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Grant Ellis, Kim Feast, Phil Gallagher
Shane Grace,
Nick Green,
Oscar Hetherington,
Mike Ito,
Darin Miyashiro,
Marcus Paladino,
Ben Thouard,
Nathan Tyack
Portfolio
Light / Dark
Undeterred by Town traffic, Honolulu young gun “Kai Boy” Martin eyes the channel, plugs in coordinates, and calculates gear shifts while hemmed in tight at Ala Moana Bowls. Photograph by Shane Grace.
Harry Bryant, assessing the torque on a 7’1″ quad during Cyclone Gabrielle’s spin through Queensland. “This was probably the biggest and cleanest Harry and I have ever seen our home break,” says photographer Nathan Tyack. “He’s riding a board shaped by Josh Keogh that they’ve been working on together for a long time. It’s very different from the standard craft, but clearly works. Harry put down many turns like this one.”
Kael Walsh, North Point, Western Australia. “Normally, I swim when shooting here,” says photographer Kim Feast. “But I’m always looking for new angles, so I hiked up through the bush to the back of the bay for a pulled-back shot. Kael also seemed to be taking a new approach. He eyed this section from the peak and hit it well before the end bowl. No one really does that at North Point.”
“There’s a lot more to surfing than just getting barreled,” says photographer Oscar Hetherington, “especially in New Zealand, where many waves are inaccessible due to rough terrain and wild weather. Logistically, flying into an isolated beach is a great workaround.”Torren Martyn, among the snags at a fickle Tasmanian point. Photograph by Nick Green.
“I have an infinite love for water,” says photographer Ben Thouard. “Lately, I’ve been attempting to shoot my obsession differently. My experiments with camera settings have yielded a lot of failures and rare successes—but I enjoy it all. This photo is of small air bubbles making their way to the surface. A very simple thing can become hypnotizing when captured with a slow shutter speed.”
Noa Deane, post-rain tint at first light, Australia. “This was a one-and- done kind of session,” says photographer Phil Gallagher. “There weren’t many good waves, and we got out right after Noa wrangled this one.”
Matt Rott, lured into a Wile E. Coyoteesque descent by Waimea’s gravitational pull. “This wave was gigantic,” says photographer Darin Miyashiro. “I can only imagine what Matt was feeling at this moment. It didn’t seem real.”
John John Florence, mid-sear at Rocky Point. Photograph by Grant Ellis.
Bodysliders and spectators during opening day at the South Shore’s perma-blackballed Point Panic. Photograph by Shane Grace.
Silverbacks in the mist, Waimea Bay. Photograph by Mike Ito.“Few can draw lines on their backside at Teahupoo like Eimeo Czermak,” says photographer Ben Thouard. “This wave came in from a more southerly angle, and he took off deep. He handled the first section well, but the West Bowl created another section that seemed impossible to make. He had so much speed, though, that he flew over the foamball—exactly where he is in this frame—and out of the barrel. The speed blur perfectly describes the moment: fast and intense.”
[Feature Image Caption: Cheater-five impressionism with Vancouver Island’s Michael Darling. “I’ve been working with Michael since I started shooting as a pastime,” says photographer Marcus Paladino. “Now that photography is my career, I feel like I can take more risks creatively and branch out from the same surf action with the same Pacific Northwest backdrops over and over. Michael’s willingness to experiment makes him a great subject.” ]
