Black and White Photography from the 2011 US Open

Several regular readers of this blog have questioned me regarding my photography from the US Open.  All the questions asked why I was shooting everything in color knowing my bias toward black and white photography.

It is true that I prefer black and white photography.  My decision process starts with viewing the photograph, from time of clicking the shutter button, as black and white.  I then go through a process that may lead to processing the photograph in color if the composition satisfies several criteria.  These decision points ask whether the color adds any meaningful information, and is the color distracting from the subject.

With respect to the recent 2011 US Open Photography, I had two reasons for keeping the color.  First, when you view golf photography there is a natural expectation to see lush green grass.  The highly saturated green from a well maintained golf course is a clear part of the mental image one expects.  Second, golfers are known, for good or bad, for wearing brightly colored and sometimes quite outrageous clothes (go see some shots of John Dailey, Ian Poulter, or Ricky Fowler for a good examples of the more colorful).  I thought it was important to capture some of this color of the game.

So in response to my friendly and helpful critics, this post is dedicated to black and white photography from the 2011 US Open.  I encourage you to return to the previous posts from this week, all color photography of the US Open, and form your own opinion of the relative merits of color vs. black and white golf photography.

Today is the final round of the US Open following some exciting play on Moving Day.  There was some interesting movement on Saturday, none of which did anything to shave away at the lead of Rory McIlroy who now leads the field by eight strokes – two better than the end of day results from Friday.

Among the notable movers on Saturday were outstanding play by Lee Westwood (-6), Jason Day (-6), Robert  Garrigus (-3), Fredrik Jacobson (-5), Matt Kuchar (-2), Sergio Garcia (-2), Kyung-tae Kim (-2), Henrik Stenson (-2) and Bo Van Pelt (-3) to round out the top ten.

There were also several players that had an opportunity but moved dramatically in the wrong direction including Robert Rock (+5), and Phil Mickelson (+6).

Aside from the record setting play by Rory McIlroy, the outcome today will likely be influenced by the weather.  With rain over night and the threat of more rain during the day, the rough will become even more of a penalty for those not finding the fairway, and the greens even more receptive and slower which will allow the field an opportunity to attack the pin even more aggressively.

As I am writing this, I am looking out on the Potomac from my secret Southern Maryland lair and witnessing a torrent of rain.  Not only will this rain affect play at the Open, but it is also diminishing my plans for hitting the links this morning.  Depressing.

I have a few more photographs from the Open to share, so check back soon as I wrap up my coverage.  And finally, best wishes to Rory on continuing his record setting play and redeeming himself from the tragedy of The Masters.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig