Golfing on Father's Day

My daughter treated my husband a 18-hole golf session on Father's Day. Have not touched a golf club for 13 years, Steve had said half dozen times that he was not sure if he could hit anything with his injured shoulder and the long recess from golf course. But, he was going for it and I am getting a free ride go photographing.  I have never been one and had no clue what I would be shooting.

The only thing I have something to do with golf is the product development of men's and women's golf belts and accessories. I know all major golf apparel brands and managed a Nike and Tiger Wood golf belt line. And, yes, I played Wii golf. That is all.

I have always thought that golf is not a real sport because it is slow-paced and no substantial physical activity involved. People stroll on the course, hit the ball when it's your turn, and the goal is simple, just to get the ball in the hole. I thought it is purely a social event to gather family, friends and business associates. However, after four hours walking down the course to watch my husband and daughter play, I came out with new perspective. I am of course not here speaking for professionals who live on golf and golf course is their office.

First of all, I say I would rather carry my camera bag than a golf bag. It is quite a load of stuff to carry and move from one hole to the other throughout the whole session. I guess you can ride in the golf cart or hire a caddy, but what's the fun if all you do is to hit the ball and no fitness effort is made? What's the purpose of having nice and soft green acres when golfers sit in the cart and take the bare dirt roads? Walking the course conducts a good exercise in the beautiful and peaceful environment.

 
Laura is an absolute athlete.  She plays all sorts of sports and she goes to the gym regularly. I play nothing and I sit in front of computer most of the time. I should be the one who invest more time to stay healthy.

There is an intangible price to pay to stay active, fit, and energetic. Tangible price paid to buy convenience, comfort and more or less, status,  can never replace the reward paid by the intangibles. One of my goal to age gracefully is to stay fit. Walking on soft green is surely an enjoyment.

I have never taken golfing pictures. It was a funny start. I aimed and I shot when they hit the balls. Guess what, I knew immediately that it was not right. Ball was either somewhere in the air or bouncing on grass. Golfers seemed to always have the club in lower position, not too exciting.

Wrong to press the shutter at the moment when the ball is hit because there will be no ball in the scene.  Firstly I learned that I should snap before the club hits the ball. I second realized to have 1-2 second delay before I press the button to get a more interesting shot of the player raising the club high.

Without seeing this picture, I did not realize the power of the club and the impact of the hit.  As you can see, the club rattled like a musical string. I have no doubt here that the golfer has released quite a power force.  It is surely not as easy as I used to think.

On this day I learned that there are three basic tools to finalize a round,  the club, the driver and the putter. Club is cast heavy, designed to hit long range distance.  Driver helps to guide the ball close to the Green center, I say, a hurdle remover. Putter is used to finish, the sensitive and decisive maneuver. Inside the perfect green, there is still skill and technique required.

From the eyes of a completely spectator, I see patience and endurance is displayed in this last fragment of the game. It involves estimation, experience and a perfect execution. I also don’t doubt the significance of a good luck.

No caddy, no golf cart, we figured this will be our daily walk.  I was quite surprised to see this local golf course has so many handsome and lofty trees, ponds and rolling greens.  Grass is soft here and I saw lots of ducks napping by the ponds. Mommy duck hid her babies in taller grass and she was the guard. Grass is soft. My steps are light. She did not sense my presence till I got close. I had a close look at the frightened babies and weary mommy but I tried to leave them alone sooner, no pictures. Mothers are naturally great when come to protect her babies...

If not for the people behind us, I would want to spread out on the tender green and enjoy a nice nap. I tend to forget where I was till I was reminded to stay out of the hitting range. And yet, it is irresistible, I managed to get down low to the ground and have a little fun with the ball.

Not a sunny day, otherwise, I think it would be cool to have more bokeh behind and more light around. Best of all, if there were no golfers around and I can have the place all to myself. Good enough, I concluded. I had my experiment done and I at least got a few shots though not perfect.

Golf can be a wonderful sports if a golfer walks the course and carries the bag himself to get full benefit of fitness ; Enjoys the green and feels rejuvenated. While some tension is inevitable from one par to the other, remains calm and not too wound up with a win or loss. Treat it as a sport, not a game. An amicable social, not a business battlefield. A family fun gathering, no hassle of party food preparation. Sound great, don't you?

I may end up trying to golf myself some time. Who knows?

Becoming a duck (not Duck) fan

I don’t mind rain, but sunshine is still more uplifting.  That golden glare just has that up and soar elements while the clear spaghetti can make you feel rust and rut sometimes.  But I am grateful that I am a Northwest resident where abundant water has created miles and miles of green acres all year round.

Thought it was supposed to be a Mostly Sunny day with early morning fog.  I jumped off the bed early and started to get my morning routine going. After breakfast was made, smoothie and my husband’s lunch box were prepared; I was ready to hop in the car with my camera the moment when he left for work. I am always late. I thought if I was out early enough, I wouldn’t miss it this time. My planned shot was visualized with morning sun. It was still foggy, but I expect the fog to vanish in an hour or so. 

Pre-occupied with a sunny day thought, I put on lightweight jacket and go without checking the temperature. Fog was still too thick; I could not shot what I pre-visualized along the highway with farmhouses and sheep in background.  Instead, I drove to go to a fishing pond in the vicinity.  I caught an osprey once with fish in his mouth, but I did not have the right lens with me and the image was not clear. I came back dreaming for second chance.

 

The moment I parked my car, a large bird was flapping its wing in the sky, Instinctively I thought, what luck, another osprey?  Nop, just a cormorant and it was out of my sight when I had my camera ready.  Ok. How about capturing the fish is freshly caught and the fisherman is wheeling in his fishing line?  Neither, it was too early and most of them just cast their initial lines.  It was deadly cold and some of them even went back to the car to warm up.

So cold and I did not have anything except a stocking cap what I left in my glove box. I put on the raincoat that I usually have it in my truck, not much help. Go home to get some warm clothes, no, I would miss the sunrise. Photographers need to suffer for their passion and goal? I am afraid so. I hang on and continued to look for my subjects. No sun, no leaping fish, just a few fishermen and women, and some ducks.

Speaking of ducks, I am mostly ducked-out living in Eugene. There are quite a few Duck Shops, duck fans, ducks in the pond and tramping in the park. My husband worships Oregon Ducks and he likes roasted duck. There are duck-inflicted traffic jams blocking the streets in game days…  When I go to Eugene Delta Pond, I look for egret or herons, not ducks or geese.

I was freezing and fog was still in, no sigh of sun two hours after I left my house. When will our weather forecast be accurate? Our guys even made it to Mars, but no new technology to give us valid weather report? I don’t believe it.  I was freezing, almost calling quit, but my spirit said No.

  

Shoot a few red-wing black birds, not interesting, they are everywhere. Shoot fog scenes? Barely anything can be seen in this heavy fog. I saw many black spots on water in distance. I know they are ducks, so what? more ducks than I can handle.

Suddenly my eyes were lit, I saw the ducks were assembled by a leader (I am guessing) and they were lined up heading to right side of the pond.  I could barely see them, but the action certainly caught my attention. In another minute or two, the ducks were heading to the left. Right and left. Left and right. I have never seen something like this. Are they having their morning water aerobics class, you think? I zoomed my lens all the way out.

With their heads facing the same direction, the silhouette looks so cute that I could not resist shooting repeatedly.  I should have used my tripod, but they were moving around and tripod became a hindrance. The images are not clear because of fog, pre-dawn darkness and distance, but I got enough fun. I swear, this is the first time I feel that I like them.

From this point onward, I was looking for more ducks. They were far away and they were tiny in the big picture, but they looked appealing to me. The three companies have been there and still there. I have to guess that they are a family. They seemed to embrace one another and hold on to each other in spite of the surroundings.

What kind of ducks, what color and did I aim at their eyes? These questions were all no longer in my thought , I just simply enjoyed their existence.

Still no sign of sun. I finally looked at my smartphone, the temperature said 33. I was freezing though I had not given up chasing these ducks. I found this large family or friends hidden in the bushes. It looked like they were having a high level conversation discussing how dumb I was, suffering from chill just for a few pictures of them. 

If I really suffered because of them, I am gaining something back. I added tropical sunshine to freezing water. In the end of my small adventure, I got to enjoy ducks bathing in tropical sun. I am entertained. I hope you are, too.

Dramatic sunshine has just shot through my window, I have to leave my chair and turn off my computer now.