Archives: wave

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.

So what makes a school of mullet swim at a frantic pace and jump out of the water? Well, I might have one answer. It was a beautiful September afternoon at Reef Road in Palm Beach, Florida that saw glassy four foot waves rolling in and a plethora of surfers maneuvering to ride them. The conditions were excellent for water photography and with water housing in hand and fins on feet I swam out to capture some of the action. As the afternoon rolled on I began to notice large black shadows moving underneath the surface of the water, which… Continue reading 

Classic; Soulful; SOUL ARCH! That’s Blair Markham during the epic “Halloween Swell” of 1991 at Wilderness, Puerto Rico. I’ll never forget this swell nor will anyone else who witnessed it. The day before this photograph was taken I was in Palm Beach, Florida when the “Perfect Storm” formed off the northeast United States. Boats were sunk and people died but to surfers it was a time to witness ocean swells of giant proportions and for some a time to test their skills and strength at paddling into and riding seldom seen waves.

surfboard

It took a while to come up with the right material, an image that would fit and figuring out a few printing technical issues but once I did my idea of laminating an original photographic Giclee print came to fruition. The finish product is both beautiful and stunning.

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.

For years I’ve enjoyed putting together slideshows upon returning from overseas travels. My friends and family found them entertaining and it was a fun way of sharing my experiences and photography. Originally the shows were shown on a single Kodak Carousel Projector and later they evolved to where I was using multiple projectors with synchronized sounds for a true multimedia experience. The one constant I always incorporated in my shows was a kick-ass sound track; there might have been a few critical comments about the images but never about the music! Today of course the world has been digitized and… Continue reading