When you spend years in the ocean riding waves, it humbles you. The better you get, the more you get reminded who the boss is. You think you have it dialed, so you'll be out there getting waves, everything will be going perfectly, you'll drop in, turn, and tuck back into the barrel but slip in too deep and just like that you're getting sucked over the falls and bounced off the sandbar... and let me tell you something, a low tide sandbar feels exactly like concrete when you get slung into by the force rushing water.  Â
I spent 9 years of my life in the sea. I got more waves than I can count over that time, and eventually got a few spinal injuries that keep me out of the water, even still. I got bounced off of a low tide sandbar during a hurricane swell once, and it changed my life forever. My spine was jacked. Discs out in the middle and at the base, and the ones at the base were never the same. When that happened, I rehabbed and put on 30lbs of muscle, mostly around my core to protect it so I could continue to surf, which I did for several more years. Regardless, that mistake changed me forever. Â
If it wasn't for surfing though, I never would have become a photographer... it was the island life, and the waves that eventually inspired me to start shooting almost 20 years ago. I shot solely film for years, but when I moved to digital the world opened up and I started working seriously in macro photography, and eventually landscape photography as well. But it started on this island, chasing sunsets, sunrises, and waves.Â
