Calm Photos

I cringe every time I see Tiger Woods through a fit on the golf course. There’s just something about the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that is about as demeaning as possibly can be.

I don’t play or watch golf, but these moments seem to always make the 60-second weekend highlight coverage on CNN. This morning’s spot was a classic Tiger-throws-a-fit moment, and one which every amateur photographer out there can take a lesson from.

Camera shutters can be amazingly loud, particularly those found on consumer brand digital 35mm and SLR’s. Some of the fixed lensed cameras even go so far as offering a choice of funny sounds your camera can make when you snap the picture. That can be cute and funny when taking snapshots of the kids at home or on vacation, but when you’re in the gallery standing close to a pro golfer about to tee off, it’s best to put your camera away. It’s not worth the wrath of Tiger or whoever else is playing for tens of thousands of $$$$s.

Just seeing that spot on this morning’s news made me feel bad for the person who made that error in judgment. It’s one thing to see hundreds of amateurs shamelessly and unknowingly shoot away with their on-camera flashes when up in the nose-bleed sections of a football stadiums (those on-camera flashes are only good to about five feet in front of the photographer), but I feel for the individual who’s camera makes a pro golfer flub his or her shot.

I haven’t had much experience photographing pro golf tournaments, but I do know that the PGA is pretty stringent about the pro sports photographers who cover these sporting events, such as credentials, where to shoot, how to shoot and when to shoot.

In August of 2005 I had the opportunity to photograph the Senior PGA tournament held at NCR Country Club in Dayton. I wasn’t even going to do the shoot because I couldn’t get any type of response from the local PGA people regarding a press pass for the tournament. But a local gallery owner was insistent that I get out there and get some shots because “those prints will sell like crazy.” The best I could do was a practice round. One technique that I employed was using a 500mm lens with a Kirk KingCobra ballhead on a monopod, far enough down the fairway where my shutter could not be heard. This is the same basic set-up I use when photographing birds and wildlife. With this size of lens I was able to effectively capture detail, compress my depth of field and stay clear of the crowd. Most importantly it kept me from disturbing pro golfers.

Guess how many prints I sold ? Nada. Zero. All I got from that shoot was a local guy asking for a free print of his kid volunteering as one of the sign-holders on the course. It’s great in Dayton !

But a lesson was learned, experience added. Know thy subject. Know thy photo gear. Respect thy subject. Don’t bring the subject’s wrath down upon thee. And if I can pass this lesson on, then I guess the shoot was worth the time. At least I didn’t make one of the pro golfers flub a shot.