The older I get

the better I was:

In younger days,

I loved the oceans.

In older days,

I fear the water.

Scroll,

from my passion

to my fears.

This underwater shot I took in my dad’s pool. My brother posed on a windsurfboard, its sail fixed to the landing.

Our garden hose created the fake turbulence I envisioned. This phony ‘action’ photo won first prize in an international contest in Paris and let me stumble into advertising >

Swimming out at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, I shot the sequences below. Surfed first time in 1961, Pipeline is a shallow reef break, dangerous even for pro surfers. Paradoxically, this very reef  and the channel make Pipeline relatively safe for the photographer, swimming in and under the barrels to photograph this famous surf spot.

In contrast to Pipeline, the big waves below are easier on the rider, but more taxing on the water photographer: Below on the left, a surfer far out at Sunset on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. In the middle, body surfers scrambling to safety thru the shore break at Sandy’s Beach on Oahu’s South shore. On the right, a windsurfer crossing a breaker off Guadeloupe in the French Caribbeans.

To split the view below and above the waterline was challenging. On most attempts, I failed miserably with my ridiculous, homemade equipment. Rarely, I got lucky. Below, in a break during an advertising assignment. It was off Fuerteventura on the Canary Islands.

Wrong exposure and water drops on the lens ruin most shots for surf photographers. Patience, treading water and a little secret kept (wipe your lens with your spit or Kodak lens clearner) occasionally were rewarding (see more >)

After close encounters with the fin of a windsurfing world champion in the Atlantic Ocean, another incident with an outboard motor off Kenya in the Indian Ocean and finally with drowning in the Pacific Ocean at home in Laguna Beach, California, I’m staying away from all waters other than our shower at home. Sadly, fear has separated me from the element and my former passion (see also the Wedge >).