WS – You are a regular shooter at Jaws and have received prestigious WSL big wave award nominations, what is it like shooting there on a big day?
SL – Exciting doesn’t even begin to explain the rush you get watching Jaws breaking and photographing the world’s best surfers paddling into some of the most epic waves on the planet!
Last year we were incredibly fortunate to be given press passes to the first paddle in contest at Jaws – the Pe’ahi Challenge, which was one of the stops on the WSL Big Wave Tour. Although not the largest we’ve seen at Jaws, the buzz up on the cliff top and the energy down on the water was exhilarating. Sometimes when you’re shooting you don’t actually realise just how big those waves are, but when you look back on the images later and compare the size of the surfer to the wave, it’s jaw-dropping that anyone even dares to paddle into these giants.
WS – What’s been your best / favourite shot to date?
SL – WOW! That’s a hard question to answer! It’s like asking a parent which is their favourite kid! If you don’t mind me replacing the word “favourite” for “popular”, then one of our most popular images on Facebook is one of Robby Naish on a backside hit at Lanes. It was a couple of years ago and everyone else was sailing the Point & Middles at Ho’okipa and Robby headed over to Lanes for a solo session. There are so many awesome windsurfers sailing at Ho’okipa, but it’s still kind of hard not to keep your camera aimed on Naish when he’s out sailing!
WS – Finally have you got a bucket list of shots you want – people or places?
SL – I love to travel and I love to photograph people in their environment so send me off to Asia or Africa or South America and I’ll be destroying the shutter on my camera! If we’re talking surfing related, I’d love to shoot lifestyle images – gritty fly on the wall type shots – something in the vein of Todd Glaser in his Snapshots section on his website www.tglaser.com/snapshots. Maybe Glaser’s secret to getting such natural images & portraits is that he’s greatly respected and trusted, so he’s able to capture moments that not many surf photographers are even privy to. I love that kind of work!
If you want to see more of the Fish Bowl Diaries then check out the links below.
www.facebook.com/fishbowldiaries
www.fishbowldiaries.com
www.amorphiaphotography.com (Their wedding photography website.)
Instagram @amorphia @fishbowldiaries