Biography

The 70’s

What a great decade for me. Music. There was lots of music. Concert after concert. Led Zeppelin, Springsteen, Neil Young, you couldn’t beat this era. I graduated high school and moved from the east coast of Virginia to the North Shore of Hawaii. For me, this move was all about surfing. All I cared about was getting to Hawaii, where the best waves in the world were. I arrived in the middle of the night but in the morning I awoke to see the bluest skies I’d ever seen, palm trees swaying in the wind and water so clear you could see straight to the bottom. It took me all of 5 seconds to decide I would never leave. I surfed a lot those first few years. At least 3 to 4 sessions a day. The best part of being on the North Shore in those early years were the uncrowded conditions. Although it was uncrowded, it was the wild west. Haoles (white guys) had to always look over their shoulders and well, I was a haole. We may have been the majority but it didn’t matter, if you screwed up, you paid for it. Dropping in on a local meant big trouble. Right or wrong, it didn’t matter, you were going to pay. Did people really get beat up? Oh yeah they did. In fact, twice for me in the seventies. Once in a night club and once in the water because a local dropped in on me and I rode behind him. Eventually, I realized I had to work to pay rent so I ended up getting a job as a shoe salesman, then a janitor, then a perishable food selector and finally a construction worker. At the age of 21, I decided to buy a camera with the intentions of becoming a surf photographer. I’d quickly learn that picking up my camera rather than my surfboard was next to impossible. It took a near fatal surf accident for me to follow thru with my plans. It was tough in the beginning because I knew no one. I was intimidated by the other photographers and would usually stick to shooting my friends. Eventually, I started to get noticed by the other surfers as the kid who took pretty good photos. In 1978 I had my first photo published as a quarter page shot in Surfing Magazine. Shortly after, a check for $25.00 showed up in my mail box. My future was decided, I was officially a published and paid surf photographer. It was a crazy and exciting time. Was it worth it? Hell yes! For me the seventies were the best, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. All the incredible waves, the beginning of my life long obsession of taking pictures, and everything was starting to take shape for me.

P.S.- I made my first water housing.

The 80’s

In early 80’s I decided to get serious about my work. In an effort to familiarize myself with other types of photography, I decided to make a short term move to LA. I worked for fashion and product photographers and even started shooting celebrities for an Australian gossip magazine. At some point that transformed into me shooting swimsuit models. It just so happened that during the same time Surfing Magazine was starting to publish a lot of girls in bikinis. They started taking notice of my work and before I knew it nine out of ten times the images Surfing Magazine used were mine. That led to Quiksilver hiring me to shoot their beach fashion campaign. I really think spending this time in L.A. helped develop me into a well rounded photographer and gave me experience that a lot of other surf photographers didn’t have. I believe this helped set me apart from the rest of the crew. In the end, all that really mattered to me was surf photography and I wasn’t getting enough of it. I moved to Australia for a short time and eventually found my way back to Hawaii. There was a lot of travel during this time. Indonesia, Bali, G-land, Australia. I was being paid to travel to a bunch of spots that were just starting to get noticed. It was a real privilege to have seen all those spots when they were uncrowded and still paradise. As far as surfing goes, it was a pretty wild time. As a sport, it was becoming more professional and was all about contests. There were crazy colorful wetsuits, flashy personalities and rave events that seemed to attract huge crowds. Big wave surfing was starting to get some recognition and this decade would mark the start of the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational. This also happened to be that height of my party mode. How could it not be with MTV cranking awesome music from The Police, The Clash, The Cure, Tom Petty, the English Beat 24/7? MTV was the biggest thing ever. We were throwing massive parties and none would top our annual Mai Tai party. Seriously, it was truly the event of the winter. Everyone knew about it. It never slowed me down though. I still managed to get my butt out of bed and to the beach each morning to shoot.

On a side note, by this point, I was using all Canon film cameras and a Century 1000mm manual focus lens. We were swimming out to Pipeline with 36 shots. I had to be selective about what I shot and then I prayed I got it because in those days we had the shot in focus. There was no adjusting focus once I was out there. It was definitely harder but much more rewarding when you nailed the shot. Back then the kings of photography were Jeff Divine, Aaron Chang, Don King and Art Brewer.

Bob Marley, Devo, the Police. You could find me at any one of these concerts. I was also listening to English Beat, Tom Petty and The Clash.

The 90’s

By the 90’s, I was pretty well embedded into the surf scene. I had spent the early 80’s sharpening my photography skills in L.A. and figured out that life does exist outside of the of Hawaii but that the North Shore was home for me. This couldn’t have been a more perfect arrangement. I spent my winters on the North Shore shooting the 7 mile miracle and the summers traveling around the world. The contest scene was no longer looking for locations that attracted the largest crowds but now was all about the biggest and best waves. This is when my career really took off. Although I was still working as a freelance photographer, clothing companies were sending me all over the world to shoot surf and the surf lifestyle. This allowed me to be one of the first photographers to shoot a lot of locations like Tahiti and the Mentawais. Quiksilver and Billabong were sending me to contests all over the world. There were only a few of us photographers that were lucky enough to be sent around the world. I loved this era. There was no social media, no computers, no online articles, it was all about the magazines and getting printed. You traveled to your destination, went out and shot and prayed you got it. There wasn’t a little black screen on the back of your camera to look at. You would go home and get your film developed to see what you have, send shots off to the magazines and then a month later you saw what they decided to run it in all the mags. It was pretty rad and very rewarding. It was like Christmas once a month. This was also the decade I started my life long obsession with shooting underwater surf images. There’s something about capturing a world we aren’t supposed to be in that I really like.

In the early to mid 90’s, life was simple, even magical. It was truly the golden age of surf photography. They also brought along with them family. I had my first child, Jesse and by the end of the decade I would be married to my wonderful wife, Shawna, with my one and only daughter, Te’a, on the way.

Musically all I remember was Pearl Jam and Jeff Buckley.

Turn of the Century – 2000’s

Y2K brought amazing changes in my life. I recently married my wife, Shawna, my third child, Tai, was on the way and I would also start an amazing 15 year run with TransWorld Surf Magazine. In my opinion, TransWorld Surf Magazine was a total game changer for the surf industry. TransWorld Surf employed a cast of characters, including the Cote brothers, with a distinct sense of humor. I was lucky enough to be part of this amazing staff. They sent me everywhere to photograph all that was happening in the world of surf. Can you imagine every great surfing location on the planet? Well, TransWorld sent me there. I just grabbed my gear and a plane ticket was waiting. Through my work with TransWorld, I developed an amazing relationship with Andy Irons. I was blessed to be able to travel with him for much of the years he was world champ. I got to see first hand the Andy vs. Kelly rivalry. It was probably the greatest, most intense battle between surfers I’ll ever see. I was also lucky enough to see how it blossomed into a great friendship between the two.

One of the biggest changes in my career and possibly surf photography was the introduction of digital cameras. The first time I shot digital was on a trip with Andy Irons, CJ Hobgood, Shane Dorian and a young Dane Reynolds. TransWorld Surf sent us to the Mentawais. Not only was it my first trip using digital but it was the first surf trip ever shot entirely with a digital camera. I had one camera, one hard drive and two memory cards. That’s it. TransWorld Surf Magazine used my image on the cover and Billabong ran ads and a billboard of Andy Irons doing an air. The whole surfing world took notice of these photos. Literally, over night, the surfing industry went digital. From that point forward, film for the most part, was dead.

2010 and Beyond

Andy Irons died.

That’s how this decade started. It was abrupt. It was shocking. And it was painful. One day he was here, the next he wasn’t. Not one single person got the chance to say goodbye. It was a massive blow to the whole surfing world. The wind was sucked right out of us. We lost one of the greatest surfers of all time. By this time, I’d really gotten to known him. He was a great friend and will be forever missed.

After his death, it’s almost as if time didn’t move. The surf industry needed something to find it’s pulse again. On August 27, 2011 we got what we needed. It was called “Code Red.” It was the craziest swell of all time at Teahupoo. It was massive and it was terrifying. The world watched Nathan Fletcher ride the craziest wave that was never meant to be ridden. I was there and by a stroke of luck I was on the right boat, at the right time and was able to capture the best angle of his death defying wave. I remember looking at the back of the camera and praying for it to be in focus. I remember not being able to wait to get back to the dock and getting to my computer. I knew this shot might be the single most important shot I’d ever gotten. According to others, it may very well be one of the best surf photos of all time. Time will be the judge of that.

Big surf companies started dropping like flies. A tanking economy helped expose companies that had been for years hanging on by a thread. Companies plagued with poor decision making were unable to stand the test of time. TransWorld Surf was another casualty of the bad economy but not at the hand of bad decisions. The company that owned Surfer and Surfing Magazines acquired the TransWorld brand. Employees of TransWorld Surf were promised we weren’t going anywhere. A month later we were gone. After 15 years at TransWorld, I was without a magazine. It’s taken me a couple years to make peace with it and figure out what my future holds. Things have changed so much in photography and media. I have to admit, I was insulated from the changing world at TransWorld. There are lots of new photographers out there producing great work. What started out with 50 to 100 photographers world wide, now is in the 1000’s. Smartphones with cameras, affordable consumer cameras and GoPros came along and shorebreak photography is everywhere. Facebook and Instagram are now the new media. It’s a major transition and lots of long time photographers are struggling to keep up. Things aren’t what they used to be.

You know what they say, when one door closes another opens. I used to work for one magazine, now I’m working with every major surfing magazine around the world (don’t get me wrong, I miss TransWorld). I’m now shooting large ad campaigns with companies like Guinness Beer, Western Digital, Gap and Athelta. I was asked to do a TedX talk. I’ve been shooting full-time for Volcom and this relationship has been great. They too send me all over the world with their surfers shooting for their catalogs, posters and movies. When I’m not doing that I’m at home capturing the lifestyle and surfing of the North Shore. It’s a pretty good gig.

The surfing industry has for the most part stabilized itself. With the new WSL and young surfers like John John Florence and others, there’s a new excitement in the air. Things are changing faster than ever. It seems technology has no end. With the addition of GoPro’s and drones, there’s new angles and looks coming out daily. Surfing’s future seems bright.

I have spent almost 40 years building up my name as a brand. After all this time, I’m still excited about what I do. Things change and evolve and that keeps me excited. There’s finally a book in the works. The decade is not over and neither am I. I got a few more images up my sleeve before I decide to go surfing forever. Here’s to hoping my best surfing photo is just around the corner.