surfing

Surfing is a sport with a rich photographic history so when an image taken at the Olympics went viral last week, a couple of established surfing photographers have shared their critical views of it.

The World Sports Photography Awards has unveiled the overall winner of its 2024 photo contest, along with the runner-up and third-place recipients.

Larry Haynes, a beloved and iconic local surf photographer and filmmaker, captured what turned out to be his own final surf last week as after he concluded his session, he collapsed in the parking lot and passed away. He was 62.

A surf photographer has raised concerns over the proliferation of drones at popular surfing spots.

Nikon Australia, in partnership with Surfing Australia, has announced the winners of its 2021 Nikon Surf Photo and Video of the Year Awards. The industry-recognized awards provide a national platform to celebrate the work of local surf photographers and videographers.

My name is Tom Woods and I'm a full-time commercial and surf photographer who has been in the industry for two decades. In this article, I'm going to share 10 tips for taking your surf photography to the next level.

Red Bull TV's video series Chasing the Shot pairs cutting-edge photographers with world-class athletes to show what it takes to capture unparalleled action photography. And for Season One's main episode, they followed teenaged surf photography phenom Leroy Bellet as he set out to capture the surfing photo of a lifetime.

Here's a neat perspective for shooting surfers: filmmaker Chris Rogers mounted a GoPro HERO6 onto surfer Bianca Buitendag's back and then edited the pole rig out during post-processing. You can see the mount and the footage at 2:17 in the 4-minute video above.

Photographer Joey Ready wanted to take his Super 8 film camera into the water to snap some clips of surfers. There aren't any underwater housings designed for his old Canon camera, so he fashioned his own. The video above is what resulted.

16-year-old photographer Leroy Bellet recently turned an idea he had into a series of epic surf photos that landed on the covers of international magazines. He followed behind surfers in giant barrel waves and photographed them in action with a Nikon DSLR and an external flash.

How do go about making photos of big wave surfing even more extreme? Here's one way: add fire to the mix. Surfer Jamie O'Brien recently tackled some of the world's heaviest and dangerous waves while wearing a wetsuit that was set on fire. Photographer Tim McKenna was on hand to capture the stunt.

Photographer Sash Fitzsimmons captured this amazing photograph …

Chris Burkard is a California-based surf photographer who has shot for some of the biggest companies and publications in the world. After years of shooting on popular, sun-soaked beaches and making a living through his "dream job," Burkard began to yearn for beaches that weren't dominated by tourists and the comforts of civilization. So, he began traveling to remote -- and often frigid -- shores around the world for surf photos that are off the beaten path.

Zak Noyle is a surf photographer based out of Oahu, Hawaii who's considered to be one of the best in the business. He became the senior staff photographer of Surfer Magazine when he was just 25 years old, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines (e.g. ESPN, SI, Nat Geo) and advertisements (e.g. Billabong, Chanel).

If you've ever used an underwater housing, you know what it feels like to dunk your several thousand dollar DSLR underwater for the very first time. You know it's safe, you double checked everything, you probably already tested the seals, but the moment of truth still frays your nerves.

Imagine, then, how filmmaker Chris Bryan felt when he put his $50K Phantom Flex, $45K Phantom Miro M-320S, and $140K Phantom 4K Flex inside his own custom-built underwater housings and took them out into the waves for the first time?

If you thought surfing in Texas was absurd, then this little video and accompanying feature will truly blow you away. As part of an original SmugMug Film, Photographer Chris Burkard and professional surfers Patrick Millin, Brett Barley, and Chadd Konig fight through frigid temperatures and rough conditions, all to capture the adventure that is surfing in the Arctic Circle.

Surfing in Texas might sound like a paradox. But, as unusual as it sounds, it's a very real thing as surfer and photographer Kenny Braun shows us with the beautiful collection of images in his photo book Surf Texas.

If you're commissioned to make an ad for a major camera company, might we make a small suggestion? Don't show any cameras. It might seem like a stupid idea on the surface, but when you consider the effectiveness of the Canon ad we shared a couple of weeks ago and this Pentax ad we're sharing today, you might just agree with us.

In the latest installment of the SmugMug Films series, the site takes us behind the scenes with underwater photographer Sarah Lee as she does what she does best: dives under the waves to capture powerful, cinematic photography while being tossed around by the currents.

Adventure Sports Photography often doesn't get a lot of attention in the photography world. While street, portrait, and wedding photography seem to reign supreme, this small genre is usually only appreciated in the respective sports it covers.

Which is really quite sad since it showcases some of the most amazing photographers working today. Not only are they able to compose and capture stunning shots, but they often do so in the worst conditions imaginable.

San Francisco resident Ryan Tatar is passionate about two things when he's not sitting at his desk at a Silicon Valley tech company: surfing and photography... and usually a combination of the two. He has attracted a good deal of attention in both worlds with his lo-fi photographs of surfers, captured with old analog cameras and expired and/or cross-processed films.

In the short video above, Tatar talks about his love for analog photography and introduces us to what he does.

If you've ever flipped through a surf magazine and wondered how some of those incredible barrel riding pictures were taken, then this two part Momentum documentary on surf photographer Zak Noyle will be particularly interesting to you.

When you think of underwater photography the first thing that comes to mind is typically colorful fish in deep waters, and a man decked out in scuba gear. That's nothing like the kind of work Noyle does for a living. His kind of photography involves swimming in, under and around massive waves with only a helmet, wetsuit and flippers to help him as he hunts down that perfect shot.

Here's a neat idea for a photo shoot: tarp surfing. This involves faking the look of surfing photographs using a giant blue tarp and a skateboarder riding across it. Have someone pull the tarp over the skateboarder and photograph him riding through the tube.

Italian photographer Alberto Seveso has a wonderful series of surfing photographs titled "Ink Riders" shot using blue ink, water, and a LEGO figurine. It's an incredibly creative twist on the popular "ink in water" project.