Oahu, Hawaii, 22 February 2015

Day four of a surfing photography workshop with Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann.

Afternoon of the last day of the workshop….

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A paddleboarder.  Something I hadn’t seen before.

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And now with the last of the afternoon light…

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Oahu, Hawaii, 22 February 2015

Day four of a surfing photography workshop with Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann.

This was the last day of the workshop.  The surf was not as large as the previous day but still of a reasonable size, quite suitable for surfing and photography.

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Here we have Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann, leaders of the workshop, perhaps discussing the conditions.

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The photographer you can see under the water may have been photographing the surfer from there.

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I tried underwater photography in the pool on the second day using a camera in an underwater housing.  I can’t show you any of the images because a Mac to PC problem prevented them reaching me.  However, it underlined the difficulty of photographing in these conditions – getting in the right place, holding your breath and keeping a grip on the camera as the wave throws you around….

It’s not without its dangers either.  A photographer died here ten years ago when he hit his head on the reef in relatively small surf.  However, for some awesome images from in the water, see Brian Bielmann’s site.  he has been doing it for many decades.

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Surfing with a roof of water.  The tunnel is still forming.

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A peak moment with a bodyboarder.

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Not the most orthodox composition but a moment that cannot last…

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Strangely flailing feet with a photographer at the ready…

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Oahu, Hawaii, 21 February 2015

Day three of a surfing photography workshop with Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann.

Anyone for a quick sprint through the surf?

These are the second half of the day’s images, from about 1:45pm. There is no good dawn light on the North coast of Oahu because the beaches are then in the shadow of the mountains.  We started about 10:30am and continued through to about 6:30pm.  I had a break for lunch from about 2pm to 3pm.

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When the lip of the wave comes down in the centre like this, you can surf either way.

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The tunnel is forming…

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This is Robin cleaning her tripod with sand and seawater to remove the smell after a dog shat on it.  Normally you keep tripods well away from seawater (and sand) but she did rinse it in fresh water later.

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Sometimes I just photographed the waves without the surfers…

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It is now 4:30pm, the light is getting lower and the reflections of the sun are coming across the water.

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Twenty minutes later, looking in the opposite direction to the far distance, this is a very different view.

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And back to the surfers…

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The contest was still going on though there were also surfers further over who were not in the contest.

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That is another wave behind him, not clouds.

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And the final image with a very translucent wave in the late afternoon light.

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Oahu, Hawaii, 21 February 2015

Day three of a surfing photography workshop with Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann.

A fine day with excellent conditions.  Once again we were back to Pipeline.

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In fact, we would be here all day.  Surprising how tiring it can get hanging around on a beach with a long lens and a tripod for nine hours or so, concentrating on the passing moments.

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The surf was bigger and this would be the biggest day, with up to 20 foot waves.

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The competition started in the morning with a competition for board riders.

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This gives a good idea of the task of swimming out….

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Because there was the competition going on, there was an attendant jet ski or two, ready to rescue if necessary or simply to provide a respite.  It is towing a panel that swimmers can haul up on and cling to.

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After the board riders there was a competition for body surfers.

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These were generally harder to photograph than the surfers because there were often wholly or mainly under the waves.

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And after a while the competition resumed for the surfers.

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There were also jet skis with photographers on the back.  Here the photographer has a choice view into the tunnel and is making life more interesting by riding side saddle.

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Oahu, Hawaii, 20 February 2015

Day two of a surfing photography workshop with Michael Clark and Brian Bielmann.

The second morning of the workshop it was raining so there were presentations and processing images.  In the early afternoon we had a photographic session in the hotel pool, with DSLRs and underwater housings.  I don’t seem to be able to download those images from the web, though.

In the late afternoon the rain stopped so we went out again, this time to Pipeline.  In the first image we see a lone female far down the beach, contemplating the surf thundering in.

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The surf is larger than the first day but still not huge by Pipeline standards.

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Pipeline (or Banzai Pipeline because it’s off Banzai Beach) is a famous surfing location on Oahu’s North Coast.  Pipeline is one of the most dangerous surfing venues in the world – “Over the years, Pipeline has tragically taken the lives of more spots than anywhere else combined” (surftransworld.net).  On average probably more than one person a year dies there yet there are always many vying for the waves.

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The big waves are not always the most dangerous, too, because the smaller waves break further in where it is shallower.  There may only be a metre or two from the bottom of the wave to the razor-sharp coral.

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On this day and on the two subsequent days, there was a competition going on and many of these images are or surfers with recognisable names.  Hopefully Brian Bielmann will have time to get back to me and let me know who they are, otherwise I will post them and perhaps update the notations afterwards.

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Inside the wave (i.e. under the water) here is a photographer as the yellow patch must be an underwater camera housing.  There is an interesting interplay between the heads in the water, probably two surfers paddling back out and the surfer coming through the wave looking at them.  I imagine it’s his responsibility to stay clear of them.

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This gives a hint of some of the equipment we used to take photographs.  Robyn (facing camera) has a 400mm lens and is using an ordinary ball head on her tripod.  The woman on the left (Lisa?) and the man at far top right (not in our group) are using gimbal heads instead of a ball head.  This lets the lens balance on the tripod and allows for quicker changes of direction to follow the movements of the surfers.  The woman with that hat and a towel over the lens (Kim?) has a 600mm lens.  I had hired a 600mm lens and a Wimberly Gimbal Head and was using a Nikon D3s as my main camera.

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A surfer took off into the surf from directly in front of me and I followed him as he went in.  Here he is diving into the first wave.

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This is really a photograph of the wave rather than the surfer.  The surfer is not quite in focus but we need him to show us how large the wave is.

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