Shimmering Sunrise

Giving a look into this image is the same as taking a look into how I got into surf photography at all. For the longest time I talked about how I never wanted to take surf photos. “I surf all the time, I do not want to take surf photos. I would rather go surf when there is waves and keep my hobbies separate.” I would always tell people. Maybe that was just me coming up for an excuse for not being able to afford an Aquatech camera dome on my surf shop salary lol.

I once came across an advertisement for something called a DicaPac, essentially it’s a waterproof bag for your camera. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I figured $50 couldn’t possibly be the end of the world. When I finally got it, I was ecstatic. I was thinking about all the different ways it could be used, I wanted nothing but to take it into the ocean that moment. So what did I do? I promptly put it directly into a drawer and never used it. I was too afraid, this thing looked like it would turn my camera into a camera’s closest impression of the Titanic. I looked at the bag all the time, but I could never bring myself to take it out.

Fast forward roughly two years, it was just about new camera time for me. For whatever reason, I couldn’t seem to escape all these wave photos coming across my Instagram feed. Clark Little, Ben Thouard, and Chris Burkard to name a few. I decided it was time to give it a chance. After all I would be getting a new camera soon and if this one flooded, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. “Price to pay for creative masterpieces” I thought, standing on the shoreline ready to take a $400 dip into the ocean.

First wave coming through, I go ahead underneath and take the risk. I come up out from under the surf and behold! The most out of focus, terribly composed image you could have ever seen. Regardless, that was not my concern. All I am thinking about while I am underwater is my dry camera, which is exactly what I see when I broke the surface. A perfectly dry camera. Now my excited feelings creep in, this works. All morning I spend chasing the next wave, trying to compose the perfect image. Unbeknown to me, the perfect image was captured when there was a lull between sets, with an amazing sunray shining along the morning sea.

Culling through, that’s searching through and selecting the best photos from a session for you non-photographers, the photos I was imagining my favorite images would be the ones of waves and barrels. When I came across this image above, I knew it was an instant favorite. This was an image that got me started on taking more and more ocean and surf photos. Branching me out of my place of landscapes only, I have been given one more thing to take photos of, and I want to go take the next one right now.

One Last Shot

When driving through the Great Smoky Mountains, you will sometimes see a group of cars stopped on the side of the road. If you ever happen to see that, I’d recommend stopping with them. This time was no different, and the timing could not have been better.

On the last day of my Girlfriend and I’s trip to the Smokies, we went on a hike up to Peregrine Peak. In complete honesty, one of my favorite hikes to date. We hiked the 2.3 miles up to the top in awe the entire time. The trail runs by a creek for most of the hike, then goes through a small cave, comes out to a forested uphill section, and the ridgeline overlooked the trees that began to come into some beautiful fall colors. If you haven’t hiked that part of the Smokies yet, I would highly recommend it the next time you go.

After hiking back down we were tired and had to pack and clean our cabin since we were leaving the next day, so we decided to leave the park a little early. I had wanted to see some wildlife but so far, aside from birds and a few stray ground squirrels, no wildlife has been seen. As we were winding through the fall foliage filled mountain road, we noticed a big group of cars stopped not too far ahead. We pulled off to see what everyone was looking at and, lo and behold, Bernard here was right on the other side of the riverbank.

I was so excited to see a bear, I couldn’t wait to get a photo. I parked my truck and practically sprinted to the side of the road. I was using my Canon 90d with a 55-250mm F/5.6 to take the shot. Even with the 250mm lens, I wasn’t getting far enough in. Bernard was moving along the river looking for food and I had to make my movements along with him. I made the decision to climb down a hill to get even closer. He stopped when I did, and looked in my direction. As he was turning over more rocks, I was snapping as many photos as I could. I took a look at some of the photos that night, and I could not have been more excited to see this one. To make sure it was right I spent at least 2 hours editing, and every moment was worth it.

Coastal Power

Fort Fisher, NC is a very special place. A confederate fort that was build during the civil war to prevent ships from coming near, created a near perfect point break that reeled from the first cove down through federal point, one that we now call The Cove. What once was one of the premiere surf breaks on the east coast is now just a simple beach break that, even on perfect swells, shows only a glimpse of the perfection it held back in its glory days. This day showed that glimpse.

One of my best friends and I made the 45 minute drive down on a day we had been looking for to go down there. Swell direction, wind, and tide (a very important factor) all looked right. Low tide is crucial for The Cove, where the sand is shallow enough to throw a left hand barrel that is about as square as a carboard box. Typically, you’d paddle out at the first or second cove, but the best break this time was right behind the rocks. With the dead low tide beginning to rise, we knew we wouldn’t have very long before the waves started washing into the rocks. We surfed for a few hours, with each wave starting to backwash more and more. Eventually making it next to impossible to surf.

After many waves and a broken surfboard, it was time to be done. We left, changed out of our wetsuits and were about to leave, when we saw a massive wave backwash high over the rocks. Immediately I thought about taking a photo of that backwash. I grabbed my camera and ran on down the beach. As I am standing near the water in my bare feet and pleated trousers (work day), my mind was far more focused on the backwash. I began shooting with my Canon 55-250 F:5.6 to get as much compression as I could. Before I know it, after shooting a wave that came through, I find myself shin deep in saltwater. Learned my lesson to go ahead and take a look of where I am before the waves actually come in! Backing up a few feet, and rolling up my trousers to not get anymore wet than they already were, I see another big splash of backwash coming in.

The wave hit the rocks with so much force I almost wanted to watch without a camera. Remembering that I am in fact a photographer, I got ready to shoot. The wave coming in hit perfectly with the wave going out, resulting in the image you see above. As soon as I saw it on the back of my LCD screen, I knew I wanted this photo to be in black and white. Editing the photo in the black and white, to me, shows the power of the wave so much more. Photos like this get me so excited to take more and more photos. Taking photos like this is an absolute dram of mine, and I would be willing to say that we all have a dream. I believe that dream should scare you. If it doesn’t, you’re not dreaming big enough. Whatever you do, don’t let that dream break. Go do everything you can to live it out. Let this photo be an inspiration for you, it certainly is for me.

The Spirit of Adventure: My Photo Journal Introduction

What is life really about? We look around at all of normal, everyday life and it all goes by extremely mundane and boring. Wake up, go to work, come home, maybe watch some TV, go to bed. Day after day, we repeat the same motions and wonder why we haven’t gotten to the places we want to be. As the saying goes “How you spend your days, is how you spend your life.”

Life is not about getting trapped into worldly things, I am a devoted Christian for those of you that were unaware, yet most of what we do everyday is worldly. For me, life is about becoming the best version of myself, inspiring others to do the same, and most importantly bringing others to know God’s kingdom. Part of being in God’s kingdom is exploring his creation. There is so much of the world to go out and experience and yet we all have the tendency to let it go by. Taking photos is one of the ways that I am able to show how beautiful God’s kingdom really is.

Typically, that will come with a little bit of an adventure along with it. When you spend lots of time in nature doing things like surfing, rock climbing, biking, taking photos, etc. you are bound to come across a couple of stories here and there. I want to write about those stories here. Will anyone read them? Probably not, who reads anymore anyways lol, but that’s beside the point for me. There is so much more to life than it seems. There’s so much to accomplish and this stuff that distracts us everyday doesn’t matter. What matters most is God’s path for your life, the people you have by your side, and doing what you love doing.

I want to be an inspiration to people. Hopefully I can write about a couple things that inspire anyone reading to achieve their biggest goal, or at the very least to get outside every so often. At the very least, don’t just let life happen to you. Take life by the reins, listen to what God tells you, and go on an adventure or 2. I’ll post here periodically about my own adventures, I hope you all enjoy.