In the Field: Surf Photography

This is an excerpt out of my Winter 2011 Newsletter.

“Shortly after arriving in the Cook Islands, I went out for a surf at one of the local surf breaks. Sitting on my board surrounded by the cerulean coloured waters, I knew I had to get myself a water housing and get into water photography during my year long stay.

Water photography all begins with the type of photography you want to do. Generally speaking, water housings are divided into those that can be taken to depth (scuba diving) and those that can’t (surf photography). The difference centers around the way the housings are made, which also relates to the final cost of the housing.

As I was interested in surf photography, my choice was simple: I needed to buy what is called a splash water housing. Though it is one hundred percent water proof, the housing cannot be taken deeper than about 3 or 4-meters.

Deciding on which housing to buy and what lens/port combination to use, is not an easy thing when you can’t physically look at the housings or rent one out for the day. To help me with my decision, I started by looking at similar work produced by other photographers. In this case, Dave Collyer and Nick Hall. After a long phone conversation with Dave and an email exchange with Nick, I came to two decisions:

1. I would stick with my 12-24 mm Nikon f4 lens and forgo buying a fisheye lens (for now)
2. I would buy a dome without the focal lens adjustment (though these are available, the manufacturers themselves don’t really recommend them for surf photography).