Aegon Birmingham Classic 2017

I took myself off to Birmingham to watch a tennis tournament for the first time.  Absolutely brilliant day, with front row seat on the main court and all travel for less than £30.  In total I saw 4 matches, including Brit girls, Heather Watson and Naomi Broady.  Unfortunately, Heather lost but Naomi pulled off a great straight sets win over her french opponent, Alize Cornet.

Photographing a new sport for the first time is always interesting,  working out the best angles and what action makes a good shot.  Initially I was in the back hand corner of the court so many of the shots were played with the players back to me.  As the day wore on though, people were leaving and so I took the opportunity to move seats, finding myself sitting immediately behind the photographers pit.  This shot was taken from this position, late in the day with the long telephoto.  This is Alize Cornet, in the first set tie break.  She was always good value for the concentration on her face, I was lucky enough for the ball to be in frame.

I 'only' took 2,500 images during the day, experimenting with the cameras various shooting modes including a ridiculous 60 fps mode and something called pro capture, where the camera has taken so many images before you press the shutter.  By the end of the day I was much more adept at capturing the key moment, without the reliance on just blasting away with a continuous shutter.

I've shared a few other images from the day in a Flickr album.