Speaker 1: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of the sit Down.
Speaker 1: I'm Matt Trolope from ozopen dot Com.
Speaker 2: And I'm viv Christie from Australian Tennis magazine and Matt.
Speaker 2: This week we delve into the life of an award
Speaker 2: winning tennis photographer who is currently hard at work at
Speaker 2: Roland Garross. Tell us more about your interview with Krinjibra.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great to chat to her just before
Speaker 1: Roland Garross qualifying started, So she's doing i think her
Speaker 1: thirty eighth consecutive Roland Garross working for the French Tennis
Speaker 1: Federation Photography Team. I was lucky enough for a couple
Speaker 1: of years to work with Karin when I did some
Speaker 1: work with the FFT. One of the best tennis photographers
Speaker 1: in the world and has won lots of awards, and
Speaker 1: I was very lucky to get a little bit of window,
Speaker 1: a free time for her because it's coming into a
Speaker 1: busy period.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a fascinating interview. Karinn starts by telling
Speaker 2: us how she got started in her dream tennis career.
Speaker 1: Can you take us back to nineteen eighty seven. What
Speaker 1: do you remember about your first Roland Garross.
Speaker 3: So eighty seven. I was sixteen years old, so at
Speaker 3: this time it was very easy to buy tickets. You know,
Speaker 3: to have a general ticket to be able to go
Speaker 3: on nearly every court. So I bought my ticket, took
Speaker 3: my camera with me, and I went to Onlong House.
Speaker 3: I was living in the suburb of Paris, so I
Speaker 3: took the train and everything. When I arrived, I remember
Speaker 3: that I went to the corner Merojuan number one court,
Speaker 3: who is not there anymore. I loved that court. It
Speaker 3: was one of the best, maybe the best in the world.
Speaker 3: And at that time, Chris Evart, Chris Evert was playing
Speaker 3: on that court, and I was watching her and said, wow,
Speaker 3: I like her. She's great. And at the end of
Speaker 3: the match, I said, okay, I would like to get
Speaker 3: an autograph from her. But I didn't know how, so
Speaker 3: I tried to know where she was staying in Paris.
Speaker 3: I found it. I found a hotel. I went there.
Speaker 3: I was waiting with other people, and then she when
Speaker 3: she arrived and I asked her an autograph and everything,
Speaker 3: and then I don't know how, we started to talk
Speaker 3: and every day more and at the end of the tournament,
Speaker 3: I got her shoes from her last match in Rongos.
Speaker 3: She gave me her shoes, and she gave me a
Speaker 3: phone number in Florida, and like this, I was able
Speaker 3: to call her like hello, this is Coren from Paris
Speaker 3: to get tickets to go anywhere. So I went to Wimbledon,
Speaker 3: to US Open, to Germany, and Christy gave me tickets
Speaker 3: to enter the tournaments. That's how it started. And when
Speaker 3: I was traveling to tournaments, I was taking pictures okay,
Speaker 3: of players at practice on court, and I was selling
Speaker 3: that pictures through a little how do you say in magazine?
Speaker 3: You could put some word and say selling Diffron ten
Speaker 3: Francs or pictures, pictures of Agacy, graph Baker, Chris Evert
Speaker 3: and everything. And with that money I was able to travel.
Speaker 1: Wow, it is a fantastic story. I read that even earlier,
Speaker 1: when you were fourteen, I think you were Were you
Speaker 1: playing tennis as a teenager and you wanted to be
Speaker 1: a photographer? Is that correct?
Speaker 3: Yes, that's correct. I think I started playing badly tennis
Speaker 3: at six or seven. I spent all my weekends and
Speaker 3: at the tennis club. You know, I loved the game
Speaker 3: and play in a team or individual or everything. I
Speaker 3: loved the competition, but I was not good. And my
Speaker 3: uncle was a photographer, but not professional, just amateur. And
Speaker 3: when I was like, I think around eleven, he just
Speaker 3: gave me his camera and I said, wow, that's nice. Nice,
Speaker 3: this toy is amazing. I can change the lands. And
Speaker 3: and I remember really that I went to my parents
Speaker 3: and said, I will be a tennis photograph. Yes, I
Speaker 3: will be a tennis photographer. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 3: And years after the dream came true, and yeah, that's
Speaker 3: that's swet. I was eleven, I think when I told
Speaker 3: my parents what I would like to do in my life.
Speaker 3: Because after eighty seven I was still going to school,
Speaker 3: of course, but I was so so and I badly
Speaker 3: wanted to make my dream come true to be a photographer. So,
Speaker 3: as I told you, I traveled a lot, not a lot,
Speaker 3: but a little, you know, in Berlin US opening staff
Speaker 3: and I was taking pictures and one day I met
Speaker 3: a guy who was working at the French tennis magazine
Speaker 3: and he said, he told me, why don't you bring
Speaker 3: your pictures to the magazine and you will see what happened.
Speaker 3: So that's what I did in eighty seven, and my
Speaker 3: pictures were published few of them at the beginning, one
Speaker 3: by one, one by one. And three years after, in
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety, I had a phone call from Tennis Magazine saying, Colin,
Speaker 3: we have a job for you if you want to
Speaker 3: be a photographer and also an editor. It starts in
Speaker 3: September ninety. So if you want, that's for you, I say,
Speaker 3: but this is my train. So I went to the
Speaker 3: US Open in ninety nineteen nineteen, and when I come back,
Speaker 3: I remember that my mother came to the airport and
Speaker 3: drove me directly to Tennis Magazine. So I started my
Speaker 3: job at Tennis Magazine. I was nineteen years old. I
Speaker 3: stayed there for thirty years. I learned everything with another guy,
Speaker 3: which name is ser He was like my mentor. And
Speaker 3: after thirteen years, for different reasons, I really thought that's
Speaker 3: the time to live and to go by yourself. That's
Speaker 3: what I did and since then, So it was in
Speaker 3: twenty or three. At the end of twenty or three,
Speaker 3: I started to be freelance. And I'm still freelance.
Speaker 1: And you're still freelancing. Oh, it's incredible. I love. Not
Speaker 1: many people can say they are living their dream.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean sometimes you get bored with work
Speaker 3: with it's hard, it's long days. But I say, please quiet,
Speaker 3: you're living your dream. Don't forget that. That's so amazing
Speaker 3: to be able to leave your dream. So no, I
Speaker 3: know I'm lucky, but it didn't happen Like you know,
Speaker 3: I push to be there. I mean I did what
Speaker 3: I had to do to be where I am.
Speaker 1: Today, and you worked hard to make it happen. It
Speaker 1: doesn't just land in your lap. I know you've done
Speaker 1: other projects and worked in other spaces, but tennis is
Speaker 1: your main one. So what is it about tennis that
Speaker 1: captivates you?
Speaker 3: I love the game first, and I think sports in
Speaker 3: general brings you emotion, like emotion you can get in
Speaker 3: your life, and tennis because that was the sport I
Speaker 3: was doing. So I like the emotion and I like
Speaker 3: the players. I like the game and the emotion that
Speaker 3: that specific sport brings you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's amazing. What is a typical day at Roland Garris?
Speaker 1: Like for you? When do you arrive? What are the
Speaker 1: kinds of things you have to do? Where do you go?
Speaker 1: What do you have to bring with you? How many
Speaker 1: steps do you do? Like it must be a big duy.
Speaker 3: So Roloaos is a little bit different than the other
Speaker 3: tournaments the other Slams I cover because at Honongawos I
Speaker 3: work for Ronongawos and the French Federation, so I work
Speaker 3: in a team. I love it. This is the only
Speaker 3: time of the year that I work with other photographers,
Speaker 3: so we are like ten photographers for Hongawos and each
Speaker 3: of us has to do something special. So on Monday
Speaker 3: we have a meeting at nine all together. It will
Speaker 3: be nice because we are back together for three weeks
Speaker 3: and since last year I'm doing behind the scenes and
Speaker 3: everybody has something to do, the qualities, the practice, and
Speaker 3: so I will be in the corridors. I will I
Speaker 3: love it. It's very nice. You have to be patient. This
Speaker 3: is not my best part. And from Sunday I will
Speaker 3: have one main court and like two or three co
Speaker 3: ops around and I will cover all the games and
Speaker 3: send my pictures to the editor because they are publishing
Speaker 3: pictures in real time, you know, the socials, media and everything,
Speaker 3: so I don't have to edit the pictures myself, which
Speaker 3: is very different than the other slams. The other slams,
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, I go to my
Speaker 3: computer download three thousand pictures and edit them and then
Speaker 3: send them to my clients. So at Tronong Gaos, I
Speaker 3: don't have this part. I only should, which is much
Speaker 3: more comfortable.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's interesting. I was going to ask you about
Speaker 1: working at the other slams. What makes their unique? Do
Speaker 1: you like them as well? Or is Roland Garross your favorite?
Speaker 1: Like I know that the story is with slams. They
Speaker 1: all have their own thing that makes them special. So
Speaker 1: how do you feel about them when you visit all
Speaker 1: the other Grand Slams?
Speaker 3: So it's not because you're Australian mad. But I love
Speaker 3: the Australian Open really for different reasons. I love the side,
Speaker 3: the site, I love all. I mean, how we can
Speaker 3: work there. It's very easy, very easy, and it's also
Speaker 3: summer time in January, when in France it's winter time,
Speaker 3: so I'm always excited to travel, even if it's a
Speaker 3: long travel to Australia. So I really like it. Okay,
Speaker 3: I would say my favorite. My favorite one is Horus
Speaker 3: because it's Veries, because I don't it's in my heart.
Speaker 3: But I love Australian Open. I like Wimbledon, even if
Speaker 3: even if it's not as nice to work there because
Speaker 3: of because we don't have so many angles. We it's
Speaker 3: very uh restricted, you know, photographers cannot go everywhere, so
Speaker 3: after one week you are like going in a circle,
Speaker 3: always doing the same thing. But it's it's nice, it's green,
Speaker 3: it's you don't have any ads on the background, so
Speaker 3: it's nice also. And the US Open I like it,
Speaker 3: even if the roof, the new roof is is not
Speaker 3: good for us because we don't have light on center anymore,
Speaker 3: you know, you have you can't see the circle, so
Speaker 3: it's a bit different. You know before years ago after
Speaker 3: six pm you had like an amazing light on this court,
Speaker 3: on these courts because they have the more roof, but
Speaker 3: they are all unique and different. But I would say
Speaker 3: Australia Open are my favorites?
Speaker 1: Yes, well that's fantastic. I'm sure you get asked this
Speaker 1: question a lot, But who have been your favorite players
Speaker 1: to photograph?
Speaker 3: So I think we have been very, very very lucky
Speaker 3: to have these three amazing players, Rafa, Roger Novak and
Speaker 3: I will add Serena. Okay, So for me, if I
Speaker 3: had to pick only one or two names, I would
Speaker 3: say Rafa and Serena. Every time they play it's I
Speaker 3: know that I will have fun. I will enjoy to
Speaker 3: photograph them. There is something happening, you know, the emotion,
Speaker 3: the power of the game and the personality. I mean,
Speaker 3: how there. I love them. So I miss Serena and
Speaker 3: I will miss Rafa very soon.
Speaker 1: Also, yes, and I understand that you have won an
Speaker 1: award for your coffee type of book. You did a
Speaker 1: iconic twenty years of Rafa and the Dove photography.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, first picture is from two thousand and four,
Speaker 3: I think. And the first memory I have of Rapha
Speaker 3: was in Alikonte in Spain during Davis's Cup. It was
Speaker 3: against France. He was very young, I think it was
Speaker 3: to two thousand and four, and he was already a fighter,
Speaker 3: and I say, wow, that guy is great. And also
Speaker 3: I remember in Kibiskane two thousand and four he met
Speaker 3: Roger for the first time and I had this picture
Speaker 3: that check hand at the end, and that's the first
Speaker 3: picture of both of them.
Speaker 1: So he won an award for that book. I just
Speaker 1: was kind of curious about how that all came to be.
Speaker 1: And I saw that you post there's a photo of
Speaker 1: you with him and the book.
Speaker 3: As you understood, Rapha is my favorite in my heart.
Speaker 3: So I had the chance to photograph him for twenty years,
Speaker 3: and I remember that I had this idea of making
Speaker 3: a book about him in twenty twelve, I think. So
Speaker 3: I did something myself and I show it to his
Speaker 3: team and they said, well it's a bit earlier. We wait, wait, okay,
Speaker 3: So I already have I always had that in my head.
Speaker 3: And two years ago a friend of mine, a journalist,
Speaker 3: did a book about Rafa, but a writing book, and
Speaker 3: he said, okay, I would like to get you photographed
Speaker 3: in my book. Are you okay? I say yes, of course.
Speaker 3: So I had the opportunity to meet the editor of
Speaker 3: that book and we talked and he said I love Rafa.
Speaker 3: I said, but I love Rafa. My dream is to
Speaker 3: make a book about Rafa. And the guy say, let's
Speaker 3: do it. So it started like that. So it's a
Speaker 3: French editor in Paris, and I told him, okay, I
Speaker 3: want to do a book, a book, a specially one
Speaker 3: I don't want. I want a book with pictures only
Speaker 3: about Rafa. I don't want to tell his story. I
Speaker 3: want to show artistic pictures and I want to choose
Speaker 3: all of them and to be there when you do
Speaker 3: the the frame and everything. So it's a great story
Speaker 3: because when I had this book in my hands.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's a huge book.
Speaker 3: It's more than three kilos, and it was even better
Speaker 3: when all than all my thoughts. So I was very
Speaker 3: happy and very proud of it. And the editor was
Speaker 3: selected by there is a contest with books, you know,
Speaker 3: all books of the year, and that book was selected.
Speaker 3: So we went to Monte Carlo for the party the
Speaker 3: night with the price, you know, and we won. And
Speaker 3: that was iconic Rapha.
Speaker 1: And it was yours. It's so good. I love it,
Speaker 1: and I love that he got to have his copy
Speaker 1: and see your vision come to the product, the three
Speaker 1: kilo book in his hand. It's great. You told me
Speaker 1: about a photo in Miami in two thousand and four
Speaker 1: with Federer and Nadal together, which is one of the
Speaker 1: first photos of them together. And obviously all the photos
Speaker 1: in the Wraffa book. You've taken millions of photos. Do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite.
Speaker 3: One? Is not easy? I will know. I we thought
Speaker 3: about a special one. I think I want a prize
Speaker 3: also with that one. It's not Raphie, it's not Roger,
Speaker 3: it's sulting ends. It was at the US Open. I
Speaker 3: don't remember when, like five or six years ago, and
Speaker 3: the Bryan brothers were playing the final. Okay, and as
Speaker 3: we all know, at the end of any match they won,
Speaker 3: they win, they.
Speaker 1: Jump and do their things, the chest pump.
Speaker 3: Yes, let's do it. So I went up in the
Speaker 3: stadium and said, I want to get this moment to
Speaker 3: photograph it. And when I was up in the stadium,
Speaker 3: I saw all the photographers at the same place. I said, no, no,
Speaker 3: I'm going to move away, go in a different place.
Speaker 3: So they won, They jumped and they threw the racket. Okay,
Speaker 3: the racket was perfectly on court, and in my camera
Speaker 3: I could see the racket because I was focusing on
Speaker 3: the rackets, and suddenly the shadows of the brother came in.
Speaker 3: My friend, and you have these shadows. They look the same,
Speaker 3: really the same, and the rackets on the blue court.
Speaker 3: So it's one of my favorite pictures because I I
Speaker 3: tried something different and it worked better than expected.
Speaker 1: Yes, obviously you've Macro said it. You've met rafa on Nadal.
Speaker 1: In your job, you are getting close to the players.
Speaker 1: Have you gotten a chance to meet players or made
Speaker 1: relationships with players like the ones with Raffa and Chris Effett.
Speaker 3: The French guys of course, the French players women and
Speaker 3: men because of the language. Because you're David's cup, fat cup,
Speaker 3: it's easier. And I think Serena is and maybe also
Speaker 3: sharp over these two are the ones I didn't have
Speaker 3: the chance to photograph, like one to one, I think
Speaker 3: I should everybody, all of them except Serena and in Maria.
Speaker 3: So for me, Serena is like on a stage that
Speaker 3: you cannot reach. You know, each time I had the
Speaker 3: chance to see her or to I'm very impressed. I mean,
Speaker 3: she's wow, you know. So despite these two players, Maria
Speaker 3: and Serena, I think I had a chance to photograph
Speaker 3: all of them, not to know them. But you know,
Speaker 3: with the yours, the players are used to see you
Speaker 3: on tour, and I think it's for them. It's how
Speaker 3: do you say.
Speaker 1: Yes they recognize you and yes they get confident.
Speaker 3: You know, they know I will never do something bad.
Speaker 3: So no, it's nice. You know when you when you
Speaker 3: see Novak or Rafa, they always say hello, Bojo or
Speaker 3: no they and they are all very nice, but it
Speaker 3: takes time to be in this little world to be
Speaker 3: recognized as someone I would say of the family, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Yes, like any industry respectful. Yes. So, going back to
Speaker 1: the beginning of the interview, you said you are living
Speaker 1: your dream. So are there any other dreams you would
Speaker 1: like to achieve? Any other things you would like to
Speaker 1: do with your photography or places you would like to
Speaker 1: go in your career that maybe you haven't tried or
Speaker 1: experienced yet.
Speaker 3: It's not a dream, but it's it's a kind of
Speaker 3: a dream. So I'm getting old. Old, it's fine, but
Speaker 3: it's a job that asks you to be in good shape.
Speaker 3: You have you old twenty kilos on your back for
Speaker 3: fifteen hours a day for two weeks, so it's tough.
Speaker 3: So I think in a few years, I don't know
Speaker 3: how many, but shure years I will go slowly, you know.
Speaker 3: And one of my dream would be to open a gallery,
Speaker 3: a photo gallery with maybe pictures of tennis, but I
Speaker 3: really enjoyed going on the beach and photographs the ocean,
Speaker 3: the light to send the surfers and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: So I would like one day to open a small gallery.
Speaker 3: You know what, I saw one in Sydney. What is
Speaker 3: the name of that famous beach?
Speaker 1: Bon Die Bon Dye.
Speaker 3: In Bon Dy, there is a gallery. I don't remember
Speaker 3: the name now. I was working in the street and say, oh,
Speaker 3: this is what I want. It was a corridor and
Speaker 3: the guide. The photographer's shooting the beach every day and
Speaker 3: he sells pictures of that beach. And he said, that's
Speaker 3: what I want to do in ten fifteen years. So
Speaker 3: that would be nice to live in garrets, relax, play golf,
Speaker 3: enjoy my friends, and have this gallery selling the pictures
Speaker 3: of barrets and maybe pictures of four years, you know,
Speaker 3: the players and everything.
Speaker 1: That sounds delightful.
Speaker 3: And I have one last thing to tell you.
Speaker 1: Oh please tell me.
Speaker 3: We mentioned the iconic Nadad and I'm very happy to
Speaker 3: tell you that I'm working on another iconic, iconic ferrier
Speaker 3: will be available in October twenty four.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's coming up soon. Yes, our congratulations. That's exciting.
Speaker 3: And that time it will be French and English, so
Speaker 3: it would be good for everybody.
Speaker 2: Great interview, Matt, Congratulations. Next time we stop and appreciate
Speaker 2: a great tennis photo, we'll also think about the hard
Speaker 2: work that goes into capturing that one single moment.
Speaker 1: And I was really intrigued when she talked about that
Speaker 1: photograph she took of the Brians at the US Open.
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen that, so I would recommend people to
Speaker 1: google Coringe Broil, Brian Brothers US Open and it'll come up,
Speaker 1: and it is. It's a work of art what she
Speaker 1: did there. And we'll be back next week with another
Speaker 1: episode of The sit Down, where our colleague Luke Dennehy
Speaker 1: catches up with nineteen eighty eight Roland Garros semifinalist Nicole Bradkitt.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you can tune into John of the
Speaker 1: Team this Thursday on the AO Show.
Speaker 2: Weekly details for how to contact us are in the
Speaker 2: show notes. Remember to subscribe, rate and review. See you
Speaker 2: next week, Matt ce viv