(UPDATE – The video is now up at 1080p – see “Full HD” link on top of the window.)
Creativity in surfing is the opportunity to express oneself on a wave. Surfing is nothing but the physical extension of one’s ability to explore that realm between land and sea. Being free to do it without the constraints of commercial endeavor or competitive goals creates true freedom of expression. Somewhere between the land and the sea Jamie tries the other side, switching his feet around on take off, choosing the opposite stance, then midway, switches back… as if to say I can do “whatever I like.” Jamie embodies the term “free surfer.”
We had a long behind the scenes clip queued up for you today (including the ND filter piece that I promised) but the newsman in me forces me to put this clip out now – for the non-surfing crowd out there: this footswitch by Jamie is something unique to his skill set, and something seldom captured.
The best thing about watching, let alone filming, Jamie – is the privilege of seeing someone do something so beautiful, so difficult, so effortlessly. The last time I saw something like this on such a regular basis was when I photographed Michael Jordan at the United Center in Chicago for his last 3 years on the court.
The best part is that I’ve actually had a chance to eat some poke with Jamie – a local delicacy. Whereas social time with Michael was nothing but a distant dream. After a very trying week – I can’t wait to sit back and spend the next week watching Jamie surf. Hope you all feel the same – this is but a small sampling.
This shot was made with a Canon 500mm f4 – on a RED One at 100 frames per second at 2K using the Wicked Circuits EF Lens Adapter. That’s the equivalent of a 1600mm on a 35mm camera. Big thanks to Mike Isler for the focus pull and spotting.
2008 Ended on a big uptick – we had a wonderful day, full of waves and sun. And we shot more footage today than in the past week combined it seems. We got up at 5:30 a.m. for the 3rd day straight today and my crew shot with me for over 14 hours today – so I’m giving them the night off and holding off on another post with video etc. Fireworks are popping outside and spirits are high. Time to take a little time off, unwind – and enjoy. I hope you all are doing the same. Happy new year everyone – I wish you all the very best for 2009!
To see this video at 1080p go to SmugMug by CLICKING HERE.
“Hurry Up and Wait” – these are words that I and every photographer / filmmaker / surfer – you name it – live by. It was a mad dash to get everything ready for this trip – people flew through winter storms, prototypes were assembled last minute and gear was shipped from all over the country. And then you get here. And no waves.
I knew that this might happen – and that’s why I gave myself close to 3 weeks to pull this off. Nonetheless – it hasn’t made the wait any easier. I can tell you that waiting for weather as a photographer is one of the few truly stressful parts of the job – but when you have a film crew with you – it just gets amplified exponentially as you’re no longer the only person waiting. This isn’t my first rodeo – and I’ve had to wait a long time before (in fact I had to wait over a week to make a single frame the last time I was here on the North Shore to cover the Pipeline Masters two years ago.) My 18 years of experience has taught me to simply let things unfold naturally. Certain things just can’t be helped along… Truth be told: I still can’t “relax” even in Hawaii when I’m “waiting” for an assignment to come together.
The fact that we’ve also faced some tough weather and a power outage hasn’t helped, but stress aside – we’ve been having a good time. We don’t have a single clip of Jamie surfing yet – but it looks like we might just get lucky as a swell is headed our way. For now I hope you enjoy a very quick cut of what we do have – mostly of us waiting. For the waves. And Jamie to explode off of them.
Next I’ll put up a behind the scenes piece/tutorial on how important Neutral Density Filters are with these digital cinema cameras and how they’re absolutely essential if you want to differentiate what you are shooting with your Canon lenses from what you see coming out of standard HD video cameras when shooting in daylight.
