I love the southern hemisphere.  Warm water, the smell of salt on your skin when you get out of the warm tropical water that seems to melt as it rolls off your skin.  Recently I was invited to capture a sweet surfing couple who live and got married just north of Sydney in a little beach town called Dee Why.  I had been there in 2004, and its a very beautiful place.

Back up a few years, and when I met Tara, who is a sponsored surfer with Roxy and I was shooting her out in the north shore of Oahu with my good buddy Jim Russi.  This was in 2003.  Shortly thereafter I took a trip out there and did a surf trip with the whole crew and that blew my mind. So 6 years later when she called and asked me to capture the wedding, I was honored!  Soon thereafter,  I met Dave, a working professional, and what a legend he is. A true gentleman and a surfer himself.  We all fit together real swell.  We had a great time surfing together, getting out during the dawn morning surf sessions watching the sun hit the top of the water, and change the water from dark blue, to a bright aqua.  If anyone wants to do another shoot like this locally here in Cali, let me know. I’m all about these shoots!

This is where things get fun. I love to get in the water and shoot.  I used to shoot surfing back in the day, following the ASP surf tour.  Shooting for the surf companies, and working on their lifestyle clothing shoots.  Normally I shoot with a water housing, but I wasn’t able to travel this time with all that gear, so I risked it and swam in the lagoon as they paddled out in the smaller reform wave section.  Either way, this is what we got.  The current was super strong, so it was a paddle battle keeping up together.

Yes, we did wrap up our shoot in the streets of downtown Sydney, getting honked and yelled at, but we ended up with this shot.  Tara was a bit nervous at first, but Dave convinced her and after a few tries, she was just as excited.  This shot took 4 tries to get, since the light cycle was only 30 seconds long.  We had a three light setup and 2 guys helping me move the lights into the street while one light was on a simple light stand. I wanted to just experiment at something crazy and by the time we ended it was midnight.  A full day of coffee shops of planning the shoots, shooting, dinner and then our night time city shots.  The whole day was super fun.  After a day with a couple, you really get to know them.  This makes such a difference in the depth of the relationship, allowing me to capture why they love each other.  Thanks guys!