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How to Almost Photograph a Surfer
Article by My Wife
Taking surf photos is like swatting a fly in your living room – you see your guy for a second, zoom in, and then he’s gone, blending in with the sun glaring through your bay window. I’ve filmed and photographed my husband on many occasions, sitting for entire sessions with my thumb poised on the red record button often with little to show for it.
To start, it’s hard just LOCATING your subject. Depending on the beach, you might be parallel with your surfer, who gets lost every time a wave wells up. Depending on the time of day, the sun might be blindingly in your way, making everything look like the Utah salt flats. And this is all before we had kids.
Since having kids, I’ve had to pretty much hang up my hat as personal videographer of my hubby. Once kid #1 started crawling for the breaking surf and cramming sand in her face, I had to give my guy the sad news that he’d no longer get playbacks of his prize rides. He was lucky to have any footage, I’d lovingly remind him, and muse passive-aggressively about how many wives sat on an uncomfortable rock for an hour and a half just to give their husbands thirty seconds of such footage. He provided my requested appreciation.
Add two MORE kids to the mix, and he’s lucky I’m even ON the beach, let alone carrying a camera. And these days the camera’s used more on the kids, of course, than on him anyway. Nonetheless, I can share a few tips I‘ve learned about photographing surfers before it all become a distant memory:
- Have your subject wear or carry something that isn’t black or white. Why all wetsuits look exactly the same is a mystery to me. What about metallic yellow? Neon pink? Something that might distinguish your guy from a seal would be handy. And white boards blend right into the whitewash. I was happy when my husband choose more colorful boards, like red or yellow.
- Be willing to sit in one place, staring at one spot, unflinchingly, for the entire surf session. To get any shot at all, you have to devote all your attention to your subject. The minute you relax, distracted by the couple macking on the blanket in front of you or the cool dog doing frisbee tricks, you inevitably miss the best shot of the session. Then you have to face your surfer when he excitedly asks, “Did you get a shot of that left on the inside?” You can see why I had to give up filming my husband once the kids demanded my attention. Also, keep your video camera charged so you can leave it paused for quick recording. And use a digital still camera so you can take and discard lots of pictures.
- If you can’t locate your subject within a couple minutes of searching, don’t even try. Either the sun’s too glaring or you’re too far away to get anything of worth. Spend your valuable time taping at those beaches where you can get fairly close without having to zoom in so much that the shaky footage makes it look like you’re on crack.
- Be sure to convince your guy that the surfer getting the tube is actually him, even if you’re only 50% sure since they all look alike past 100 meters. Honestly, 10% of my filming could have been of anyone of similar build. What am I saying — you’re all of similar build! The surfer physique, I’ve learned, is shockingly similar. You are not husky folks. Most seem of medium build, medium height, medium everything. I rock-climbed very briefly in college, and it seems that surfers, like rock climbers, benefit from not being overly-bulked. Something about their center of gravity. Anyway, not helpful if you’re trying to spot one medium-built guy in a sea of medium-built guys. I’ve embarrassed myself more than once waving goofily to someone heading in that turned out NOT to be my husband. I’ve said to my eldest on more than one occasion, “Here comes Daddy!” until she corrected me, “Um, that’s not actually Daddy, Mommy.”
Here are some pictures I took.
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