Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge shoot

Every year Golf Digest puts on their annual U.S. Open Challenge competition at Pebble Beach. The contest consists of everyday people who love the game of golf. In past years, such celebrities as Justin Timberlake, Matt Lauer, and Michael Jordan have attended the challenge. This year Wayne Gretzky, Mark Wahlberg and New Orleans Saints quarterback and Superbowl MVP Drew Brees will attend. In order to enter, each contestant has to write a 60 word essay explaining why they should be part of the challenge. This year over 40,000 contestants wrote in. Out of that number, 12 semifinalists were chosen.

My job was to photograph all 12 semifinalists individually for a double page layout in April's issue of Golf Digest. Only trouble was that out of the 12 there would only be 5 finalists on the actual layout. Since I could not have all my subjects in one sitting, I had to get creative with my setup for the final layout.

I got lucky and was able to set up studio inside a massive ballroom at Reunion Resort. My lighting setup was basic. 2 soft boxes hung from overhead and a few strip boxes in for fill. I had 5 positions where I ran each semifinalist through. This way I'd end up with 5 exact positions from each of the 12 semifinalists. The trick was locking down my tripod and the lighting setup and making sure nothing moved. This made post production a breeze!

This job was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting and working with the semifinalists. Special thanks to everyone who made this possible.

To read more about the contest and to vote, please visit: Golf Digest

Below are some pictures of the final layout and the setup.

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