Confessions of a Golf Course Photographer. Part 2

As you can see I have already altered my title from the last article I wrote. I felt like my first article was much more of a confessional than a journal so this name seems a little more fitting, although I promise you it will be less personal and more work related which was always my intention in the first place. I assure you I will pick up from where I left off in part 1 at some point, but this will be more of what my original intentions were in writing these articles. A glimpse behind the lens and more importantly behind the edit of what goes into a making the image into the photo that helps market your brand.

This past June I was at a dinner in Calgary with an old friend where I was introduced to his group of friends across the table. In my introduction I was asked what do I do, and I responded "I'm a golf course photographer" to which they responded "I didn't know you could make a living at that!"

If I am being honest, I know you can make a living photographing golf courses and a very good living at that, however that is not where I am. I am very new to this world and am still trying to make my way through it carefully and respectfully, learning with every mistake I make of how to serve my client better and to take the best golf images I possibly can. I have incredibly high standards for myself and my work, and if I am not striving to be creative with every images then I am failing my client.

With that being said, I am not yet making a living shooting golf courses yet, so I have had to diversify. With the 2024 Ontario golf season in the rearview mirror I ventured to where else but the Hamptons to do a shoot for a client I had recently been put in touch with. You may be wondering how that came about? Life is about people, when you put yourself out there the world becomes a very small place. I have always been good at doing that, and that is exactly what I did. I was given a lead, I put together a PDF of my architecture photography and to my fortune he liked it, I was hired and I was off to the Hamptons. If you were wondering, I may have left out that I am also an American citizen who can also talk Yankees baseball, so that may also helped.

This was my first architectural shoot. For those of you that are not aware, most houses in the Hamptons on the beach are only lived in during July and August. From September to June the houses are either being built, renovated, or simply sit empty. Since this shoot was in September, I had this house to myself.

So let's talk about this photo. Can you spot any mistakes? This was taken just after sunrise, around 7am, and it's much cooler than it looks. The two glaring mistakes that I can't forgive myself was the blinds on the second floor that I did not open and the outdoor lounge chairs (on the right right of the photo) covers that I did not take off and lift up the chairs. You may notice in the top photo from this year, I did remember to take them off and lift up the chairs. Don't they look much better. If it looks like summer, feels like summer, make it look like summer even if it is only a few degrees above freezing (which it was). One could also argue the umbrella should be open but I didnt want to block the windows behind it. After all my client is a window company. It's the little things that make a big difference although most people may never notice the difference. You can also see that in the first photo the umbrella's are not open, that unfortunately was out of my control as I was told I cannot open them. That might have been a blessing in disguise as the umbrellas may have been too distracting being so close to the foreground of the photo. In the end, my client was very happy with my photos of his work and thus we worked together again this past fall.

In this above photo, this was/is to be "OUR HERO" shot. When dealing with clients I always ask them what particular photos they are looking for. When photographing anything, but especially a house you want to tell a story. The story always begins with the front door. My client and I planned this shot a day in advance. We had a 2 day window, we needed a perfect twilight to get what we were looking for. Day 1 twilight we got the sunset and twilight but couldn't figure out how to turn on the landscaping lights. Believe it or not, every light matters. So much for OUR planning right? This shot was Day 2 twilight and we were able to get those landscaping lights on but as you can see there are still two lights not on the second and third floor. You can't control everything and in this case, if the door is locked, you stay out. I counted 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 3 floors, 2 wings, 2 chandeliers. Imagine running around the house turning all the lights on shortly before sunset which took me about 20 minutes and then when you are done turning them all off. I will share with you a secret, in a house like this, they generally have a button by the front door that is clearly marked "ALL ON/OFF". If you hit that, yes you guessed it. Lesson learned.

These two shots are of the same room but almost 24 hours apart. The first shot was taken at 6:10pm on Day 2 of our shoot. The second shot was taken at 5:59pm on Day 3 of our shoot. I noticed the orange light on the wall the night before but by the time I got my lights set up the sun had set and light on the wall had drifted into night, so I had to pivot and shoot the just the patio doors. I find the first shot a bit cold for my liking, so when we decided to shoot for another day (Day 3) I knew where I need to be and when. I started to set up around 5:30pm with the my strobe light to my immediate right in the back corner of the room, and I started shooting at 5:50pm once every minute. I feel like this image is as close to a Hampton sunset that I could have captured. It shows the windows, the door, the view, and the sun reflecting perfectly on the wall through my clients window. This image is even better than the night before. Mission Accomplished and that's a wrap!

So that is where I am now, just wrapping up 4 beautiful fall days in the Hamptons. It has been a roller coaster of a ride these past 4 years but I feel like the path I am on is clearer to me than ever. I will chase the sun, looking for that endless summer light on bedroom walls and dancing on the greens of a nearby golf course.