What makes surfing unlike so many other sports is the intrinsic beauty of the venue. I believe it was Robert August who in Step Into Liquid says something to the effect: “How many people do you know that just stare at a tennis court.” And that’s the point, isn’t it? Waves alone, from lumpy imperfect slabs to sets across the horizon lined up in perfect corduroy, are visually stunning in and of themselves. A subject in-frame only punctuates the point.
Australian photog Ray Collins makes a living freezing such moments in time. The problem with photography is by nature it’s still and falls short of portraying the ocean in eternal animation. On the other hand, video of the ocean falls short too. Moments of beauty happen in the blink of an eye. To remedy this dilemma, Netherlands photographer and cinematographer Armand Dijcks teamed up with Ray Collins to create a series of cinemagraphs – or animated stills – that are hauntingly compelling.
Says Dijcks of the project: “Over the past months I’ve been working with Australian photographer Ray Collins to bring his amazing oceanscapes to life in the form of cinemagraphs, a blend between photography and video. Each cinemagraph is created from one of Ray’s stills, and sets it in infinite motion, making a unique moment in time last forever.
These cinemagraphs inspired André Heuvelman from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to get together with pianist Jeroen van Vliet to record a very moving custom soundtrack, which I combined with a selection of the cinemagraphs.”
To see the original cinemagraphs click here, and to check out more of Ray Collins photography click here. Ray Collins is also featured in Keith Malloy’s new film, Fish People, and you can watch the trailer here.
