Description
LOCATION: Hawaii
STORY: You have to bleed a little bit for your art, and this is perhaps the most painful photograph I’ve ever created! All along the shoreline, there’s signs that say, “Dangerous Shorebreak – Do Not Swim”. And that’s practically a taunt to me! You might as well, say, awwww c’mon, what are ya, chicken?!?! I call this wave photograph Exfoliator, not just because of what that the sand coral & rocks does to my camera’s lens, but also to my face! There are only a handful of spots on the planet where rather than surfbreak (where the wave collapses out at sea a bit, over deeper water), we experience shorebreak (where the wave crashes right on the shore). While surfers only ride the former, if I was to get that “sandsucker” photo, I needed the latter.
It’s about split-second timing; once I see the perfect curl speeding towards me, I sprint into place, and in a ridiculous-looking sideways, superman-style roll, attempt to duck under the tube while hitting the shutter. When I time it correctly, I slide under the wave, and get spat out about 10-15′ behind the break. Buuuuut the other 90% of the time, I get slapped in the face by 20 tons of water moving at 30 miles per hour, and it drags me across the beach by my nostrils for 30 feet. Rinse & repeat. By the time my body calls the quits after a few hours of this beating, I often have bloodied elbows, knees, and head, have had the wind knocked out of me several times, and am ready for that well-deserved mai-tai and antibiotic cream.
For some similar wave curl photographs with the same vibe, check out Tumbler and Window.
For printing, Window is best left at or close to it’s native 3:2 ratio, although it’s been done nicely as 4:3 and a 1:1 square as well. It is available as very large wall art up to 200″ wide. You can purchase this luxury wall art online in our standard sizes, but if you’d like to discuss a custom crop or size, please contact one of our design consultants at the art gallery.