Surf Photography

I get asked sometimes, “What is Surf Photography?” when returning from the islands and attending compulsory first world formalities and the occasional awkward wedding. 

More often than not, I reply whilst holding a tiny piece of stale bread known as a ‘canape’ after discussing their job as an auditor in the IRS for 30 minutes. “Essentially, surf photography is of waves in the ocean and sometimes surfers riding those waves”.    

He then proceeded to ask, “why surf photography?” and I answered while laughing and pointing around at the $1500 crystal chandeliers. “It’s something I like doing to get away from all this shit.” 

Then in that exact moment, I noticed we all at some point get attracted to the sparkly chandeliers and bright lights of consumerism. Over the last year I’d spent most of my time looking for the greatest camera equipment or best lens. 

I should of been spending it on travelling to more surf locations and using whatever camera equipment I had.

Grainy Drainers    

This shot pays homage to the roots of surf photography. The days when it wasn’t about dynamic range, sharpness or megapixels. It was just about scoring perfect surf and being somewhere special during the right moment. Black and white, grainy as hell and raw.

Photo Prints Sumatra

Chasing the perfect image for photo prints of Sumatra. Travelling through villages, mountains, rice fields and more. As a result, the journey was always presenting new views and perspectives of these different terrains. 

Sometimes, the entire journey and rush to chase a swell can be expressed in one photo. An image that shows movement, culture, landscape and its people.

After flying 3 hours from Bali. Travelling to Krui took 5-6 hours from Bandar Lampung airport.   During the ride you pass through lots of jungle and villages with very little infrastructure.   

The locals are mostly builders, fishermen or farmers, surviving within small self-sufficient communities.

This shot was taken from the car on the way to Ujung Bocur. It shows the simple construction of the rice farmers hut and the motion of the palm trees as we zipped past in the car en route to the surf camp. 

The Surf 

Krui had awesome surf. From Ujung Bocur to Krui left and right, the peak and Honeysmacks. It was all great quality. 

The local surf photographer ‘Nana Gapero’ is the guy you want to photograph your surfing. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He also had whatsapp (a messaging app) so you could ask him where he’d be in the morning for photos. 

The Locals are very friendly. Our host Viul from Ujung Bocur Bungalows. On flat days he arranged a river cruise through the Sumatran jungle. During this cruise, we sighted everything from anacondas to rare monkeys and lizards. 

The Photo Print

‘The Journey’ is the first of a few new photo prints of Sumatra I’ll be releasing over the coming weeks. It’s also one of the first times experimenting with hand held shots from a car at 1/20th of a second. I hope you enjoy the fine details and movement in this print as much as I enjoyed taking it.

The Vision – Photo Print of Sumatran Palms

Capturing an aerial image of dense palm tree forest was always a shot I wanted, But I’d never seen that many anywhere before. 

With thousands of palms across the land, I finally got to include the vision of this in my ‘Photo Prints Sumatra’ collection. 

A lot of first world countries have products that come from palms. Some of those products are oil, wood, sugar and coconut water. The palm tree is one of the few trees that provides this many forms of sustenance. 

Often, these products are grown and made in the tropical climates of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. They are then shipped off to Australia, Japan, United States and United Kingdom to be sold at a high price.

The creation of coconut sugar is actually something we witnessed during the making of video episode ‘Lepas’ where Pato, Gringo and I traveled to Java.

The Photo Print

It was a sunny afternoon, we had just finished surfing and photographing a local break named Way Jambu.

As a result, I was exhausted and lay down in the shadow of a palm tree along the beaches edge. When I looked up, I realized my opportunity for an aerial palm tree photo print was now. Quickly setting up the drone while the light was still good, I flew around looking for the view you see here. 

Perfect, aged palm trees. A visual of tropical paradise and a reminder of the sustenance these beautiful trees provide for the world.

Surf Photography 

Chasing the perfect image for a photo print in surf photography will take you through villages, mountains, open plains of rice fields and oceans. As a result, the Journey is always presenting new opportunities for aerial surf photo perspectives.

After completing the 5 hour crossing we stopped in to a bay for the afternoon, the lighting was perfect, highlighting the veins of the reef as the outgoing tide slowed the swell lines. As a result, I was able to get a straight down glare and line free shot of the veins.

Travelling through to the destination involved a flight from Denpasar to Jakarta then a flight to Nias, a 2 hour car ride to port and a 5hr crossing over to Banyaks. Well worth it for the surf and visuals.