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| copyright Robb McKindles2014 |
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| copyright McKindles Photography 2014 |
What do you do when you have an opportunity to combine the things you love and make a career out of it? Well, you thank God! That's what I did while standing on the 10th tee at Jack Nicklaus's Muirfield Village Course this past week. Combining my love for golf, God and photography landed me in Dublin Ohio doing something I never imagined I'd be doing when I started my photography business: shooting a PGA tournament. One of the best PGA tournaments! 15 minutes after the first press of my shutter button I stopped walking, smiled and said to myself "This is Crazy!".
I have been extremely blessed in my life in many ways. Not everyone gets to say "I love what I do", and since retiring from show business, I'm blessed to be in the position to once again say "I love what I do". It was pretty clear at a very young age that I wanted to sing and dance and act. I was blessed to have the opportunities to perform around the world and on Broadway, the golfer's PGA. That doesn't happen to everyone and I'm grateful to be able to say I was so fortunate. Was there more that I wished I'd accomplished as an actor? Of course. Can I look back and be content? Sure. You can do that when you understand or believe you know what your purpose in life is. The stages in life are all platforms to prepare you for the next one. See it that way, and contentment comes easy.
So here I am several years later, again getting to use the gifts God has given me to have a career in something else I love. Photography. And along the way, more platforms to prepare for the next. McKindles Photography continues to gain momentum out of my love for what I can do with a camera and how I can hopefully improve someones business, artistically freeze a special place in time like a wedding, or creatively produce a memory for a high school senior that tells a great story. I had to learn how to tell these stories, and learn how to work that fancy camera, learn how to see light, learn how to compose and image in order to prepare me for what was next.
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| copyright McKindles Photography 2014 |
For the past year, we've worked hard at making this all happen. Dann (the creator of this idea) had drowned his brain in learning everything there is to know about creating and publishing a magazine. There is so much that goes in to creating something like this and it's been so incredible to be a part of this creation process.
Is it only for Christians? What's the difference between The Mulligan Magazine and any other? Is it only for Christians? These are a few of the questions we're asked, and let me answer these questions in one answer: No. The magazine isn't exclusive to people that call themselves Christians. It is a magazine for golfers. There will be some Christian content, but it's not the Bible. I can't tell you all of the creative ideas that we're working on that will differentiate and hopefully fresh and new to golf magazines, but I can tell you that you'll be able to open this magazine and see ads or content that won't make you blush or see adds that will have you saying "I'll tell you when you get older" to your children. But like I said, I can't share all of our creative secrets... you'll just have to subscribe to see!
After applying for our media credentials last year, we were finally ready to hit the road and get our feet wet at an actual tournament. We needed to see and be seen and of course, we needed images. I thought we'd try a Web.com tour event or something lower profile. Nope. We jumped in by requesting access to the tournament created by one of the greatest names (if not the name, depending on your p.o.v Arnie fans) in golf ever: Jack Nicklaus. This is The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village! This is one of the most respected events on tour that isn't a major!
In for a penny, in for a pound. -P.T. Barnum
What an incredible couple of days! Not only did I get to shoot this event, but I had a sort of "validation" moment I'd like to share! (If you don't know, the public is not allowed to bring cameras into a tour event. Only media credentialed photographers are allowed.)
While standing atop a hill overlooking the 8th tee, a par 3, I got myself in position for a shot that was inspired by an image I remembered of Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach. I wanted to give the viewer a sense of what it was like to be surrounded by the gallery as a professional golfer on this beautiful hole. As I checked my settings, another photographer had come up the hill and stopped a few feet away from me. He looked around, looked at me and said "Good idea" and smiled. He dropped some of his gear and switched lenses to the same lens I had on the camera I had in hand. We waited for our golfers (Rory McIlroy and Jason Day) to tee off together. We chatted about the weather, prepared for the shot, took the shot. I introduced myself and he shook my hand reciprocating. We both gathered our gear and he went off. I waited as I was going to take a picture of the Veterans that volunteer every year for this event. As I got ready for the next shot I wanted, I sort of noticed Scott, my new best photographer friend on the PGA Tour walking through the tee box on his way to wherever his next shot would be. As I was looking at my camera, I heard my name called.
"Robb"
It was my new best photographer friend Scott. He had gone over to the tee box and grabbed water from the players only cooler. I'm still not sure which part of this story was my favorite: The acknowledgement that I picked the best spot for this shot or the gesture of getting me a bottle of water.
Either way, Scott... thank you for both.
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| copyright McKindles Photography 2014 |
2 comments:
Oh my gosh, this is seriously awesome-sauce.
Blessed to be doing what you love and love what you do.And... Be on the course playing golf.
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