As the Championships’ photographic manager, Bob Martin appreciates the finer details of the images which every day capture the essence of Wimbledon. In this series celebrating the best of the AELTC’s talent behind the lens, he nominates his Picture of the Day.
SERENA IN THE MOMENT OF VICTORY
"This image encapsulates the indomitability of Serena Williams’ champion persona.
"Here, you see the raw emotion of the ultimate fighter, the powerful physique of the best athlete in the women’s game, and that intimidating depth of motivation etched in her expression of jubilation at winning her seventh Wimbledon title. The clenched fist, the racket still crisply held, an aura of aggressive competitive spirit: this is an intimate, opponent’s eye shot of her across the net on Centre Court. She has just won her seventh match in a row – beating Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to become champion – but, pristine in white, she looks like she hasn’t broken sweat.
“I positioned myself at the far end of the photo pit below the players’ boxes, knowing Serena always looks at her family when she wins,” says Bob. “I was cross at first because, on match point, she was at the other end of the court, but she ran towards the net to scream up at her box. I like to think that in that moment of victory the person she saw first was me!
This is an intimate, opponent’s eye shot of Serena across the net on Centre Court
“I took this picture with a telephoto lens. What I like about it is that the background is mottled and beautiful – the technical name for that aesthetic blur is ‘bokeh’. The way she’s run in towards the net means she’s almost leaning across the net. The eye contact is perfect, and that also helps the picture.”
Technical info: This image was shot on July 9, 2016, on a Nikon D5, at a shutter speed of 1/1600th of a second with an F2.8 aperture using a 300m lens and a sensitivity setting of 640 ASA.
