BEST of On The Road

December, 2005

Hi, and welcome to this edition of On The Road. I covered many events during this past year from NCAA sports to the Kentucky Derby to the NFL, but one assignment stands out in my mind as special. I was assigned to photograph for a few days at Pebble Beach Golf Links near Carmel, California. My assignment was to document Memorial Day at the famed golf course for Golf Digest. I had never seen the course so I arrived two days before Memorial Day for research purposes. I wanted to have complete understanding of all that goes into a day at Pebble Beach. I photographed every aspect I could think of from ground crews before dawn to the sunset over looking the Pacific Ocean and plenty of golfers in between. I found myself fascinated with the beauty of the landscapes that each hole provided and have chosen some of my favorite images taken during my 3 days at Pebble.

Image #1 Dawn at Pebble Beach...Ground crews begin their day at 5:00am and so did I. By 6:17am the 8th fairway was receiving a perfect grooming. I used one Nikon SB 800 with i-TTL to illuminate my subject from silhouette. The sun breaking over the horizon helped reveal the 418 yards of fairway and the Pacific Ocean background. I exposed for the blue sky by taking a shot and taking a look on my Nikon D2X LED screen. The flashing highlights indicated that the sun was over exposed (no worries with that)... and that the deep colors of green and blue were perfectly saturated. I clamped the SB 800 to my Bogen monopod with a Bogen 175F Clamp. I extended the monopod to about 4 feet and held it over my head. The SB 800 had a power output of +2 and a warming gel which provided a perfect amount of warm light on my moving subject. Nikon D2X, ISO100, 1/640 at f4, WB 4000K, Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye Lens, Master SB 800 and one Remote SB 800 at a power output of +2 with Warming Gel, Bogen Monopod and Bogen 175F Clamp, Lexar 4G Flash Card. If not for the guy mowing the grass this image would make a nice landscape.......this was my plan. Find beautiful landscapes that included the element of golf.
Image #2 Early Risers...I had finished my coverage of the ground crews and encountered my first golfers of the day at the 7th Hole. This par 3 is 106 yards that stretches along the Pacific coast. Nikon D2X, ISO100, 1/200 at f11, WB 5000K, Nikon 12-24mm Lens, Lexar 4G Flash Card. I set the White Balance at 4800K to keep the Pacific Ocean a deep blue. Cloud coverage shadowed most of the ocean while the sunlight illuminated the Green and my golfers. These conditions lasted only a few seconds after which the sun became obscured by a thin layer of clouds. The success of this image has more to do with the basics of composition than knowledge of golf. I do not profess to be a Landscape photographer but I do understand some basics..........The Rule of THIRDS.....Foreground, Middleground and Background...and nice light.
Image #3 Storm Clouds Over #6...Late afternoon brought a brief threat of stormy weather. I was at #10 but had a golf cart at my disposal so I headed off to the 17th Green for a picture overlooking the inlet to the building clouds over the 6th Green and 7th Tee. I did not want to have the peninsula fall into the shadow of the clouds before I could capture a frame...(Thirds again...foreground, middleground, background ...and nice light.) The Landscape and weather dominate the scene of people playing golf. Nikon D2X, ISO160, 1/500 at f9, WB 5600K, Nikon 70-200 VR Zoom Lens, Lexar 4G Flash Card.
Image #4 Long Shot...Pebble Beach Golf Links is a difficult course especially if you try and cut the dog leg on #8. Our Rule of Thirds is used again along with a nice lighting situation. In this case there is some thin cloud cover that is shading the ocean while the golfer remains sunlit. Nikon D2X, ISO100, 1/500 at f8, WB 5600K, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom Lens, Lexar 4G Flash Card. The winds were gusting up to 35mph off the ocean at the time I took this picture so I used the golf cart as a brace and activated the VR mode to eliminate any possibility of camera movement.
Image #5 Sunset at Pebble...The sun setting is always a treat to photograph no matter where you are. This particular evening at Pebble was spectacular to say the least. I used a White balance of 10,000K to add a golden touch to the sky the same way an Amber filter is used with film to saturate an already golden sunset. Again, this is a Landscape and again the classic Rule of Thirds with great light makes this image successful. Nikon D2X, ISO 200, 1/60 at f8, WB 10,000K, Nikon 80-200mm Lens, Lexar 4G Flash Card.
Image #6 Twilight at #6...I have learned from past experience photographing lightpaintings at sunset that the camera will continue to record the burn of the sun setting on the horizon for several minutes after my eye cannot see any color at all. This image is a Landscape and once again contains the basic Rule of Thirds...Foreground, Middleground and Background...and nice light. Nikon D2X, ISO400, 1/30 at f4, WB 10,000K, Nikon 12-24mm Lens, Lexar 4G Flash Card. I shot several frames as the sun set but liked this one the best as the flag is quite visible thanks to a slight breeze.

My emphasis in this article is that sports can involve many things. I was sent to the most beautiful golf course in the world and I saw golf within magnificent Landscapes. I captured many other images while at Pebble but wanted you to see this side of sports photography. It is easy to get caught up in specialization within sport, but, I want to encourage all of you to investigate additional ways of seeing your subject. I am not a Landscape photographer but I have been involved with many workshops that featured great Landscape photographers. I listened to them and learned so that when the opportunity arose I was ready to apply the fundamentals along with nice light and had a wonderful time capturing some beautiful pictures. Try not to let specialization keep you from learning.

Well,...that wraps up another year On The Road. There are over 15,000 of you who come to the On The Road and Workshop at the Ranch articles each month. I have enjoyed the E-mails of encouragement many of you have sent me. Until next time On The Road...............................Adios, Dave