Just came across this from the last day of the Ryder Cup. Currently choosing a few pics for a “from the cutting room floor” collection. Stay tuned
+44 784 982 5600
Just came across this from the last day of the Ryder Cup. Currently choosing a few pics for a “from the cutting room floor” collection. Stay tuned
Because of the bad weather play had been pushed over to Monday for the first time ever in the history of the competition. Play started at 9 and spent about 2 hours sat at the back of the grandstand at the 1st tee. Glad I stayed for a while as the weather changed from seriously heavy fog to sunshine. Didn’t really know what to do then as there were so many matches being played and I wasn’t able to get an ‘inside the ropes’ bib so was very limited in where I could stand and what I could shoot. I spent a while at some of the quieter tee offs where I could get nice and close and then headed off to the 15th and 16th to plan my shot for the finish. Because of the bib issue I wasn’t going to be able to get your normal celebration pic from the edge of the green so I spent a good hour scouting out spots on the hill overlooking the 15th and 16th to see what was possible.
The pic of Jimenez winning his match was taken from the top of the hill above the 15th and, with the crowd in the foreground, think it came out quite well. I then moved further along the hill to shoot McDowell on the 16th. There was no way I was going to get anywhere near the hole without a bib so thought I’d stay on the hill. The pic turned out alright but wish McDowell had turned towards me rather than where he did. Bob Martin of Sports Illustrated got a similar sort of shot (first on the page) and reckon his turned out better than mine with the Ryder Cup scoreboard in the frame. I tried to do the same sort of shot on the 17th when McDowell secured the Europe victory but there were no good vantage points so I got nothing there. Disappointing but oh well, couldn’t expect all the images to work! Although it would have been nice to have been down on the green and got a nice image of McDowell and the Europe team celebrating I’m actually quite glad I wasn’t. I might just be saying that to make myself feel better but I did leave the Ryder Cup with an image that nobody else in the world captured. It doesn’t mean much but I hope it helps me stand out just a little.
Its been an amazing few days at the Ryder Cup. The fact that I got to shoot such a huge event in the first place was ridiculous yet incredible and its been a great experience. Seriously tired after getting up at 5 for 4 days in a row but so so worth it. Now its back to the real world and time to shoot some Bristol Uni rugby!
It rained and rained for most of the morning again but play finally started at 1.30. Can’t really remember what happened now but I followed McDowell and McIlory for a while and then saw Jimenez birdy the 16th (I think) to win his foursomes match. There was some really nice light towards early evening so the picture of Poulter teeing off is the only one I like much.
I got an email about a week ago saying there was the possibility of getting a pass for the Ryder Cup. Now I know next to nothing about golf but was obviously very excited about shooting the Ryder Cup as its by far the biggest golfing event and by far the biggest event I have ever covered and probably will ever cover in the near future. The last time I shot golf was on the course in Marlborough so a bit of a step up to the Ryder Cup!
Anyway I got to the course about 6 and, as first tee off wasn’t until 7.45, I had some time to unpack in the media centre. The forecast was heavy rain for most of the day so I assembled my very home made rain covers (more about them later) and headed out. As I wasn’t given a specific golfer or group of players to cover I ended up trying to shoot as many of the fours as possible. I found this didn’t really work as it was too much rushing around so decided to focus more on just 1 group. There was about 2 hours of play before the course was deemed unplayable and we headed back inside.
Ventured out a bit later to shoot some rain features and needless to say I got absolutely soaked. Luckily I’d bought some very flattering waterproof trousers the day before which proved worth their weight in gold. The home made rain covers, however, did not. Whilst out in the rain one of my lenses stopped working, which I assume was because of the rain, but touch wood its dried out and is ok at the moment.
After hours and hours milling about in the media centre play resumed again and, as you can see from the pics, the weather cleared up and there was some really nice light towards the end of the day. Full gallery up in a couple of days.
