For the sole purpose of possibly getting to photograph surfing and the waves at Bondi Beach, I lugged my Nikon 500mm f/4 lens from SFO to Sydney, along with the rest of my travel kit. (See photo below.) Though my back still aches, it was worth carrying the pack on and off the plane, to the hotel, and as it turned out around Darling Harbour for a couple of hours until the hotel let us check into our room. As things turned out I had several opportunities to spend time at Bondi watching and photographing the locals, both in relatively calm waters and also just after one of the winter’s first small storms, which brought the sea up to what was identified as about average for Bondi surf. These waves were about 5-6 feet at their largest, as fas as I could tell from the shore. Someday I hope to be in Hawaii (or elsewhere) for the really big surf, and I looked on this trip as an opportunity to learn what I could about this type of photography. For a couple of hours each on two days I was free to explore and see what I could come up with while the surfers did their thing on Bondi Beach. I felt like a complete beginner, especially while a certain photographer’s work was fresh in my mind (more on that at the end), but it was a lot of fun!
In addition to thinking about the images I was making, I also had plenty of time to think about surfing itself. There is a lot of time spent waiting when you’re surfing, and also when you are photographing surfing. The waves come in sets, but in between sets the sea is relatively calm. If you happen to be paddling around on a board, there is not much to do but wait. If you’re on shore with a camera, the same is true, since you’re waiting for the surfers to be done waiting for some waves.
When the waiting is over, you go back to trying to surf, but if you finally get a chance to do so and make a mistake, all that waiting seems to have been for nothing! This guy was quite annoyed to have missed another chance to hang ten. He’d caught part of the wave, but turned the wrong way, I think, and got left behind. He was not pleased with himself.
This kind of disappointment is common, because one of the first things you notice when you really watch casual surfers carefully is that their chosen activity is very difficult. Not only does it require balance and understanding of what to do in a constantly changing situation, but small mistakes can send you soaring into the air or diving into the charging sea to avoid being crushed. After a short time I got to where I could tell within moments of a surfer beginning a ride if he or she would show me anything worth photographing or not. It’s amazing that a surfer’s skill is apparent so quickly once the attempt begins. Beginners, or those who just haven’t accumulated much skill, rarely do anything spectacular. They get to their feet if they’re lucky, then tip over almost immediately. Which is fine–they are still learning, of course. But when a skilled surfer gets going, you never know what is going to happen. The board might shoot one direction while the rider goes the other, or you might see something else that makes you think Wow!
It must be watching others have such success that keeps beginners at it. And they, the beginners, are perhaps the bravest on the waves, because even getting to the point where you can put your feet on the top of the board is no mean trick. Bondi had loads of beginner classes in blue shirts and on blue boards so the instructors could herd them all together.
With varying degrees of timidity, courage, frustration and joy they did their best close to shore, falling, falling, falling… But, just as one good shot in golf can make you endure hours of abject misery, the beginners’ small steps toward the farther waves kept them going until the classes were done. They were actually quite fun to watch, if their photographs were slightly less spectacular.
Those who knew what to do were even more fun to watch, and a lot of fun to photograph, partially because, as I’ve gone on about before, still images show you things about a subject you just don’t see in real time. Surfers often find themselves, if only for a moment, if the most unlikely of positions as they anticipate what the wave is going to do. They manage spectacular turns with huge sprays of water, they tuck into tiny spaces such that they almost disappear from view, they launch into the air. Then it’s time to do some more waiting for the next opportunity to do it again.
Those opportunities are not easily had. In addition to the wave having to be right, you also have to be the one to catch it. They say Sydney’s traffic is a nightmare, but when a storm brings some waves, Bondi’s traffic can be pretty bad, too. Then surfing becomes as much about avoiding your fellow human being as hanging ten.
But when things work out, you might as well be at the Bonsai Pipeline. This is the same kid as two images up, and somehow he managed to fit into this little pipe for several seconds. Nicely done!
Some folks, young and old, preferred a smaller board and not to stand up at all. This seemed to make for a more reliable, predictable ride, less prone to being airborne or doing a face plant into the water. It looked enjoyable enough, but I couldn’t help thinking it seemed like bringing a bicycle to a motorbike race.
Raising two girls, I find I’m more on the lookout than before for activities that aren’t boy-dominated. I’m not particularly keen to get my girls out to the flat track with no brakes, so I was wondering how surfing stacked up, gender-wise. There were quite a few ladies on the waves, some of them quite skilled, though the guys definitely outnumbered the gals. (This is one of the few surfing images from Manly, by the way, taken with a 70-200 as I did not have the 500 with me that day.)
Several of the girls arrived and surfed in pairs. This one patiently waited for her friend to come to shore before the two of them left together. I quite liked how she embraced her surfboard while she waited.
As I was also up early to shoot the sunrise, I observed that the surfers arrived at 6am every day I was there to see them. Though the sun had not yet peeked over the horizon, the surfers sometimes had some gorgeous light in which to paddle around. Even in the near dark, I found that nearly without exception, surfers run toward the sea. Perhaps it’s the fear that they might arrive just too late to catch the wave of the day, or perhaps they just can’t wait to get off the land and into the water where they belong.
It might also be that those who surf at Bondi know the best spot from which to observe the town’s charm. The water may be fifty different shades of blue at any given moment, the waves small or large, the sun proud or shy, but the setting at Bondi is fantastic whenever there is light with which to view it. This was the sunset the night before we left for home.
In the morning, when the crowds have yet to paddle toward you, there is an added sense of calm on the water. I imagined the early birds were living that zen surfing thing you hear about sometimes, being one with the water, feeling its rhythm, flowing with the ocean as they waited for the right formula of wind, water and gravity that would push them toward the day’s excitements. In the meantime they were as ghosts on the morning sea.
Though surfers run toward the water, the walk away from the beach is a slow one, full I imagined of fatigue from all the paddling as well as regret to find themselves as far from the next day’s surf as it was possible to be. But the sea is relentless, sending wave after wave toward the shore. It must be comforting to know that there will always be waves to surf.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these images–please keep in mind that they are from someone new both to surf photography and to Bondi Beach. If you’d like to see the work of someone who really knows what he’s doing after 15 years, please checkout Aqaubumps, where Eugene Tan shows on a nearly daily basis the incredible variety of scenes one can see at Bondi. He has some truly amazing images in his vast collection, and if you happen to be a fan of Bondi or of surf photography, sign up for his regular email, currently going out to 40,000+ recipients. Eugene just became a father, so his productivity this week has dropped, but I expect he’ll be back at it soon and I look forward to seeing his daily images of one of my favorite places on earth. (I stopped by his gallery in Bondi on Thursday to say hello, but as his wife was just out of the hospital with their newborn son, he was understandably not at the shop. I did leave a card and a MotoMatters calendar, though, lucky guy!)
I also promised a shot of the backpack I carried while shooting the surfing. This is a Tamrac Expedition 8X, which just fits the 500mm f/4 and most of my other stuff. With the tripod strapped on the back it weigh 42.5 pounds. Not bad, compared to the 80 pound packs Marines hump their ammo and other stuff in, right? The pack performed pretty well, and I have some notes to turn into a review when I get the time. The main thing is I would’ve regretted not bringing the 500 if I’d left it at home. I hope you agree that doing so was worth the effort.
Thanks for reading, and please comment if you’d care to do so!
-S
