Serena vs. Venus: How a Photograph Spotlighted the Fight for Equality
News services are in the business of providing information to news organizations More than a century ago Reuters News Agency used telegraph cables and even carrier pigeons to send stories and photos to newspapers Today images and stories travel wirelessly but Mike Blake has seen technology change dramatically since beginning work at Reuters in 1985 In the days of film cameras Blake had to develop the film himself He usually transformed a hotel bathroom into a makeshift darkroom He then made an 8 x 10 print of each photo on special paper After drying the print with a hair dryer he said he would wrap it on a drum transmitter called a 16S The picture would spin around a drum and an electronic eye would scan across the image We would have to take the mouthpiece off the hotel phone and clip two of the transmitter wires to the inside of the handset The transmitter would convert the spinning image to sound and send it down the line to a picture desk who would then send it around the world In the late 1990s photojournalists started using digital cameras to gather images on computer chips In 2001 they could take two images per second today they can take up to 14 They can send images to editors even while an event is happening Photo editors sort through hundreds or even thousands of images to select those that best capture an event Since moving to digital photography the process is much quicker and simpler Blake said I can transmit a picture wirelessly from my camera to our picture desk in Singapore where they send it to our clients around the world instantly Yet despite the changes a photojournalist’s job remains a practical one The camera is really just like a hammer and nails Blake said We use a camera to record what we see just as a carpenter uses a hammer and nails to build a house The technology has changed we are able to record images with better quality and more speed than ever before yet the essence of the still image has not changed It’s a moment frozen in time that will never happen again in any of our lives
Venus stretched to return the ball to her sister Serena worked hard but the accuracy of her match against Hingis was gone She lashed out backhands and ground strokes that sometimes missed their mark or flew into the net Blake captured her eyes clenched in frustration when Venus broke her serve in the first set Serena’s own mistakes also cost her many points By the end of the match she had made 36 unforced errors compared with Venus 19
Venus whispered to her sister as they embraced after their historic match Venus meanwhile played with the same calm power that defeated Capriati Blake captured Venus mid-serve her racket a vertical blur She shot balls past her sister’s racket Her ball even knocked the racket out of Serena’s hand in the fourth game of the match Just 69 minutes after they had started Venus easily won her second U S Open victory in a row 6-2 6-4 But Venus did not throw up her arms joyfully as she had when she defeated Capriati The sisters met at the net and hugged Venus whispered I love you all right to her younger sister Blake and other photographers hustled to get into position at the far end of the court for the trophy presentation They took images from many angles of Venus and Serena posing with their trophies Like the Williams sisters the photographers also felt both camaraderie and competition on the court We are all very competitive Blake said later and work hard at making the best possible images Many of us compete with one another all day and night but also look out for each other and enjoy good long-lasting friendships while living in
all parts of the world After the match the sisters proved their smiles were genuine I’m disappointed Serena said but only a little because Venus won Venus the winner explained that I always want Serena to win It’s strange I’m the bigger sister I’m the one who takes care of her I make sure she has everything even if I don’t I love her It’s hard Venus is always the comforter their mother said She joked that it doesn’t matter who won the prize Serena always spends Venus money anyway Photographs of the sisters holding the winner’s and runner-up’s trophies appeared in newspapers the next day They showed two sisters who had battled each other on a tennis court But they also captured two athletes who had fought and would continue to fight for a place for women and African Americans in tennis and the world beyond
