When I was younger, I suffered a back injury serious enough to immediately stop me from surfing and skateboarding. I was devastated.
Intent on staying involved, the natural progression for me was to pick up a camera and start shooting. I’d stay on shore and take photos of my friends surfing, but after five years I still struggled to find a subject that really clicked for me. In March of 2016, that finally changed. I had been following the work of guys like Morgan Maassen for years and he inspired me to try my hand at ocean photography from sea level. I took a leap and bought and second hand DSLR and water housing, instantly falling in love with the new perspective. This was what I had been searching for; a new way to reconnect with the ocean. Now I can appreciate the subtleties of the ocean. Its texture, the luminance in a wave, the colors, and its shapes. It gives me the chance to share those things with others in the way that I see them, which is something I never would have experienced if I hadn’t injured my back. So I guess these photos are a reminder that there’s a silver lining to everything.
