Image by Vincent Laforet

T-5 - Engaging in the next big project
Thursday December 18th 2008, 1:11 am
Filed under: Articles, Gadgets, Jamie O'Brien

Pipeline Masters 2006 ©Vincent Laforet

I’ve been unusually quiet on the blog because I’ve been in pre-production for the past few weeks gearing up for a pretty fantastic project.    I will be filming a short narrative film on one of the world’s top surfers Jamie O’Brien over the next 3 weeks on the North Shore of Hawai’i.   Jamie is an incredible talent who grew up on the Pipeline - one of, if not the surfing mecca, and the final spot for the sport’s Triple Crown competition - the Pipeline Masters.  I had the pleasure of photographing this amazing sporting event  for The New York Times Magazine’s PLAY two years ago - and have been trying to find a way to return to ever since.  When Jamie’s manager contacted me the day after “Reverie” was released on the web asking if I’d be interested in collaborating on a project together - the project was very quickly afoot. 

Jamie is a free surfer who is forward looking and very focused on the future of his sport and helping steer it back to its roots.   He is also a very successful competitive surfer (although that is not his main focus,) and gets to  travel the world as he chases the world’s best waves and is keenely focused on producing awesome imagery of his own - both video and stills.   Jamie is one of the first surfers to have his own production company.  He lives the dream of every surfer, few contests, just surfing and traveling where the waves are best at any given time.

We’re going to work together on narrative film - based on his life on the Pipeline - and possibly throughout the next year or two around the globe.   Jamie lives at Pipeline - literally - he grew up looking directly at Pipeline and his bedroom window literally looks straight at the peak.  His is the closest house to the wave, many people shoot straight from his front yard and balcony as they command a near perfect view of both waves, Pipeline and Backdoor.  So this is in many ways a dream project for everyone involved.  Doesn’t hurt to be away from the East Coast in wintertime of course…

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