The Westward Tilt

A transplanted New Yorker’s love affair with California.
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You know where you stand with Seth de Roulet. And if for some reason you don’t, just ask him. “I’ve never been accused of having a brown nose,” says the 34-year-old Santa Barbara-based photographer. “I tell the truth and talk shit. That’s just what I do. I guess you could say it’s who I am.” 

Quick-witted, blunt, and surprisingly guileless, de Roulet has been a visible character in the Santa Barbara surf scene since he first showed up in the shadow of Point Conception more than 15 years ago. He was born and raised eight miles east of New York City on the markedly more beachie Long Island. His splash landing in SB’s surf tribe was made all the more impressive considering that he arrived as a bona fide kook. He had surfed all but once and, in his own words, “absolutely hated it.” 

Hurricane Marie. I shoot this wave a lot, but usually from the water. This day, I saw that the wind was about to come up fast, so I decided to shoot from land to give myself more time. I hung back to capture the breadth of the swell event. The night before, it was almost flat—a typical summer day in California. This morning, everywhere was firing.
Travers Adler, Rincon. Travers surfs to his own groove. In a crowd of hundreds of people, a lot of whom are great surfers, you always know when he is on a wave.
Austin Smith-Ford. Of all the days I’ve shot surf photographs in California, this was in the top five—four friends trading tubes at a mysto sandbar that’s usually a closeout, from sunrise to sunset. When the tide dropped later in the afternoon, it was twice as good.

Clearly his pilgrimage was not about Rincon. Instead, with family roots running deep in the area, he came for an education at the famous (and now defunct) Brooks Institute of Photography. It was only a matter of time, however, before a buddy dragged him down for his maiden session at the Bounce in Ventura. Tipping the scales at 220 pounds, his first session on a 5’10” Channel Islands Flyer was no command performance. “I never even got to my feet,” recalls the regular-footed lensman. 

Undeterred, he bought a longboard and set to figuring things out. Flash forward a dozen years and you’ll find a highly skilled and committed surfer. A first place finish in his division at the Malibu Boardriders Club’s annual Call to the Wall contest, a serious event that requires legitimate surf chops, is testament to how far he’s come, and how fast. 

Ascending surfing’s learning curve with such relative expediency is no easy feat, and it offers a key insight into the photographer, his background, and his craft. What’s more remarkable is that he did it with a camera in hand nearly every step of the way. He began considering surf photography during that first session at the Bounce, and started shooting from the beach the very same week. “Three months later,” he says, “I got my first water housing and that was it. I was all in. There’s nothing that compares to shooting from the ocean. Nothing.” 

Lauran Yater. As a surf culture buff, just being in the Yater factory meant a lot to me.
California surfing has it all—family affairs at the well-known spots, violent big waves, and random sandbars that can pop up for a week or a few months and then disappear for years.

With water photography, the young de Roulet had found an ideal convergence of his favorite interests: art and being on the front lines of action. While surfing wasn’t part of his childhood in the way skateboarding (he can ollie a trash can) or snowboarding (he likes 60-foot kickers) were, he was prepped by a background in competitive swimming. He also doubled-down on photography early in life, having been gifted his first camera at the age of 4. 

Photographing the late 1990s NYC skate scene, a gritty and largely underground world, added the final component he needed. “Skateboarding was perfect,” he says. “It gave me a great background and comfort level with close quarters, unpredictable action, and risk.” When you consider some of his tight-angled images, which convey an urgent and intimate sort of energy, it becomes hard to argue with this approach. The judges of the highly competitive Follow the Light Photography Award agreed, and gave him a $5,000 grant for first prize in 2015.  

Ultimately, however, the most impressive aspect of his work is the California surf-scape that we see through de Roulet’s lens. It is a diverse and emotive view, perhaps as holistic and real as any in the field. Dreamy, dance-like moments on small waves and big boards give way to arresting, technical aerials and powerful, gouging turns. The juxtaposition is dramatic and distinctly Californian—glide versus thrash. 

The subject in uniform (above), and in office (below).Photo by Ryan Craig.
Kealii Mamala, Maverick’s. The big thing you feel when you’re out in the water at Maverick’s is just how much energy is pushing through—how fast the water moves, how much every wave squares up on the bowl, and just how raw and intense the whole thing is. Of all the big waves I’ve shot around the world, it’s as perfect as any, but it’s by far the least welcoming.

The duality does not end there. The waves vary as much as the men and women who ride them in his photography. Soft perfection at 2-foot Rincon resonates just as loudly as ferocious and deadly Maverick’s. His lineup shots are pulled back and bathed in a light deeply authentic to place—yet the views also come across as fresh and unique to the moment.

Avatars of the underground, like Travers Adler, Sean Tully, Oliver Parker, and Darshan Gooch, are just as likely to catch his eye as celebrated talents like Dane Reynolds, the Guadaskas and Coffin brothers, and Bobby Martinez. It is with the latter, a polarizing and reluctant star in the surf universe, with whom de Roulet has most often struck gold. “We have a really good weave,” he says of their relationship, which spans nearly eight years of regular collaborations and has yielded multiple cover shots. “Our wives are close and we’re both reclusive family guys. It works well.” 

Bobby Martinez is probably the best 6-foot-and-under tube rider in the world. I’ve never seen another surfer who can make as many perfect, micro adjustments in the barrel, and create and scrub speed so easily. He never settles for anything less than good surf. If he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, he goes home.
Dane Reynolds, inside C Street. This isn’t really an “air wave,” but he can do anything, obviously. I think anyone who is surfing in their home area is going to be comfortable and relaxed. Dane is a magician. He can blow your mind at any moment.
Yadin Nicol has the backwash takeoffs at Sandspit mastered.

It is not hard to imagine that the two have bonded over their shared commitment to living a no bullshit life. Married with two small children, de Roulet is currently at the tail end of a year of full-family, international travel. His oldest will start kindergarten in the fall and de Roulet is looking forward to being home in Santa Barbara. 

“I love the variety. I thrive off of it,” says the photographer of his adopted home, and then adds one of his trademark truth-bombs. “I mean, you better at least be open to variety in Santa Barbara. It’s waist high or smaller 280 days a year.” 

Darshan Gooch, on a definitive California point break day. Sun setting behind the points, the evening glass…since the 60s, that has been the California ideal. 
Oliver Parker, switch-foot. His cross stepping is like a teetering train on the verge of coming off the rails. Sometimes he crashes, sometimes he hangs on—and that’s when the amazing happens.
Torrey Meister, soul-arcing in the chocolate. He’s one of the hardest-charging surfers I’ve seen.
This spot faces due south, picking up unbelievable light. I used the morning glare to help my exposure exploit the highlights and shadows.

[Feature image: Kai Lenny, Maverick’s. I always try to sit over on the left, as long as the swell is the right direction and not too big. Otherwise it doesn’t feel safe. You can definitely get caught over there. I prefer the lighting and action from this angle, even though I might miss a lot of what happens. I’d rather get one A-grade photo than 50 B-grade ones.]

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