.
Posted by Allen Clark at 10:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 08, 2008
World TeamTennis Comes To Washington DC
World TeamTennis was co-founded by Billie Jean King, 33 years ago and has now added a team in Washington DC. DC's team is called the Washington Kastles and will play in a stadium built at the location of the former Convention Center.
Tonight will be the home opener for the Kastles as they go up against the Boston Lobsters. Serena Williams will be on hand to play for the Kastles at 7pm tonight. The Kastles are currently undefeated (2-0) in league play.
Yesterday members of the team and city officials kicked off the season with the first practice at the new stadium.
Mashona Washington, Sacha Jones, and Scott Oudsema joined their captain Thomas Blake for their practice. Team members Serena Williams and Justin Gimelstob were not present. Williams will be playing tonight in the Kastles first home match, while Gimelstob will be sitting out the match for a one game suspension.
The league has a 3-week season, stretching from July 3rd to July 23rd, will have 11 teams vying for the King Trophy.
The format of play is unique from what you see at other professional tennis matches:- Two men and two women compete on each team.
- The match format consists of five sets
- One set each of men's and women's singles
- One set each of men's and women's doubles
- One set of mixed doubles
- Every game counts as a point in the overall score
- Typical score is 23 - 19
- A team must win the last game of the last set or the match goes into overtime
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Posted by Allen Clark at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)