Surf

Hurricane Rafael dropped some interesting if not particularly smooth swell. There was enough left over the past few day for some good surf sessions.

I shot at Middles and Surfers. Shooting both in the same day gives me chance to compare the two and the contrasts are interesting.

Middles seems to have a better wave. The surfers there tend to be younger and lean more toward the "pros" and wanna-be pros. They are in many ways more athletic, making for more interesting and dynamic surf shots. The wave break is closer to the beach making it better for my shorter (400 mm) lens.

But - Middles is kind of the "home break" of pro surf photographer named Chad Oakley. Chad's a nice guy and we're friends. But when he's on the beach, it's not that I'm not welcome, I'm just pretty much irrelevant. All the surfers look to Chad. I'm essentially a spectator.

Surfers and Wilderness tend to be more popular with tourist surfers, ones who might be more likely to actually buy photos from the website. Both breaks are farther from the shore, making them a little trickier to shoot. Wilderness in particular has an inside wave that gets in the way of photos. When it's big Wilderness there are actually two inside waves and the surfers on the third wave out. Surfers is a little more forgiving. The parking lot where I usually shoot from has a little elevation so it's easier to shoot over the inside wave.

There are two other breaks accessible from Surfers Beach, Tabletop and Backdoor.