Archives: Waves
It was not an easy day. It was a long, at times cold, other time scary and constantly challenging day. Furthermore there was no reason to put myself through this ordeal. After all I was skipping out on my responsibilities of work, you know the kind that puts food on one’s table and furthers a career. Instead I was working on self-indulging my physical and mental senses, not to mention copping an adrenaline rush. The payoff? A day of rejuvenation, of feeling alive, and maybe a bit of creative reward. The alarm sounded at 6 a.m. A check of the… Continue reading
Like most who have witness the effortless gliding of pelicans through and over the trough of waves, I am spellbound by the beauty and grace of their formation flight. I have never made a conscious effort of photographing this spectacle of nature though I have captured numerous images of these birds when by happenstance a camera is in hand. However, one thing I’ve done only once or twice in my career is photograph them from a water vantage point of view. Seeing them as a surfer would and photographing them as such has always been a goal of mine. Of… Continue reading
The 15 Surfboards/15 Shapers project recently took me to Hawaii where two more surfboards, #s 11 & 12, were added to the collection. Knowing it should take close to three weeks to complete the boards and that there is idle time while resin cures during the glassing stage, I made plans to shoot personal work during those moments. My shot list included water photography at two famous surf breaks on the North Shore of Oahu, Pipeline and Sunset Beach. It would not be the first time that I swam and photographed at either spot, however I wanted to do it… Continue reading
Pipeline Perfection. The perfect wave, the perfect position and the perfect day, it all adds up to the ultimate surfing experience: Getting barreled at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The fortunate surfer is Takayuki Wakita from Japan. At this moment he is experiencing an incredible rush of adrenalin of which very few surfers, let alone non-surfers, have ever experienced. Lives of surfers have been claimed by the five foot reef that lies underneath Takayuki making this ride and all others at Pipeline a truly death defying act. Athletes are judged on levels of performance. In the case… Continue reading
One view of two distinct worlds; one above water and the other below the water. In one there is a lady paddling a surfboard and in the other there is a second lady casually swimming underneath the first. Both women are stylish in their posture, confident in their concentration and each one effortlessly propels herself through the water.
Here are a series of photographs that I made on two consecutive cold winter days in South Florida. The weather was unusually cold for these parts with north west winds and clear atmospheric conditions. Furthermore short period swells were constantly coming on-shore. The effect of all this was crystal clear water, small waves and off-shore winds that smoothed the surface of the ocean. The waves where beautiful but lacked energy and were too small to photograph in their entirety. However the conditions and light were almost perfect and there was something I needed to focus the camera on.