Hang 10

Comments and critiques welcomed. Thanks for viewing.

beautiful capture, wonderful focus and great stop action

Acho que voce deveria manter um "crop" mais horizontal.Mesmo assim voce conseguiu capturar o momento certo.Parabens.

Excellent shot, Will. I love the color contrast between the surfer, the wave and the spray. I also think the fact that the surfer is side-lit really adds to the shot, making him "pop" out from the surroundings. Your timing was fantastic as well, as the spray coming off his board adds a lot of drama to the shot. I also really like how turbulent the sea is, especially to the right of the surfer. I'd be tempted to try another version with the cyans toned down, just to make the sea look even darker and more menacing. Fantastic work!

Beautiful work! What i like best is the sharpness, and the gut feeling. I feel like i can feel my stomach going up just looking at this. It looks like he really is just floating there. The spray instead of sky is another interesting dynamic of this picture.

Thanks all for the comments and feedback. Mingo, I appreciate the feedback, but I would have to disagree. I do think that a vertical crop works better than a horizontal crop here. A vertical crop, in my opinion, emphasizes the surfers unnatural position.

Will, Nice shot! I agree with you on the crop. It is fine like it is. When did you take this shot? Where is it? Is this from your trip last year or did you get out here again? Aloha, Chuck

Thanks Chuck. This was near Sunset Beach, I think. It was taken last January. I'll be back this January. Hopefully the waves will be bigger. Any competitons going on in January?

Will, The big three pro contests (Triple Crown) are all in late November thru December at Haleiwa, Sunset and Pipeline. The Pipeline Masters is the biggie and a blast to watch. In January they hold the Pipeline Pro Bodyboarding contest and possibly some other smaller surf contests at Pipe or Sunset. Of course you may get lucky and be there when they hold "The Eddie" big wave contest at Waimea. It only happens when the surf is solid 25' Hawaiian Scale (40 to 50' faces). There is a also a tow-in contest that happens if it gets gigantic. Last year they held it at the point just north of Haleiwa harbor. In any case Pipeline is usually the best place to go to shoot photos because it breaks closest to shore and is the most impressive wave. If the Eddie is being held I recommend packing a lunch and lots of water and getting up to the north shore by first light to shoot Waimea Shorebreak and to beat the traffic which has become insane even on a non-contest day. Good luck!

Thanks Chuck. I was watching a show called The 808 about a group of local guys taht surf. Have you ever seen it or heard of it? I'll have to send you an email a few week before coming out there so I get soe good directions to get to Pipe.

Great shot....I will have to say, if the "Eddie" goes off again, we the public are going to find it VERY hard to view. The last time there were many problems at "JAWS" and the owners of the land have closed it off to the public. They have stated that they will no longer allow ANYONE on their property. You could always ask "Big wave rider" Laird Hamilton if you could use his property for shooting but he has become very protective of his property. I like Hookipa for shooting rippers, it has a great view.....Aloha

Mahalo Marc. Hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere to shoot these big wave riders.