All Photos © Yassine Ouhilal

Yassine Ouhilal is a photographer, filmmaker and explorer from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a regular contributor to The Surfer’s Journal and Surfer Magazine as well as other surf publications from around the world. He prefers shooting in difficult to reach and uncharted destinations over the typical go-to tropical hotspots of the surfing world. He uses his knowledge of marine charts, geological maps, satellite imagery, weather forecasting and a love for time on the road in order to be at the right place at the right time in some very inhospitable places.

These forays have taken him to places like Norway’s Arctic circle, Morocco’s coastal Sahara desert, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Russia in search of seldom seen vistas of perfect waves amidst dramatic backdrops.

Ouhilal explains, ” I approach my surf photography work as a long-term project, which starts with researching a particular location of interest, looking at weather patterns, logistical details. Sometimes, years will go by until one of these locations becomes suitable for shooting with the right swell and weather patterns. Other times, I’ve gone back numerous times in order to get ‘The shot’ I see in my mind.” Ouhilal’s extra effort has produced unique images that have set themselves apart from more typical destinations. “I really try to give a sense of place in my photography by juxtaposing backdrops with the surfing element, be it a surfer or an empty wave. Many factors have to come into play for that to happen, like the right weather conditions, and when they all come together, it creates a very special and moment.”

Above image: “Nick Jiampa in the Faroe Islands, a tiny archipelago between Iceland and Scotland. This was the first time waves had been ridden on these storm-battered isles. On Nick’s first session on the island, nearly an entire village came out to watch as I was shooting from a boat. After he successfully rode his first wave, the Captain’s cell phone rang. It was from one of the villagers. He said something in Faroese: ‘He’s still alive’.” All captions by Yassine Ouhilal.

(more…)

All Photos © Derek Dunfee. Above: Fiji, tail camera.

Derek Dunfee, a 29-year-old professional surfer and photographer from La Jolla, California, provides an intimate, behind-the-scenes view of the lifestyle of big wave surfers, and the excitement of surfing in exotic locations. “Chasing big surf almost always involves wild weather and high emotions which is always good for photos and video,” he says. “I do like to give the viewer a glimpse into what its like to be in these places. For example, for my Tail Camera series, I paddle into a wave with a pocket wizard in a water housing duct taped to my shoulder and snap the photo when I’m in the tube. That gives the viewer the feeling they are getting barreled.”

Dunfee learned photography from his twin brother, who studied at the Brooks Institute. Other photographers, including Pete Taras, Todd Glaser and Steve Sherman, provided Dunfee with encouragement and shooting tips. Dunfee’s stories and photos have been published in Surfer, Surfing and Transworld surf magazines. He has  also made a few short films.

(more…)

All Photos © Jeff Divine. Above: Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, Pipeline, Oahu, 1975.

Jeff Divine began taking pictures of fellow surfers in his hometown during the 1960′s. He became a staff photographer at Surfer Magazine in 1970 where he began the first of some 40 annual trips to the North Shore of Oahu. In 1981 he became the Photo Editor at Surfer , a position he held for the next 17 years. Today he is the photo editor at The Surfer’s Journal in San Clemente, Calif. He has published several photography books about surfing.

“A man on a wave is a beautiful sight,” Divine says. When he began his career, he explains, “Surfing in the public’s eye was an oddity such as arm wrestling or tree climbing contests. In the 1960′s and 70′s  the whole basic idea was simply a man on a wave…surfers were a  blend of radical character, rebelliousness, loner, mysterious, natural,  athlete. Today surfing is a highly technical sport with the top surfers having trainers and a serious approach to the world wide professional tour. Surrounding this is a world-wide multi billion dollar lifestyle garment industry that drives money, media attention and people to the sport that was once considered an eccentric, lonely pastime.” Today, surfers are drawn to different specialized forms of the sport, such as extreme big wave riding , or dangerous shallow reef surfing. Or they’re drawn, Divine says, by “the beauty of a sunny day with friends, surfboards and barbecues at Malibu, San Onofre , or Montauk. The eccentrics are still there but  hidden by the masses.”

(more…)

All Photos © Ryan Field

Ryan Field  is part of a team working on the documentary film project “Hydrodynamica”. The film explores alternative surfboard design and functionality that  originated in San Diego in the 1940s with the enigmatic surfboard shaper Bob Simmons.  “He thought about surfboards and their interactions with the wave in an entirely new way,” says Field. Simmons’ ideas have influenced generations of surfboard shapers who prefer alternatives to the common three-finned thruster we’re all used to seeing.

Field has photographed the boards and the people who make and ride them. To draw out the shapes and nuances of the boards, he used lighting techniques based on the lighting that the shapers use to create the boards. “I have a great deal of respect for the knowledge and craftsmanship they have to design and build something so beautiful and functional to harness nature’s energy, all for the feeling you get gliding down the face of a wave,” Field says.

Above: An old bodysurfing board, thought to come from the Atlantic coast in the early 1900′s, photographed in San Diego, California, June 11, 2010.  The board is made of wood and wrapped in canvas that has been painted.  It’s thought that boards like this were rented on the beach for people to ride in the surf.  Some of the board’s design elements seem functional and show up many years later in more modern designs. (more…)

All images © Art Brewer. Laird Hamilton on the edge of a volcanic rock formation on Easter Island, during filming for ABC’s “American Adventure,” 1995.

Now through June 30, the Arts Abroad Program at The School of Visual Arts in New York City is presenting “Art Brewer: Surf Evolution,” an exhibition of the the legendary surf photographer’s work, curated by Malcolm Lightner and Michelle Mercurio. The exhibition highlights more than 150 images that Brewer shot from the mid-1960s through the present, and includes work he has never previously shown. With pieces ranging from portraits of surf legends to picturesque landscapes and waterscapes, the show highlights Brewer’s diverse output. Brewer, whose photographs have shown worldwide and have appeared in over 35 surf magazines, is often described as “the court painter” for the world’s surfing elite. Brewer is known for mastering the technical and physical challenges involved in surf photography and still managing to take high quality images, which some have described as “portals to a vastly improved universe.” —Erica Siciliano

(more…)