Date: 2017. For this installment of Behind the Photograph I’m going to take you higher. Bringing a drone to the golf course added a perspective I could only have dreamed of. Back in the day I was known to be strapped to the outside of a helicopter (in the jungles of S. America) to get aerial shots. This way is much nicer. In this picture we can see parts of Holes #3, 4, 7, 11, 12 and even some guys teeing off on 8. You can even see the old tree on the right side of the 7th fairway before it was lost to a storm. For the love of Mike! How much more can you wish for in a photo? Maybe you’re the guys in the picture.

If you’re going to go old school to get some great vantage points, you best be going to Yosemite. Prompted by my daughter, who is an elite hiker, we humped up some God-blessed trail to get this shot. Come on Dad! Easy for her to say, she wasn’t lugging 40 lbs of camera equipment. All that said, it was well worth it.

Date: 2014. A good artist tries to see things differently. Every year I try to stump Madison (and Brian J). This is the only image that stumped them both. Can you guess where on the golf course this is? The only clue I’ll provide is that it was taken just after sunrise. I’ll provide the answer in the next Behind the Photograph (BTP) installment. Or, if you see me at the Practice Tees you can shake me down

Date: 2010. This image was made at Cape Flattery, WA.
The western most part of the continental United States. Does this tree stand sentinel to the menace of the vast unknown? Or does it face out across an ocean of possibilities?

Date: 2014 / 14th Hole. Sunrise. Pre-drone. Twenty feet in-the air trying to figure out the Cherry Picker’s bucket controls. Wayne is yelling something at me. I think its instructions. Then I hear the unmistakable sound of a Hot Air Balloon’s burner. Now I get it. Wayne is yelling, “DA BALLOON!!” No time set up the tripod. I get three shots off before it is out of frame. Only one shot has the reflection in the pond. So, I’m offering a 10% discount to anyone who’s scored an Uno on this hole. Honor system is good enough for me. Thanks, Wayne!

Certain things require an act of faith. This photo was taken at sunrise, high above Cappadocia, Turkey. Being in a cane basket next to a flamethrower shooting flames into a balloon wasn’t the unnerving part. The unnerving part was being up there with all these other balloons, some coming within several yards of us, while the pilots were screaming at each other in Turkish. I could only imagine what they were saying, but it didn’t sound pretty.