POSITIONING himself on the stadium roof at the Australian Open, a Pottsville-based photographer captured superman in full flight.

The year was 2016 and photographer Jason O'Brien managed to capture the athletic grace of French superstar Gael Monfils, in what he called the best image of a 17-year career in photographing elite sports.

"Gael Monfils, of France, is one of my favourite players to shoot due to his unpredictable nature and incredible athleticism,” O'Brien said.

"The catwalk on the roof of the stadium gives a nice clean background of the court. Monfils dived horizontally off the ground to retrieve a ball, which made for an incredible sequence of images.”

The amazing shot, taken for Reuters, was so highly regarded it captured O'Brien a third placing in the Professional Sport category at the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards in London in April.

The image, which was on display at Somerset House in London this month, was selected as a winner out of 227,000 entries received for the awards from 183 countries.

O'Brien said the award was the highlight of a career that began in 1994 at the Gold Coast Bulletin.

"It is a privilege and honour to be recognised by the judges as there are so many talented photographers across the globe who enter the awards,” he said.