Podcast: Tennis Photography and the 2018 U.S. Open

08/31/2018Link3

Today, we discuss tennis photography from two distinct points of view. Our first guest is an independent photographer with twenty years of tennis photography experience to his credit and, later, we’re joined by representatives from Drawbridge Digital, the company that is present for all three weeks of the 2018 U.S. Open, creating and managing the still photography used on U.S. Open.org. and archived by the U.S.T.A.

On the first half of the show, we welcome Chris Nicholson, a veteran of our podcast, and a multi-faceted photographer whose tennis work has been published in Wired, Men’s Health, Golf Digest, Tennis Magazine, and the New York Times. We speak with Nicholson about the opportunities available for freelancers and even amateurs to shoot tennis matches and high-profile players. We discuss techniques, settings, and gear that will make your job easier and your photos better.

After a break, we are joined by photographer Jen Pottheiser, and Reid Kelley of Drawbridge Digital, and we explore their massive undertaking to photograph the U.S. Open for the host organization. They work with all facets of the U.S.T.A. to provide photography to the editors at usopen.org, to their social media outlets, their marketing partners, as well as provide image storage solutions so that the thousands of photos taken at the Open can be made available for future needs. We speak with Pottheiser and Kelley about managing the workflow of the almost thirty photographers and editors on staff during the Open, about the on- and off-court images they look for, the systems they use to edit and organize the photos, and how to maintain your creativity while shooting nothing but tennis for three weeks.

Join us for this timely and interesting look behind the scenes at the 2018 U.S. Open Grand Slam Tournament.

Guests: Chris Nicholson, Jen Pottheiser, Reid Kelley

© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
© Chris Nicholson
The Drawbridge Digital Team at the 2018 U.S. Open. Courtesy Drawbridge Digital
Arthur Ashe Kids Day performers at 2018 U.S. Open. Courtesy Drawbridge Digital
Jen Pottheiser and Reid Kelley © John Harris
Reid Kelley, Allan Weitz, and Jen Pottheiser © John Harris
Chris Nicholson on the B&H Photography Podcast © John Harris
The B&H Photography Podcast team at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Courtesy Jen Pottheiser
 

Host: Allan Weitz
Senior Creative Producer: John Harris
Producer: Jason Tables
Executive Producer: Lawrence Neves

3 Comments

Hi Allan,

Always enjoy your podcasts and listened to every episode.  Just want to point out that at the beginning of this podcast, you mentioned that the US Open is at Forest Hills twice.  It is actually is at Flushing Meadows.  I know why you referred to Forest Hills, I grew up myself with the US Open at Forest Hills and love the ambience there.  Few years ago I visited NY and came to see the main stadium, was so sad how neglected and dilapidated it has become. For true tennis buffs: in this stadium in 1969, Rod Laver completed the last Men's Grand Slam in tennis, and that feat has not been repeated since!!!

Thank you Bang for catching this, we corrected it because we want to be as accurate as possible...not just for our tennis fans, but for all our dedicated listeners from the great borough of Queens. Thanks for listening

The Forest Hills Stadium has been refurbished in the last few years and has become a premier concert venue. I saw Willie Nelson there last month and had an extremely pleasant concert experience. Come back and visit again!