By Susan Hafner
If you look carefully at photographs published in golf magazines and web sites involving the LPGA, Rick Sharp’s name pops up with regularity. He’s the one crouched down and focusing his telephoto lens when the TV camera pans the audience behind Annika as she tees off. His photographs capture both the joy and despair in a golf swing of a tour player, but his original claim to fame involved snapping Nancy Lopez for a cover of Golf for Women magazine.
Via email, Rick explained that he began taking golf images for the Greater Hartford Open in 1984 that continues today to be a PGA men’s tour event. Rick was asked to make a picture book for that event’s first year at the Tournament Players Club in Connecticut. His work was so good that he won the Eckhoff Award from the Golf Writers Association, and in turn he caught the attention of the LPGA.
“A new magazine called Golf for Women called to ask if I would get a shot of Nancy Lopez for their cover. After that, one thing led to another, and I was the main shooter for that publication which led to many other LPGA shoots over the years.”
Sharp learned his trade the old-fashioned way, from his father, who was a ship’s photographer in the Navy in World War II. From working in a darkroom in his home, Sharp worked at a local camera store in high school and took pictures for the high school yearbook and newspaper. “It was a good way to be part of what was going on in high school,” he commented. At Ithaca College during the early 70’s, Sharp performed the same duties, but he also included sports and rock concerts, “a good adrenaline rush there, too.” He majored in finance and economics and after college moved to Hartford, CT, where he did yearbook pictures and eventually became the official photographer for the Hartford Whalers NHL hockey team.
The LPGA continues to be his major focus, though. His favorites to shoot? “Annika…Nancy Lopez…Laura Davies…Cindy Rarick…Kathy Whitworth. They always acknowledge my presence both on and off the course. All the old-timers are in my heart. The new generation is a different breed. I don’t know most of them, but I also don’t cover them as much as I used to.”
Tee Time Magazine asked Rick to comment on the one photograph that he took that stands out for him. “The cover for Golf for Women magazine of Nancy Lopez,” he remarked. “It was my first step into the LPGA relationship.”
Sharp also admires the book of photographs taken by Lopez’ former caddie Dee Darden in 1994, called Inside the Ropes: A Look at the LPGA Tour through the Lens of Photographer Dee Darden. “I’ve met and admired many shooters over the years, but what Dee did with that book will always be in my heart.”
We asked Sharp what he looks for when capturing a moment in women’s golf. Is it action, or intensity, athleticism, struggle, anxiety, beauty? “All of the above in any form,” he said. “It’s the angle and the lens that you choose that can make the moment different from what the other photographers are getting. Especially if you are the ‘official dude’, because you have access that others don’t. I appreciate and respect that access.”
Partner Kay Bagwell has been traveling and shooting with Sharp since 1993, making life on the road a bit easier for both of them. At one point they spent up to 30 weeks a year traveling. Currently they photograph the LPGA Legends Tour, the LPGA golf clinics for women, the Opens and the Solheim Cup, plus a few tour events and charity tournaments.
They have witnessed some comical moments in golf. One involved a long delay at an LPGA event in Portland, Oregon. “On a par-3 hole, player Lori Garbaci ordered a Domino’s pizza delivery to the tee box. It was quite the scene!
Another time, during a shoot sequence for Golf for Women magazine in Sugarland, TX with Kathy Whitworth, I sat on a red ant housing complex. They attacked fiercely, and I had to take off all my clothes in the middle of a fairway to shake them off. Whitworth had to spend a little time looking the other way while I took care of the situation bare-assed. Then we continued the shoot! If you don’t believe it, call Kathy for verification!”
A typical work day isn’t really typical. “Each day is different depending on the event, the day of the week, and the weather. If it’s rainy, I sleep late and catch up on old stuff. Otherwise I’m at the course early, stay with the action until later in the afternoon, edit, go back to the hotel, edit again, eat, and go to bed. Next day it’s the same drill. On Sundays sometimes we shoot all day, edit, eat, go to the airport, and arrive late at the next stop. It’s gotten tough the past few years. Traveling is tough lately- too many hassles.”
Sharp knows the game of golf. He explains that he played two to three times a week ‘back in the film days’. “There’s not much time now in the digital age. There are many more images taken, lots of editing and daily special requests. But when I do get out on the course, I still play to a 15 handicap with my PING G5’s.”
How do you take a good golf picture? Sharp wittily replied, “Hire us to make it for you! Otherwise, grab a good spot and wait. Know the game and plan ahead and know the player you are covering. Know the course and the proper light and time of day for good shadows. Also, when you are doing off-course images and close-ups of players, take the time to look them in the eye and thank them. The regular news guys don’t do that.”
A tall order for the average picture-shooter from behind the ropes. Better leave it to the professionals like Rick Sharp.
To contact Rick Sharp email:
digitalshots@aol.com |
