One of the awesome benefits of surf photography is the opportunity to travel. You get to go to unique corners of the world and experience and see things that are full of wonder. When the boys are resting between sessions, I like to do a little exploring. There may be no better place for this than Latin America. Let me give you an example…
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Photographers in San Diego know that a wonderful secret exists in the southern reaches of the San Diego Bay. With the ocean on your west, there is only a thin strip of road called “The Strand” that separates the ocean from the wetlands, which host an amazing assortment of water birds, from skimmers to osprey. There is one particular feathered friend that dazzles and surprises. Yes, we play host to a wild flamingo. He is a brilliant shade of pink with a wingspan of nearly five feet and has made himself at home in the expansive shallows between the Cays and Imperial Beach. The locals have given him several names, but Pink Floyd, or simply “Floyd” seems to have stuck.
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So the next swell is starting to fill in; the sun is shining; and you want to give surf photography a spin. It sounds simple, but it is anything but! I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen in the water floundering around just struggling in the elements. So before you burden yourself with a camera, take a spin with your hands free. Here’s what you need…
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I was pleased to be invited to the annual San Diego Humane Society “Furball” on October 1 of this year and even more pleased to be asked to create a special piece for their auction. But what could I create that would pay tribute to the mission and the successes of this organization? Well, allow me to share my journey and the story of this image.
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Color Grading is a technique that few outside the world of art and photography really understand, but which viewers will unknowingly appreciate. It is an essential finishing touch to any photograph and has the ability to dramatically affect mood and appearance. So what is it and how is it done?
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Remember those summer days as a kid when you raced down the sand at low tide to the closest jetty to see if there were any tide pools? The most magical things awaited our inquisitive minds. Maybe it was because our heads were barely three feet away from our toes, but tide pooling was an all-encompassing endeavor. Think about it; we were actually encouraged to stick out our little finger and touch things – a wonderful interlude to the persistent instruction of “don’t;” which seemed to play on repeat during my early summers.
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By now, most of you know I love the colors of the ocean, particularly shades of blue. I was recently asked about shooting the ocean in black and white and whether that is worth the effort. I respond with a resounding YES! B&W photography is a powerful tool to creating a desired mood…
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One of the joys of being a photographer is the opportunity to create. I was recently commissioned to create an 11foot image for the conference room of a biotech company in Torrey Pines. The parameters were to create something relevant to the business, but give it a distinctively San Diego vibe. Hmmmm.
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I confess to having a life long affinity for the gangly pelican. Memories of my childhood include watching great flocks of pelicans swooping along the tops of the waves during vacations in Baja and beach days at Huntington Beach. One part prehistoric and the other part grace in motion, these giant birds usher in feelings of effortless freedom and it seems that my gaze is always pulled toward them when they soar by.
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We have all seen dozens of surf shots, ranging from the out-of-focus speck on the horizon to crystal clear action in the massive barrels of Teahupoo. Guess which ones we are drawn to? Of course, its the full-framed action shots with color and clarity. Alas, we can’t always be in Tahiti during a killer swell. Instead, 90% of the time we are shooting at the local break with waves that are typically too small to fill the frame themselves. So what can we do to make those shots enticing?
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There is something special about a surf trip to an exotic locale. It is even more special when your son calls you in the middle of winter and invites you to be the photographer on his surf trip to Panama! When such events occur, I’m all in. Having done a number of surf trips, I have learned a few things about traveling with photo gear. Here are some tips I have gathered along the way.
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You’ve seen the images from Hawaii, California, the Mentawais: close up surf shots looking right down the barrel with the surfer seeming to pop out of the picture. It seems easy, but this type of image may be one of the most complex sport shots to capture. Let’s unfreeze the photograph for a moment and put this all into perspective.
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The color blue has always resonated with me. When I was a little kid, a favorite question was “what is your favorite color?” It has always been Blue. Not a particular shade, just “blue.” As a photographer that spends the majority of the time in and around water, many of my images have blue as the dominate color. Is this coincidence? Is there an attraction to the ocean because of its color? I’m not really sure how to answer this. But ponder it, I do.
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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.
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I get a lot of questions about “Left Wing:” Is this a painting or a photograph; how did you create it; why didn’t you do a right wing” what kind of bird is this; etc”. So here’s the story behind this image:
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