Surf Photographer
As a surf photographer and retired surfer, I believe that once a human being experiences the ride of a wave, it might never stop looking forward to repeat it. For decades, cultures from different parts of the globe have been practicing the sport of surfing. You might find a competitive surfer, a surfer who does it for trend or a surfer who simply grew up in the environment and simply takes part of its cultural lifestyle.
My case is different; I grew up in an isolated area inside a tropical rain forest of the Republic of Panama, Central America. Main sports in that area are soccer, baseball and bullfights. Panama’s surf influence were US citizens that were once here building the Panama Canal and US Military bases. Since Panamanians are a mix of cultures, of which initially where Spaniards, Africans and natives indigenous, there was no sign of surf in our culture. My influence was simply seeing my American neighbor walking around with a surfboard back in the 80's. Panama is full waves and back then Americans were the only ones enjoying the sport until the year 2000 which was the year when all Americans had to leave along with their military bases and surfboards. Dont get me wrong because I don't have anything against Americans or any culture of the world but after they left, there were empty lineups everywhere again… Is this good? no... not for a surf photographer...
Since my family is Panamanian, they did not understand the sport of surfing, did not believe in it and never supported my interest. Perhaps, I decided to become a skateboarder and biker "BMX" in the bushes of the Caribbean coast of Panama. During the 90's I was probably the only skater and biker in my whole city. People saw a kid on a yellow BMX bunny hopping gaps and pulling some flatland tricks. For them it was new and since the "X games" had been marketing the existence of the sport strongly, locals thought I was one of the riders of the X games. They would create a crowd and ask for autographs.
Once I was older, I realized I had the skills to ride a board and jump with a bicycle. Unfortunately, skateboarding and bmx was hurting and I felt that every session had to stop with mayor body pain. I was old enough to drive and go to the beach so decided to get a surfboard. Surfing happened fast for me, the first day I was all ready ripping a wave due to all the experience of skateboarding and bmx. It took 1 year for me to pull my first aerial and as time went by, waves started to get smaller. During my fourth year of being a surfer, my skills were good enough to enjoy getting stand up barrels, doing powerful cutbacks and busting airs. I had world-class surf to my self and friends almost every day of the year. My body was in total shape, my soul was in peace and my brain was as sharp as a razor. When everything mentioned is in place you might feel like the king of the world and think nothing can stop you. To my surprise, a wipe-out from a heavy 10ft + wave broke my back and changed my life in seconds. My body had to be processed and taken to surgery and every since then surfing and any other extreme sport has been out the list of options.
Now what? That was my question... All my life had been revolving around adrenaline sports and now I had to be in bed for a year. Negative thoughts, bad health and sadness came into my life. I had nothing but a surfboard that I could no longer use. No job, no money, no surfing. Since I had no medical insurance and for the first time I truly needed money, my mind started telling me "Fidel, there are other more important things than surfing". Bummed out and looking to put my energy into something, I started developing business ideas thru websites.
My initial project after spinal chord surgery was http://www.PanamaPrivateTours.com , then made http://www.PanamaCruise.com.pa
Five years went by, I got fat and with a strong corporate mind. Created a legal structure to operate a business, got an office and started developing the tangible aspects of the websites, workers, vehicles and legal agreements. Internally I was a mess, not being the ocean, not being healthy and not looking good was killing my happiness. I would wake up with back pain every day.
One day, looking at an old surfing magazine I realized that there were people in the ocean not putting gravity on their body. As a matter of fact, they were pulled against gravity by a wave and now there was a reason to be back in the water. It took no time to get the right equipment and jump in the ocean to take photographs of what I did before "surfing". I had no idea what I was doing, had never taken shots before nor understood photography. My understanding was the ocean, its currents, the sport of surfing and the risks involved. So now I had gotten into it and became the first Panamanian to do water shot photography.
Water-shot surf photographers tend to use 10mm lenses in order to capture space in a short range, which in this case would be the inner area of a wave. The distance to capture a shot like that is approx 3 ft from the lens. In order to get the right distance and capturing the moment when a surfer is performing a move, you need to read currents, get perspectives, measure reference points in main land and make sure the individual approach hits the spot at 3 ft from you. This is almost like a bull fight, a person approaches you on a surfboard moving fast, a wave is sucking you in and you must find the right spot to be as close as you can to the surfer making a move with the right adjustment of speed, aperture in your camera and not getting thrown over the falls into the rocks. It’s a hell of a rush when it’s big!
It’s challenging to read the ocean in a back word perspective to what is projected when you are a surfer riding a wave. You are no longer riding point A to point B but you are in B and A is approaching. The sweet spot might be in between and both Surf Photographer and surfer must meet at the right time. A water shot surf photographer needs strong physical conditions in order to be in the ocean swimming with one arm for hours, holding a 4lb camera and nothing to float on but small fins. It seems like its harder than surfing sometimes as you need to be in the inside section, where the waves are crushing over and over. When it’s big and the wave is closing out you might want to swim out and wait for the right set to kick back into the spot. Photography surf has changed me back into the original happy person I was and hope it keeps bringing more happiness / health into my life. Meeting new people in the ocean, traveling to different oceans to capture great moments, learning about the technical part of a camera, light and editing is just a new challenge every day. Only a water shot surf photographer knows that feeling…
You can learn more about Panama and photography surf at http://www.panamasurfphotos.org
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
