As a golf course photographer, I have taken a lot of ordinary photos. There is nothing that I hate more than ordinary. However, those ordinary photos do serve a purpose. They give me a baseline to let me know when I am capturing something special. The sun light dips, the heart rate spikes, and the shutter flickers. Here are my “Sweet Six” photographs fromAldarra Golf Club.
Photograph #6: Hole #14
This photograph really captures the many layers of Aldarra. From the tee to green and beyond each element has its own layer in this photograph. Aside from the layers, my favorite part of this photograph is how it makes me want to immediately pull a driver and challenge that fairway bunker. A good golf photograph should make you want to play some golf and this one does it for me.
Photograph #5: Hole #12
Since this downhill par 5 is typically photographed from the middle of the fairway, I decided to mix things up and see if I could get something special with an atypical angle for this hole. From the far right rough I found the sun coming over the horizon to be interesting and I decided to focus there. Once the sun caught the very tip of the flag and illuminated the green, I knew I had a winner.
Range Session:
After 2 hot fire photos, you are probably sweating profusely from all of that hot Aldarra heat. Please take a moment and enjoy these photographs from the range facilities at Aldarra in order to cool your jets before we jump right back in to the hot fire photo action.
Photograph #4: Hole #11
I know… those hot fire range photos didn’t really cool you down at all. Let us ease back into it.
High above the early morning sunrise, I was able to find one of my favorite angles of Aldarra from the sky. This par 5 is tucked neatly into the trees and we get a nice view of the misty valley in the distance.
Photograph #3: Hole #2
Part of the charm of Aldarra is the fact that the golf course was built on the grounds of the old Boeing family farm. Fazio has wisely designed the golf course with this in mind and several of the golf holes wind right through the old farm buildings. One of my favorite farm moments comes early on at the 2nd hole. The clouds and shadows help this image to be one of my favorites.
Photograph #2: Hole #17
When it comes to the 17th hole, Tom Fazio always makes sure that he designs something special it’s part of his design philosophy. Fazio always ensures that the finishing stretches on his golf courses are memorable and the 17th is usually the beneficiary of the best land with some of Fazio’s best efforts. The 17th at Aldarra is no different and perhaps the most dramatic of the 18 holes on the property.
The shallow winding green provides most of the interest in this photograph and the green’s curvy nature is mimicked by the sky.
Photograph #1: Hole #18:
I had two sunsets during my photoshoot at Aldarra. During the first sunset, I arrived on the 18th tee box just as the shadows had overtaken the green and there wasn’t much interest left to capture. I vowed to return the next afternoon, just about 12 minutes earlier. I was able to make good on my personal vow and the result was my favorite photograph from the shoot. The golf photography gods even threw in a splash of color on the sunset.
