ICONIC IMAGE - DAY 10
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 2018.
WIMBLEDON: JUST BEFORE DAWN
Players leave, spectators stroll back to car parks and stations, officials and staff make their way home. As each person signs out of the All England Club, others sign in – the night cleaners, food preparation teams, launderers, security teams and the lorries delivering freshly picked strawberries. Wimbledon never sleeps but between 3am and 5am, there is a period of calm, and it was in this window of stillness that photographer Ben Queenborough - working the 7pm to 5am shift – set up this stunning image.
“We are forever hunting for a different picture of The Championships, an unseen aspect, and this picture taken just before dawn is stunning,” says Bob. “Wimbledon used to be much brighter lit at night than in these eco-conscious times. What makes this image so special are the lines of shadow from the horizontal and vertical slats of the benches.”
How did Ben achieve this? “I set my camera on a tripod with a 30-second exposure on the walkway between Courts 8 and 9,” he explains. “Within that timeframe, I manually set the flash gun and fired it four times – from three of the benches on the right, and once directly at camera. It was the first time I tried this technique and I'm very pleased with the result. I’m always trying to get a picture that isn’t super obvious or captured a million times before. This came from playing around, experimenting with different ideas.”
Technical info: This image was shot at 3.47am on a Canon camera with a F10 aperture and an exposure of 30 seconds, using a 16mm lens and a sensitivity setting of 100 ASA.
