Millions of Americans spend a few hours each week at their local golf course. But, unlike John Johnson (BA '75), they carry golf clubs, not camera equipment. For the past 10 years, the Seattle-based Johnson has been one of this country's premiere golf course photographers. His photos are found on the covers of national magazines, on inspirational posters, in calendars, on mouse pads and pens an marketing brochures all over the world.

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Johnson transferred to Eastern in 1972 from Mt. Hood Community College on a wrestling scholarship. He majored in speech pathology with a minor in psychology. He also was a photographer for the Easterner and worked some photography jobs while attending Eastern.

"I shot a lot of film at Expo '74 in Spokane, so that provided good experience."

After graduating in 1975, he taught in special education for 15 years and coached wrestling in the Port Townsend area. At one time, he ran four wrestling camps and was into the sport in a big way. In the late '80's he even took a wrestling team to compete in mainland China, the first such team to go there. Throughout this period, his love for photography continued to grow, and he even started a photography curriculum in Port Townsend schools.

It was in 1988 that Johnson took up golf.

"And like all new golfers," he recalls, "I had to go all out, and that included subscribing to a golfing magazine. That exposed me to all the photographs of golf courses, and I remember telling some friends of mine that I could do better. Naturally, they said, 'so let's see you do it,' and that's how I got started."

Johnson admits that his first attempts were not that great, and that taking pictures of golf courses wasn't as easy as it looked. But as he continued to work at it, he grew better at capturing the beauty of dew-covered greens at dawn. Then, a friend who worked for Ghirardelli Chocolate asked John to accompany him to a corporate tournament at Pebble Beach. He was invited specifically to take photos, but would also play with the group.

The Pebble Beach management was reluctant at first to allow a photographer on the course, which is rarely photographed. But when they found out he was with the large Ghirardelli group, the rules were relaxed. As a result of that shoot on what he calls "a prefect day," Johnson's photos became part of a year-long Pebble Beach ad campaign. Soon he got a call from the U.S. Golf Association with a request to use the Pebble Beach photos for the cover of a calendar.

When other jobs started coming his way, he retired as a teacher and decided to pursue golf course photography full time. It was definitely a sound decision on his part; to date, he has shot well over 200 golf courses in nearly every U.S. state and in countries including Mexico, Canada, Scotland and the Bahamas.

How challenging is golf course photography?

"Very," says Johnson. "The weather plays a huge role, obviously. And lighting conditions can either make or break a good shot."

Johnson usually walks a course and takes notes and sample shots before going back to do the actual shoot. He also talks to everyone from course owners to pros to casual players to caddies.

"When I get their impressions about the course, I then have a better affinity for it and I can pay attention to certain holes based on their comments."

Courses he shoots range from wide open country to heavily wooded surroundings, calling for a wide variety of lenses and filters. Often, work in the lab or on the computer screen is necessary to correct temporary defects in a course.

"We can fill in divots, remove remporary objects that detract from the view, even create greens where there are none- as in the case of a new course that needs brochure materials but it still under construction."

Although unpredictable factors such as course conditions, weather and lighting will always be a possibility, there are some things Johnson can count on. Mornings and late afternoons, for example, will always be the best time to shoot a golf course. And on cool mornings, there will generally be steam rising off ponds.

"And summer in the Southeast will never be a good time for photography," says Johnson with a grin. "The skies are always hazy and never blue."

One of the first things a person notices after looking over several dozen of the more than 125,000 photographic images he has on file, is that very few of them have people in them. And there's a very good reason for this, Johnson says.

"Most golfers don't want to be stuck behind other golfers when they're playing. So if I show a lot of golfers in a photo and that photo is in a brochure promoting a golf course, it's like the golf course telling potential players: 'Come to our course and wait in line behind these people!' That's not the message most courses want to leave with their customers."

Then there's the matter of age, he says.

"If you show older golfers in your photos, younger ones will think the course isn't for them, and vice versa," he explains. "Unless you're shooting a tournament or focusing in on a professional golfer, people are generally more of a distraction in photos of golf courses."

Shooting golf photos is just one aspect of what Johnson Design PhotoGraphics does. Producing brochures and calendars for golf course owners, designers and collateral industries are a mainstay for the eight-year old company. Another big part of the firm's business is creating CD-Rom screen savers for a variety of clients. Increasingly, the firm has been branching into interactive computer technology.

"The market is going digital," says Johnson, "so we'll be moving increasingly in that direction ourselves in the coming years. Interactive CDs and web site design will continue to keep us busy, but there will always be print materials too."

That means more brochures for golfers to drool over, more posters to adorn their walls, and more calendars to note the approach of golfing season each spring. And more bust years ahead for Johnson and his talented crew.