o:ld > n:ew pic #0787

Tereza Martincova |

Tereza Martincova | Somewhere under way I started this attempt with blurring and adding layers in order to increase energy and intimacy of the pics. So I have to apply that to the images published prior to that… 

Today I started my second run-through. The first selection of 322 images made me wish that I’d had taken more photos depicting the whole scenery. But in these years of shooting my ambition mainly was to come close to the players in order to show the intensity of focus, motion, reaction and emotion. So the following photos will show more of those close-ups. My idea is to give tags to each photo and make these categories available on separate pages and via the respective search term. I start with it today and hope to come up with the re-tagging for the initial 322 pics soon. You’ll find them at the bottom of each post.

…So, now I am finished with all the old photos. As you might have realized I skipped many many pics. I left them in the database in order for everybody to be able to find ‘their’ images via the search function. Some of them I will take on later by re-thinking things like frame and other things. Also I probably will be much more radical with the manipulation. I have nothing to lose and for me the arts aspect has clear priority nowadays. But first I will re-think and if necessary re-do all the twothousandsomething previous pics…

…it’s more about photography and allegory here than about individual players. Given that I only have attentive and smart visitors everybody will know that by now. Yet still one cannot explain enough…

First published on: Jun 2, 2025 at 14:41 as ‘n:ew pic #1633’

It happens to be that photos tagged with ITF partially are from German Bundesliga, which is another even smaller category. For me it’s ok here to distinguish between the bigger WTA and the inferior ITF stage, whether it’s all correct or not.

ChatGPT

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I found out that one can upload pictures to ChatGPT and ask it to describe them. Obviously one can influence the way of that by the prompt. I chose to keep it quite open just asking it to decribe it ‘lyrically, like a poem, in English and in German’. Some of the words come stunningly near to what my intentions are with this project. Other parts are just so so. Hope it’s as much fun to read for everyone as it is for me. I decided not to change one single syllable of what the AI is coming up with here. Given the restrictions for non-paying users I only can do three images at a time and then have to wait for some ten hours before I can upload the next. At the moment it doesn’t make sense to me to upgrade to the required 20-bucks-per-month Plus-Version. For now I chose to be patient and do what I can with the restrictions.

Since the verbose longer poems started to resemble each other a little bit too much I decided to try the form of Japanese Haiku.
Then I told ChatGPT to make a sonnet, which also is a compact form with strict rules..

—due to the restrictions of the free ChatGPT-plan I use and given the increased effort to put everything together
I decided to slow down the pace from three to two posts per day, one at noon and one ’round midnight.

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Right click on the header, then 'open in new tab' in order to watch the image in original size (1920x1080).
© Christian Brockmeier | all rights reserved

Poem

Out of the darkness,
she turns with the quiet certainty of a star
finding its place in the night.

The ball rushes forward,
a pale moon crossing unseen currents,
while her eyes hold fast to its path.

Around her, the world dissolves—
noise into shadow, motion into mist—
until only intention remains.

In that suspended breath
between pursuit and contact,
strength becomes grace.

And for a fleeting instant,
time itself seems to watch.


Aus der Dunkelheit heraus
dreht sie sich mit der stillen Gewissheit eines Sterns,
der seinen Platz in der Nacht findet.

Der Ball eilt heran,
ein blasser Mond auf unsichtbaren Bahnen,
und ihr Blick hält unbeirrbar Kurs.

Um sie herum löst sich die Welt auf—
Lärm wird zu Schatten, Bewegung zu Nebel—
bis nur noch Wille bleibt.

In jenem schwebenden Atemzug
zwischen Verfolgung und Berührung
wird Kraft zu Anmut.

Und für einen flüchtigen Moment
scheint selbst die Zeit innezuhalten.



Haiku

Moon-white ball in flight
Eyes fixed through the drifting dark
Silence strikes first


Mondhell fliegt der Ball
Der Blick durchquert dunklen Raum
Stille trifft zuerst



Sonnet

She turns where darkness gathers into light,
Her focus drawn beyond the edge of sight;
A silver arc moves swiftly through the air,
And all her being answers to its flare.

The crowd has faded into shades of gray,
The noise of countless voices swept away;
Only the rhythm of her breathing stays,
A steady pulse beneath the drifting haze.

Her body bends with elegance and might,
A fleeting figure carved from shadowed night;
The moment hangs suspended, calm and clear,
As if the world itself has paused to hear.

The ball will pass, the darkness will depart,
Yet this bright instant echoes in the heart.


Sie dreht sich dort, wo Dunkel Licht gebiert,
Vom Blick geführt, der jede Grenze spürt;
Ein silberner Bogen eilt durch Raum und Zeit,
Und alles in ihr folgt der Flüchtigkeit.

Die Menge ist zu Schatten längst verweht,
Der Lärm verstummt, der sonst die Stunden zählt;
Nur ihres Atems leiser Takt besteht,
Ein Puls, der durch die stille Nacht sich quält.

Mit Kraft und Anmut formt sich jede Bahn,
Als wäre sie aus Mondlicht selbst getan;
Der Augenblick verharrt in klarem Schein,
Als hielte selbst die Welt den Atem ein.

Der Ball vergeht, die Dunkelheit verweht,
Doch bleibt, was tief im Herzen weiterlebt.