Wyndham Championship Rain Delays & Rolleiflex 2.8F Photography
Posted by Pat Hathaway | August 7, 2026
The coffee is hot, but the mood in the living room is decidedly damp this Friday afternoon. We are currently sitting through a classic Carolina thunderstorm, watching the weather radar loop endlessly on the television. If you thought Big Boy Dan was stressed about his bets before, you should see him when play is suspended.
The Sedgefield Deluge and Bubble Pressure
If you read my last entry,
Coastal Chrome, Bermuda Grass Dreams, and Tri-X Grain, you know Dan bet his entire remaining bankroll on veteran ball-strikers at the Wyndham Championship. It’s the final stop before the FedExCup playoffs, meaning the guys riding the bubble are playing with sheer desperation.
Unfortunately for Dan, Mother Nature doesn’t care about Donald Ross architecture or his legal-pad math. A massive storm system rolled into Greensboro, North Carolina, flooding the fairways at Sedgefield Country Club and suspending the second round. Dan is currently pacing the floor, terrified that the resulting soft greens are going to turn the weekend into a pure putting contest for the rookies. You can track the official weather delays and live leaderboards over at the
PGA Tour’s official portal, but right now, it’s just a whole lot of standing water and nervous caddies.
Escaping the Radar with the Rolleiflex
After an hour of watching Dan refresh weather apps, I needed an escape. The Central Coast had its own thick, moody fog rolling in, which is my absolute favorite weather for black-and-white photography. Since I had already verified the Leica M4 was functioning perfectly, I decided to pull a completely different beast from the analog safe: the Rolleiflex 2.8F.
If you’ve never shot a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, it completely rewires your brain. There are two lenses stacked on top of each other—one for the viewfinder, one to expose the film. You hold it at waist level and look down into the focusing glass. The image is reversed left-to-right, meaning when you want to pan left, you have to move the camera right. It forces you to slow down and compose with absolute intention. You can read a brilliant retrospective on why these mechanical masterpieces shaped 20th-century portraiture over at
PetaPixel’s analog archives.
The Magic of the 6×6 Square and FP4 Plus
Shooting the Rolleiflex means shooting 120 medium format film, yielding massive 6×6 centimeter square negatives. Composing in a square is a completely different discipline than a standard 35mm rectangle; you have to balance the frame symmetrically. I loaded a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus—a fantastic, fine-grain film stock that thrives in flat, overcast light—and drove out toward the rocky coastline near Point Lobos.
For those looking to understand the technical nuances of fine-grain emulsions in diffuse lighting, the technical data sheets at
Ilford Photo are practically required reading. I spent the afternoon capturing the fog wrapping around the cypress trees. The mechanical leaf shutter of the Rolleiflex is virtually silent, a quiet *snick* that barely disturbs the salt air.
I processed the film this morning, and the tonality is staggering. The soft grays and deep blacks of the coastal fog translated beautifully. I have already digitized the 6×6 frames and pushed them to the
California Views Gallery Hub. Take a look at the square compositions. There is a reason this format has survived for nearly a century.
Comments
BigBoyDan: The rain is going to equalize the field, Pat. If they have to play 36 holes on Sunday, my veterans have the stamina. I just need the groundskeepers to drain those bunkers.
JudgeRoy: The Rolleiflex 2.8F is the pinnacle of optical elegance, Patrick. The square format demands discipline, and your Point Lobos scans reflect a rare moment of patience on your part. Splendid work.
Video Recommendation
If you want to understand the mesmerizing, mechanical beauty of a Twin Lens Reflex camera and why composing upside-down and backward is so addictive, check out this great breakdown of the classic Rolleiflex.
Mastering the Rolleiflex 2.8F Twin Lens Reflex (YouTube)
