As a photographer who has spent thousands of hours in the ocean, I most relish the time spent in the barrel when, amongst the chaos and churning, there is that idyllic moment when everything lines up just so. The inside of a wave as it curves up and launches over your head becomes smooth, translucent and flowing. The texture here is like glass, even if the rest of the ocean is churning in a wind-swept frenzy. Here, in the barrel, gravity and movement reshape and recolor your environment. It is often just a fleeting moment, but a moment in time so perfect, so special, that time slows just enough for nature to imprint this vista on your soul.

Some days, I will forego the camera and enter the water with just my fins. I will dive under the whitewater and stroke out just in front of where the incoming waves start to peak. I like to position myself so the wave crests over my head and I can look into the opening. Sometimes it is a window to the other side; sometimes its a ball of foam spitting back at me. Then I wait for the moment, never knowing before hand what that moment may be. Sometimes its the size of the wave; sometimes its the angle of the wave. When the moment comes, one just knows. It is time to kick hard and launch down the face of the wave. If you ever wonder about the feeling, just watch a pod of dolphins surfing in the waves and you’ll understand.

When the sun is just right, however, my camera will be in hand. Again, it is all about positioning. The waves, of course, don’t always behave and sometimes you get hit on the head by a set. Sometimes you get sucked up and over the falls like a piece of seaweed, thrown down into the sandy, churning water, upside down and tossed every which way. Yet, there are times when you have a modicum of control and can set your camera straight, avoid the water drops on your lens cover and shoot straight into the barrel. It is then that you see the rays of sun shining through the lip of the wave, turning the deep blues to white glass. It is then that you know you are lucky: lucky to be alive; lucky to be in the ocean; lucky to have captured “the shot.”

“Big Blue” is, to me, the expression of all that is wonderful about the ocean. I took this image on a cold winter morning when no one else was in the water. The sun was low and the water was super clear. The result may look tropical, but it was taken just blocks from my home in Coronado, CA. Still, the color was astounding; something I more often find when shooting a reef break in Hawaii. Even though it wasn’t until several hours later that I uploaded this image into Lightroom, I knew I had the shot in the same way that one knows to go when surfing. Big Blue is a favorite for those in the know. You can view it in my gallery here.