CENTER COURT, FRANKA BRUNS
I step up on the bench, adjust my monopod, 
straighten out the 400mm lens and bite my tongue. A habit I have when I’m really concentrating on shooting. I hope I’m prepared for match point. It’s just Bob Martin and myself shooting from the overhead position of Center Court. We’re watching Venus Williams fight her way into the Wimbledon final against the young crowd pleaser and defending champion Maria Sharapova. Match point ends, Venus wins. All I can remember is pushing the shutter. I pack my belongings and head back to the press center. We got off to a late start after rain in the morning; it is now starting to drizzle again.
I really enjoy covering tennis, but after this match, I am starting feel sick. Nothing new for Wimbledon veterans who have covered the championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club for years. But for a rookie like me, the fickle British weather and continuous running around between the air-conditioned press center and the outside courts is starting
to take its toll.
After getting a drink to soothe my throat, a fellow AP photographer walks past me, talking about a nice shot I got of Venus Williams celebrating. Since I didn’t look at my images after I finished shooting, I have no idea what he is talking about. I give him a strange look and continue on my way to our little editing room in the back. Editor Melissa Einberg then shows me a photo of Venus in mid air, her hands reaching up high and her face full of joy. “I took that?” I ask, not thinking that I had caught her airborne.
Working at Wimbledon for the Associated Press was great. The All England Lawn Tennis Club is a place, though, where discipline and obedience to the rules count more than many other places. If you don’t follow those rules on court, you will be out of there much faster then you got in. The result being: a bunch of well-behaved photographers doing their job.
c Franka Bruns
AP Photo/Franka Bruns
SEND EMAIL TO FRANKA BRUNS
MORE IMAGES BY FRANKA BRUNS
straighten out the 400mm lens and bite my tongue. A habit I have when I’m really concentrating on shooting. I hope I’m prepared for match point. It’s just Bob Martin and myself shooting from the overhead position of Center Court. We’re watching Venus Williams fight her way into the Wimbledon final against the young crowd pleaser and defending champion Maria Sharapova. Match point ends, Venus wins. All I can remember is pushing the shutter. I pack my belongings and head back to the press center. We got off to a late start after rain in the morning; it is now starting to drizzle again.
I really enjoy covering tennis, but after this match, I am starting feel sick. Nothing new for Wimbledon veterans who have covered the championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club for years. But for a rookie like me, the fickle British weather and continuous running around between the air-conditioned press center and the outside courts is starting
to take its toll.
After getting a drink to soothe my throat, a fellow AP photographer walks past me, talking about a nice shot I got of Venus Williams celebrating. Since I didn’t look at my images after I finished shooting, I have no idea what he is talking about. I give him a strange look and continue on my way to our little editing room in the back. Editor Melissa Einberg then shows me a photo of Venus in mid air, her hands reaching up high and her face full of joy. “I took that?” I ask, not thinking that I had caught her airborne.
Working at Wimbledon for the Associated Press was great. The All England Lawn Tennis Club is a place, though, where discipline and obedience to the rules count more than many other places. If you don’t follow those rules on court, you will be out of there much faster then you got in. The result being: a bunch of well-behaved photographers doing their job.
c Franka Bruns
AP Photo/Franka Bruns
SEND EMAIL TO FRANKA BRUNS
MORE IMAGES BY FRANKA BRUNS
posted by AMY at 9:20 AM
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