GOLF THROUGH THE LENS, Chris Gallow – The impact of Photography.

Here is a link to a great speech by David Griffin the Photo Director of National Geographic showing an explaining the impact of great photography

Cut this link in your browser

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_

griffin_on_how_photography_connects.html

GOLF THROUGH THE LENS, Chris Gallow – Course Photography and golf courses.

So this year has been a though one considering the amount of rain we have had, the best thing that comes of this is full lush golf courses. Well when they are not under water LOL. For me its been difficult to get out and shoot due to the amount of water falling from the sky.

On to my point or concern. We have all these great courses through out Ontario all competing for you to come and play. These courses have gone to great lengths/expence to build some fantastic experiences and want you the player to come and see what all the hype is about. There is one thing that escapes me, they forget one major part of getting people there…great photography. Most of the courses seem to forget to budget for it, which to me makes no sense. So they build/redesign a great course and want people to show up to see it. Why not give the player a reason to come, show them a fantastic image of it.
As we all know an image is worth a thousand words, so why have all the writers write crafted evaluations and have no image to back it up?
I would like to hear what you think.

CG

Here is an example of what I’m talking about. Batteaux Creek Golf Club which is a fantastic golf course, so if your in the Collingwood area take an afternoon book a tee time you won’t be sorry. After playing Batteaux for the first time I HAD to return with my camera I couldn’t believe that such a beautiful course had yet to be photographed! After showing the images to the powers at Batteaux they were amazed at how the course can look, now Batteaux has a great starting library of image to really add pop to their ads.

LIVE FROM THE CN CANADIAN WOMEN’S OPEN–DAY 3

As bad as Michelle Wie was in the interview room yesterday, Lorena Ochoa was that good today. Funny, polished, classy, well-thought-out responses, and remarkably grounded and humble despite the intense spotlight and fame that comes with the dominance she has shown the past couple of years.
ON LONDON HUNT Golf & HUNT CLUB: “This is a beautiful course. I can say so far this is my favourite place on Tour. I love that it’s old and very traditional.”
ON HER LUGGAGE NOT ARRIVING ON TIME: “On Monday I didn’t get my bags and luggage, so I rested. I didn’t feel guilty watching the Olympics.”
ON WATCHING THE OLYMPICS: One scribe quipped, “I think Canada and Mexico are running neck and neck in the medal standings so far.”
“No, they’re winning,” Ochoa countered.
“They’re winning?” the journalist responded.
“Of course,” Ochoa smiled, “we have a medal in sychronized women’s diving.”
ON HER EARLY MEMORIES OF ANNIKA: “When she won the Nabisco–the Dinah Shore–I won the best amateur. I remember taking the picture together. I still have the picture. She have really short hair.
“She’s always been very helpful,” Ochoa added. “I actually called her before I turned professional. I told her ‘I need help and don’t know what to do and where to go.’ She gave me good advice. She’s always been there, and that shows how good a person and champion she is. I’m going to miss her.”
ON BEING GROUNDED: “I believe that you need to be the same person inside and outside the golf course, and the same person if you have money or not or if you have or you don’t have fame. I always say thank you to my parents, people around me and my team that always help me to just be normal. They treat me like a normal person, and that’s the way it should be, because I’m just like them.”

CANADIAN CONTENT
Alena Shap told me she budgets around $85,000 for annual expenses to play the LPGA Tour. Natalie Gulbis estimated more like $100,000. Both noted that the international nature of the modern tour is making it financially tougher for many players. Sharp also noted that the food in foreign countries doesn’t always agree with the players, which causs the odd illness for many.
Asked if she’d rather have a few other young stars to carry the responsibility as Canada’s next player to look up to, the normally reserved Sharp said she was ready and willing. “I’ll gladly take the torch and carry it for Canada,” she said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

CADDIE TROUBLES AT THE BORDER
Two caddies have had Canadian border issues, writes caddie Tracy Hanson on her LPGA Tour blog: “Refusing to fess up to the fact he was entering the country to perform his caddie duties, ‘ICE’ was put through a rigorous hour and a half anal exam. Multiple interviews and a kiddie-porn inspection of his laptop were part of the inquisition. He was finally given the green light after coming clean with the truth. Another looper, who shall remain nameless, also had a problem at the border but is in a heap of trouble for his misdeeds. He was denied entry but, since no flights were immediately available, his passport was confiscated and he was told to return the next day for deportation. He no-showed and an arrest warrant has been issued.”

GOLF THROUGH THE LENS, Chris Gallow – Links Style Phtography.

True links golf has come to Southern Ontario in the form of Tarandowah Golf Course. This weekend past I had chance to visit and experience this gem. What a great design, a little bit of Scotland in our backyard. Unfortunately during my visit the weather did not allow me to get any images of the course due to the bad weather.

When shooting a links style course you, the photographer have to recognize the differences of the design and landscape to over come them. Links courses are generally flatter than what we are used to here in Ontario. If your in Muskoka there are tons of trees, elevation changes, rock etc which make creating an image much easier. On the links you have to start thinking like the design to bring out the beauty of what makes a links course, the bunkering, tight target zones of the fairway which are lined with fescue covered mounds.

List of brief tips:
1. Get higher, this will show the depth of the hole.
2. Put the horizon higher in the frame (generally) to fill the majority of the frame with the contours and the bunkers to add interest.
3. Shoot early morning or late day, this is a must to bring out the contours. More so than a parkland course. You don’t have to worry about the trees lines the fairways causing huge shadows which can distroy the image. If can’t do this, and its full sun I would say don’t get your hopes up for a fantastic image. Now mid day with over cast skies can be surprisingly beautiful.
4. Off angles, its amazing the depth and interest you can get shooting one hole from a couple fairways over (course routing will dictate)
5. Suptle light changes (this takes a lot of training to see) can add a mystical feeling to the image.
6. Look for unique features of the course, benches are great to bring a human element to the image.
7. Using the shapes formed by the mounding can bring an entire new dynamic to your image. You don’t have the rock and trees of a parkland course to help you so use what the course is giving you.

Here are a couple examples from my travels over seas.

LIVE FROM THE CN CANADIAN WOMEN’S OPEN:

MEDIA SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
Asked if she was satisfied with the state of Canada’s elite players, Lorie Kane suggested today at the CN Women’s Open at Ottawa’s Hunt and Golf Club that there’s plenty of talent among the national team and CN professional tour, but a lot aren’t getting noticed. “We only seem to recognize something when it’s done nationally. But this country is so massive. There are good things happening in the Atlantic provinces, and there are good things happening in Quebec. Quebec probably supports their players better than anyone else in this country.” There’s talent beyond Ontario and B.C. borders, she notes, although those two provinces get the lion’s share of attention from media. Kane, who has been Canada’s greatest golfing ambassador for some years now, added that when she looks at the list of Canadians playing in US colleges, she’s surprised that she hasn’t heard of anyone among them. Part of the problem is a lack of promotion. Everyone needs to take responsibility, she says, including the RCGA, the players themselves and even the media, which needs to make the space and the time to record every score that’s posted. “What we can do is encourage them.”

How is this week different from most for Kane? “You can start with the fact that I just introduced myself to two Ontario police officers who will be escorting me around the golf course this week. Not that I don’t feel safe in my own country,” she laughed, “but it’ll be nice to have two good-looking guys to hang out with.”
There’s also the added benefit of a substantial commitment to make this tournament as good or better than anything on the LPGA circuit. “What CN has tried to do is tour it around the country. We play at very prestigious courses,” Kane said. “This tournament has a significant impact on our tour. CN has invested largely in the purse, and next year we’ll play for $500,000 more.”

ROUGH GOING “If the course stays wet, it’s going to play a little longer,” says Kane, “and if the greens stay wet, they’re going to get a little beat up by the end of the week. They’re a cross-section of poa annua and bentgrass and they’re very slopey. It’s very much set up like a major.”
“The LPGA asks for consistency in the rough,” said Hunt Club superintendent Eric Ruhs. “They’re targeting three and a half inches for the beginning of the event—Wednesday, Thursday.”
That was pretty funny considering that 90 minutes earlier Lorie Kane had held her hands about seven inches apart when describing the length of the rough.
Although the greens here have been softened by summer rains that would have intimidated Noah, they’re fairly slick at the moment, running 11 feet on the stimp meter—“and they have potential to scratch 12,” says Ruhs, who’d prefer the course play longer than has been set up by the LPGA Tour. “The members,” he says, “would probably like to see (the greens) play 12 every day, but it’s pretty hard to do with 350 to 400 rounds a day here.”
Rick Desrochers, CEO of the RCGA, who was kind enough to offer me a personal tour of the course by power cart yesterday (it’s hard for me to get around on a broken leg and crutches at the moment), commented that an LPGA Tour official observed that the Hunt Club could host a U.S. Open tomorrow, given the ideal conditioning and set-up.

ALL-STAR FIELD There’s something like 48 of the top 50 players in the world at the Hunt Club this week, according to Canada’s top-ranked player Alena Sharp. Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Michelle Wie…and on and on. Fans need their heads on swivels to keep track of every autograph-worthy player that steps out of the lockerroom–a testament to the quality of this event.

WIE CAN GET LOST
There was a press conference with Michelle Wie today. What a waste of space she is. Her talent is such that she could walk out and finish second in this tournament, but it’s more likely that she’ll miss the cut. She is soooo messed up. It was Bull Durham fan day in the media room, as cliche and cliche tumbled off her lips. She said absolutely nothing noteworthy, save for when I asked her if she could do it all over again and go to Stanford college before turning pro, would she? “I’d still be in high school then,” she said.
What an idiot. You know what I mean–Just answer the damn question.
The media room wasn’t even full. Most are tired of her story. She has learned nothing from multiple failures and terrible career decisions. Nobody in the media expects her to say anything significant anymore, and they know she’s not going to answer any questions with any serious thought. She even deflected the question about whether she’d be willing to try Q-Schoolto qualify for the LPGA Tour. I wanted to whack her with my crutches after her little wisecrack, but decided to let them both fight it out with her in a war of words. In case you’re interested, the crutches won in a split decision.

KANE NOT ABLE TO GO ON Recounting the reasons why her season has been less than stellar, Lorie Kane indicated that although scores do not reflect it, her game is sharp. But it has been a tough year personally. “We’ve had some issues at home. In 43 years I haven’t lost anybody, then in the last year I’ve lost three,” she said. The list includes an aunt and a 25-year-old cousin, who was shot in a drive-by in Toronto a few weeks ago. “He’d been to watch a basketball game,” she noted after taking time to compose herself and wipe away the tears. “He was sitting in an SUV waiting for one of the boys to come down and get a set of keys. Someone came by and shot them down. How does that happen? I thought we had good gun laws in this country? That’s not supposed to happen.”

MEDIA IDEALLY SITUATED Whereas we were a mile from the action at Glen Abbey for the RBC Canadian Open, the media are ideally situated in the curling rink at the Hunt Club, a stone’s throw from the 18th green, the first tee and the players and caddies areas. The RCGA’s director of communcations, Dan Pino, is also stellar. I would have been even more glowing in my report had someone not thrown away my notes and magazines from my spot in the media room before I arrived this morning. Fortunately a couple of RCGA staff found them in the garbage. Must have been a rival magazine…or maybe a friend of Michelle Wie.

TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - LIVE FROM THE CN CANADIAN WOMEN’S OPEN

In the CN Canadian Open souvenir program, in the “Style Watch” section, the photo showing off Jill McGill’s studded “AMERICA” belt shows her squatting from behind. It also shows her thong thanks to her white shorts being sufficiently see-through.

BY THE NUMBERS
Over 4,000 stakes and 32,000 feet of rope will be used on the Ottawa Hunt golf course this week.

Brittany Lincicome’s top-ranked LPGA Tour driving distance of 269.9 yards would be tied for 207th with Larry Mize on the PGA Tour.

RUNNING HOT AND COLD
In one of life’s little ironies, the media room at the men’s RBC Canadian Open required a sweater due to extreme air conditioning despite warm temperatures outside. At the LPGA Tour’s CN Canadian Open at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club Monday, electric fans are running constantly to combat humid conditions–this despite the fact that the media room is in a curling rink.

SHOOTING BLANKS
My main reason for being in Ottawa this week was to conduct a cover shoot and interview with Natalie Gulbis. She cancelled late yesterday - - apparently due to a missed flight connection in Vancouver. I’m going to have to kidnap Michelle Wie now as her replacement (don’t tell anyone!).

It’ll be interesting to see what Wie, a non-member of the LPGA Tour, has to say in her press conference this afternoon. Whatever it is, in keeping to form, it probably won’t be very deep.