HOW TO BECOME A SURF PHOTOGRAPHER

Candice O'Donnell, Watergate Bay

One question that gets asked a lot is “how do I become a surf photographer?” Of course everyone would love to combine their passion and their job, and the image of the job of surf photographer is totally glamorous and alluring: getting paid to travel to exotic locations and shoot stunning images. And you get to bask in the immense kudos of having them publshed in surf mags.

The reality is slightly different. For starters, the pay is woefully bad. The rates magazines pay for shots haven’t gone up in twenty years! Very few make a living from surf photography, in Europe anyway. And also, if you think it’ll mean you get to go surfing more, forget it. When the sun’s out and the surf is pumping you’ll either be swimming around with your housing getting bombs on the head or standing on the beach with your big lens getting the shots.

Having said that is great fun, so if you have a burning desire to unleash your creative vision on the surfing public, read on for some top tips.

1. Get shooting. There‚Äôs only one way to get your work published, and that‚Äôs to take great surf shots. Sounds kindof trite I know, but I‚Äôve lost count of the number of people who email asking about getting in to surf photography and don‚Äôt attach a photo. So get out there. You don‚Äôt need a photography degree, you just need a camera, and some creative inspiration. Which brings me to…

2. Don’t go overboard with equipment. A lot of amature photographers think being a pro is all about the kit. It isn’t, well it is to an extent, if you’re a pro you will DSLR body like a Canon eos 1ds, plus a backup, loads of lenses including a big 500 or 600mm, water housing and so on: at least £10,000 worth of kit. But when you’re getting started all you need is a camera. You could even buy a cheap film camera to experiment with. One mistake a lot of people make is to shell out thousands on a DSLR pro body but buy cheap lenses. It’s much better to go for a cheaper body and better lenses.

3. Learn your craft. Assuming you‚Äôve got a basic grounding in the technical side of photography you need find your inspiration. Buy loads of magazines, not just surfing ones. Find images that inspire you, and analyse what makes them great. Plough through online photo sites like flickr.com and collect images you love. Don’t forget, it’s not just about action. To win assignments you’ll have to be able to shoot lineups, portraits, lifestyle, landscapes even reportage.

4. Get feedback. Once you’ve captured some images upload them to flickr and get networking. It’s an ideal place to get feedback on your shots and find out what works.

5. Study composition. The difference between an average shot and a great one is very often compostion. That‚Äôs why the late great photo editor of Surfing Larry ‚ÄúFlame‚Äù Moore used to advise budding surf photogs to take art classes and learn about composotion, rather than take photography classes. (By the wayYou can read about Larry Moore here. He was one of the greats of surfing photography). I’ve given a few basic tips about composition in a previous post, but there are many others online. One of the best books about photographic composition is The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman.

6. Contact editors. Once you’ve got some good shots and you’re confident that they good enough to be published, start to cultivate relationships with the magazine editors. If you can get through to them give them a ¬†call and see what kind of thing they’re after. As a rule magazines are looking for action shots of known surfers, great lineups and unusual angles. It helps if the images haven’t been before, so think twice about uploading them to social media sites.

Good luck and get shooting!

Tags: jobs in surfing, Photography, photogs, surf photography, Surfing, technique, tips