Surf Photographers
Having been shooting surf for quite a while now, at one time being the only person shooting waves and surf at my local break, I've noticed that almost every year now there seems to be yet another surf photographer setting up a tripod at the beach. This type of photography must be a massive draw as there are now at least seven snappers with 'surf photography' type businesses shooting surf, waves and surfers on a swell.
This media explosion is obviously linked to the massive expansion of surfing as a sport generally, and is to be expected, if, from a business point of view, lamented. Also, the advent of digital cameras means people can learn quicker, without the huge cost of slide processing ( I think this is a large part of the increase in numbers - you don't pay for your mistakes)
What's strange though is that, of those seven surf photographers, four of them are living in my road ! What are the chances of that? Plus, I heard a rumour that another eminent snapper was moving in two roads away. If this trend continues, soon there'll be one in every house in the terrace.
Imagine the scene at the beach, every wave everybody has, every turn, every wipeout, shot seven times from seven marginally different angles, at (presumably) seven frames a second.
And all all submitted to the same surf mags.
Is this a localised phenomenon, or is it happening at every beach globally? Is there a street in every surf town where only surf photographers live? Will there soon be more photographers than surfers? Is surf photography in fact, actually becoming more glamorous and cool than surfing itself?
There's enough celebs in London to support an army of stalking flashers, but are there enough surf stars to support this expanding band of Surf Paparazzi ? Without the photographer, there are no stars in the media, and the media needs stars to sell magazines. So perhaps with more photographers, we'll simply create more stars.
Prediction: There will be seven more stars at my local break sometime soon.
Ocean-Image.com
This media explosion is obviously linked to the massive expansion of surfing as a sport generally, and is to be expected, if, from a business point of view, lamented. Also, the advent of digital cameras means people can learn quicker, without the huge cost of slide processing ( I think this is a large part of the increase in numbers - you don't pay for your mistakes)
What's strange though is that, of those seven surf photographers, four of them are living in my road ! What are the chances of that? Plus, I heard a rumour that another eminent snapper was moving in two roads away. If this trend continues, soon there'll be one in every house in the terrace.
Imagine the scene at the beach, every wave everybody has, every turn, every wipeout, shot seven times from seven marginally different angles, at (presumably) seven frames a second.
And all all submitted to the same surf mags.
Is this a localised phenomenon, or is it happening at every beach globally? Is there a street in every surf town where only surf photographers live? Will there soon be more photographers than surfers? Is surf photography in fact, actually becoming more glamorous and cool than surfing itself?
There's enough celebs in London to support an army of stalking flashers, but are there enough surf stars to support this expanding band of Surf Paparazzi ? Without the photographer, there are no stars in the media, and the media needs stars to sell magazines. So perhaps with more photographers, we'll simply create more stars.
Prediction: There will be seven more stars at my local break sometime soon.
Ocean-Image.com
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