Jim Russi, Love’s God, his Ohana and his Island home. He graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography with a B.A. in Fashion & Advertising In 1979 and came strait to the North Shore of Oahu for what was planned to be a “one week surf trip” to the island. He is still here. Long before Auto-Focus, Digital Cameras and Instagram, Surf photography in the 70’s was an up and coming field with less than a dozen water photographers on the Planet. Russi felt right at home with his surfing and photography experience at the Banzai Pipeline and it has been his life’s mission to capture and share it’s magnificent power and beauty with the world. Since 1978 Jim Russi has traveled the world serving as Senior Staff Photographer for all the major U.S. surf magazines and aside from his 30 plus years of Shooting Giant Pipeline from the water, he has enjoyed shooting the evolution of Women’s Surfing and the resurgence of the classic Longboard era. Over the last several decades he has been blessed to share his love for photography and surfing as a life long and rewarding career with images displayed on the covers of well over 100 magazines, in addition to Hundreds of Travel stories. Beyond Jim’s editorial Magazine work, he has collaborated closely on numerous advertising campaigns, probably most well know is his work as Principal Photographer on Quiksilver’s Roxy advertising campaign, producing his watery images for the famous brand for over 15years. Russi says “I am humbled to be a published Author of the hardbound coffee table book Flying Through the Clouds, with 200 full page images from my extensive library and I share 5 short stories from the road as a Surf Photographer traveling the world in the crazy days of early Surf Exploration.” Currently Jim spends most of his days in the water, surfing and creating his trademark images, doing what he loves and now sharing this life long passion with his two boy’s, Kaden 9 and Kona Boy 8, watching them grow in their love for surfing, their island home of Hawaii and the sea. Jim says “They inspire me to continue to bring fresh soulful beauty to my images for others to enjoy. I hope you do.” “Mahalos and Aloha Nui Loa,”
