A Magical Morning at East Lake Golf Club

June 04, 2015 • Leave a Comment

The 5th Hole, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, GeorgiaGorgeous, early morning light, looking down the hill on the 5th hole, toward the green. East Lake Golf Club, in Atlanta, has been on my Bucket List of courses I’d love to shoot for some time, and this month I had the privilege of crossing it off that list. East Lake’s ad agency, tasked with revamping their web site and other aspects of their marketing communications package, went on a search for a photographer, and Bingo! My name came up, along with two other golf course shooters. When the dust had settled, with the recommendation of the ad agency, I was given the project. Happy camper alert!

A Very Special Place

I appreciate and enjoy all my client golf clubs. But East Lake is something very special. It has a long and storied history and now it's home to the PGA Tour's Tour Championship. What a resumé!

The 9th Hole at dawn, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, GeorgiaA beautiful, early summer morning looking down the 9th fairway, across the lake to the clubhouse at East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia If you have followed my ramblings at all, you know I'm crazy about this work I do. It's a joy to spend my time on great golf courses with my camera gear and in my studio, massaging images into stories that hopefully communicate something of the love I feel for these exceptional landscapes. The East Lake shoot was all that and more.

Established in 1904, it’s the oldest golf course in Atlanta, and it was the home course of Bobby Jones. The original course designer was Tom Bendelow, but his course was redone in 1913 by Donald Ross. There were many years of glory, most of which had to do with Bobby Jones and his successes, and then years of decline as the area around the club deteriorated. In 1994, after East Lake was purchased by a charitable foundation with the intent of restoring the entire community, Rees Jones was engaged to restore the Donald Ross design. And what a masterful job he did.

In case you haven’t noticed, I was fully on board for this project. The project began very nicely, with a good dawn shoot the first day, followed by a decent afternoon session. But on the second morning, a front blew in from the West and the light turned completely magical. The resulting images are some of my best. And overall, I believe the collection is the best I’ve done to date. But you be the judge. You can see a collection of my favorites HERE.

I want to offer a special thanks to Chad Parker and Caroline McGill, at Eastlake, for making me feel so welcome. Golf Course Superintendent, Ralph Kepple, deserves a big thanks for making my job so easy by keeping the course in spectacular condition. To Tom Bigelow, of Bigelow Advertising... I sincerely appreciate your recommending me to the club. And finally, a big thanks to Cody Rogers, Bigelow Advertising’s Art Director, who found me on the internet and brought me to Tom’s attention.

East Lake Golf Club's clubhouse and 17th holeA gorgeous day on a gorgeous golf course

Keywords: dave sansom, east lake, golf, golf course photographer, golf course photography, golf courses, photography, private golf club, sunrise

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A Magical Morning at East Lake Golf Club

A Very Special Place

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