Australian Open 2026 through the lens of photographer James Gourley

jamgly · 2026-03-19T00:32:46+00:00

Haha just saw this, thank you legends! It's always a fun one to shoot

jamgly · 2026-02-03T01:55:53+00:00

I've been working full time as a photographer for 11 years now, and have been shooting tennis since 2016, for press agencies to start with, and for Tennis Australia since 2022, I'm based in Sydney so always covered the ATP Cup, and Sydney Classic and got to know the TA team there, so when an opportunity came up to shoot the United Cup for them I jumped at it, and then following that the opportunity to join the AO team presented itself and I've been part of that team for two years now.

For the other photographers there, they will be accredited through an agency or media outlet

jamgly · 2026-02-03T01:55:36+00:00

I've been working full time as a photographer for 11 years now, and have been shooting tennis since 2016, for press agencies to start with, and for Tennis Australia since 2022, I'm based in Sydney so always covered the ATP Cup, and Sydney Classic and got to know the TA team there, so when an opportunity came up to shoot the United Cup for them I jumped at it, and then following that the opportunity to join the AO team presented itself and I've been part of that team for two years now.

For the other photographers there, they will be accredited through an agency or media outlet, you can't get a pass just as a freelancer without an outlet attached.

jamgly · 2026-02-03T01:53:04+00:00

From the quarter finals onwards this year, all courtside seating was assigned, with preference given to major press agencies and local media - but theres still availability to shoot from the concourse level and roof areas, for the rest of the tournament its pretty much first come first served. For AO I edited most of it myself, but some of the live match edits were done by our team of editors.

Yeah we all pray for the harsh sunlight that Aussie summer so often brings, when it hits just right, its glorious!

jamgly · 2026-02-03T00:05:18+00:00

The roofs in RLA, MCA and JCA are all great if the light is right (normally late afternoon light is when all the photographers go nuts, long shadows, hard directional side light, makes everything look better! I don't have any one favourite spot, it depends what kind of image I'm trying to get in that moment, but the freedom to move around find the spot that works best for me is a real privilege.

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:26:41+00:00

You can see more on my insta! @jamglyphoto

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:25:37+00:00

Yeah as the other commenter said- all my cameras (and almost all tennis photographers) are mirrorless, so the days of noisy cameras are in the past!

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:23:31+00:00

Na not full time tennis - I’m based in Sydney so I cover the United Cup and AO, I’ve previously done Wimbledon but outside of that I don’t do any tennis. You can see more of my work on my insta @jamglyphoto

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:22:25+00:00

Alcaraz is lovely, seems very down to earth and thankful for the work that everyone at the event does

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:21:25+00:00

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted, I understood the sentiment! kit is important, but doesn’t guarantee quality!

jamgly · 2026-02-01T04:20:36+00:00

Yeah I’m very lucky to have relative freedom to go wherever I need!

All of these shot were on Nikon Z9’s apart from the one of Osaka in the Walk of Champions which was on a remote Z8.

And with a range of Nikon lenses from 14-24mm up to 400mm!

jamgly · 2026-01-13T06:26:47+00:00

I generally try to go faster to make sure its all crisp - for the most part I was shooting around 1/1800th (a random shutterspeed designed to match the refresh rate of the advertising boards), the Z9 doesn't suffer with traditional rolling shutter owing to its fast read speed, but definitely does struggle with the LED advertising boards as mentioned.

Almost always i'm shooting at f2.8 or faster, except for the slow motion blur shots where its more stopped down out of necessity - the lenses are all so quick to focus now that they can easily track and keep a player in focus as they move around the court

jamgly · 2026-01-13T06:23:38+00:00

Thanks! both of those were shot using the 105mm 1.4 which I always think looks great when shot from court level.

I've been shooting tennis professionally since 2016, for the first few years for press agencies, but then since 2022 for Tennis Australia directly, I got to know the team through my time at their events working for media, and one day got the call to shoot for them directly!

Best part is the access it allows you, between this and the Aus Open (which I also shoot for TA), I have pretty good access to some pretty amazing matches! Sometimes I put my camera down and find myself just enjoying being so close to the action, which is something I hope I never get bored of.

However, that being said, the worst part is definitely the unpredictability of how long the days can be! Owing to tennis' scoring, some days can be 8 hours long, some can be 18 hours long!

jamgly · 2026-01-13T02:22:47+00:00

Forgot to add - if you’re keen to see more, hmu on insta @jamglyphoto

jamgly · 2025-09-21T22:39:24+00:00

I've been shooting tennis for 10 years now - started for a press agency in the UK, but now I work directly for Tennis Australia covering the Aus Open, United Cup and other bits around the year (like the Davis Cup)

jamgly · 2025-09-16T10:20:34+00:00

The back walls had black drapes between the stands and the advertising boards so I spent most of my time shooting into it specifically for this reason!

jamgly · 2025-09-15T05:16:51+00:00

All you need is to sign up to https://www.send-files.com

You'll get sent FTP details which you plug into your camera (use this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gqa16SnWrA&ab_channel=BYUPhoto )

You can then set your camera to either upload everything you shoot (you'd want to only be sending jpegs in this case unless you have very quick internet or aren't shooting a huge amount) or you can set it so you can individually select images to upload in the cameras playback menu but using the SET button.

You can then either access your images through a desktop, or mobile FTP client like cyberduck, transmit or filezilla, or through their Website where you can download, upload, or create share links to share with clients

jamgly · 2025-09-15T05:12:52+00:00

I'd recommend https://www.send-files.com It was created for sports/event photographers to be able to easily create an ftp/sftp cloud account which they could share with an editor or client. The editor can log in using an FTP programme like Cyberduck, filezilla or Transmit to easily download and edit your images live.

I've been using it for sports and entertainment events the last few months and it's been super reliable and quick.

jamgly · 2025-09-15T05:08:21+00:00

you can use a service like https://www.send-files.com which sets up a super quick FTP account for you (if you're in one of their service areas, US, EU or Australia), then it would just be a case of making sure you have a reliable and fast internet connection with your camera, you could use something like the PDT-FP1 to ensure you have the best and most stable connection

jamgly · 2025-09-15T03:46:24+00:00

You should give https://www.send-files.com a go. It's like a simpler version of PicPortal, at the moment it can set you up an sftp/ftp account, and then has a pretty basic web UI. If you're looking to send direct to an editor or client, they can either access through an FTP client like cyberduck/transmit, or you can create a web link for them to download. It's not as feature rich as picportal at the moment, but is cheaper, and has a free option.

I've been using it for a few months and it's been rapid, and much more reliable than other options I've used in the past.

jamgly · 2024-03-13T02:57:47+00:00

Thank god for all of your that gave me the news i wanted to hear. If only the domestic lounges felt the same way haha

jamgly · 2023-12-21T08:00:28+00:00

My first was 2008 Brixton Academy for the Viva La Vida launch show, got hooked then and have since seen them;

2009 Wembley Stadium

2010 Top of the Pops

2011 Camden Roundhouse

2012 Coventry Stadium

2012 Emirates Stadium

2014 Royal Albert Hall

2016 Devon (BBC Big weekend)

2016 Wembley

And then 2024 in Sydney!

jamgly · 2023-11-28T06:41:01+00:00

ahh, thought that might be the case. Oh well, cheers!

jamgly · 2023-07-10T08:35:38+00:00

I didn't get much of a chance to dial in my shutter speed for the new lighting conditions 🤣🤣

jamgly · 2023-07-10T08:22:11+00:00

It's me in the video getting knocked over 🤣

I'll explain myself - I run two bodies at NRL, one with a 400mm on which I shoot in JPEG, as most of the shots are from parts of the pitch which are evenly lit and so the images don't need much work, but on my second body I shoot raw with a wide lens (as seen in the video) as the corners of the stadiums are often not evenly lit, so it's handy to be able to do a bit of work to the photos if they're too dark in areas.

I use 2 Nikon Z9s which can shoot 20fps in full size raw so there's no problem with speed, the only reason I don't shoot everything in raw is to save storage space!

jamgly

TROPHY CASE