The Surf Photographer

The surf photographer , why does he do what he does, photographing surfer's catchiing that wave, I am always there when the surfer is there,The Photographer is there, whether it's a cold winter day or a warm shirts off day and the Ocean glistens like diamonds. The answer lies in that I am a surfer with a camera, I have been a surf photographer for 8 years now with about two years of not shooting as much as I would like, the reasoning is, I cannot make money at this point in my career as a surfing photographer because of the copyright laws that are now in place. I never intended on becoming a surf photographer in the first place when I moved from 500 miles away from Midland, Texas to North Padre Island, Texas in 2001. I went to the island to shoot pictures of the sea life , birds and Ocean sunsets , and one day I was on a pier, Bob Hall Pier , and was watching these adults and kids surfing where a sign said ," No Surfing Shark Fishing, and No Jumping from the Pier". I said the people must be crazy these fisherman are throwing in bloody shark bait and yet , these surfer's completely aware of this were catching some awesome rides, therefore starting my photography from Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christy, Texas 2001.This was the beginning of the Surf Photographer working the two main piers just outside of Corpus Christi, Texas

I was awestruck at the Ocean when I would pack up my three camera's and two video camera's and turned into a 3pm till sundown surf photographer, that shot from two main piers on this Island, the North Padre Island and Mustang Island of Port Aransas, Texas. I was committed to getting the best shots I could as a photographer, of these guys and gals, ranging from ages of 3 years old to 95 years old. The activity of running up and down the piers where both Island surfer's tend to be was quite a workout and me lagging a bag full of camera gear,. What was I looking foras a surf photographer, what did I find?I never really questioned my intentions, they were to exploit the professional surfers , I saw in each and every one I shot photographs of for the last eight years. I could not sell their pictures, because I had a better plans, a surf photographer, make You Tube movies and get the word out that they could watch themselves surf by the next day . I have over 400 videos as a surf photographer, on You tube under the name Padrenorth ,Padrenorthlives, and Padrenorth2009. I have experienced , surf photography with some of the most fun of my life and hopefully made some of these guys and gals proud of thier efforts in surfing, that;s all this was about.

"There is nothing like catching the wave", said this friend of mine that was a surfer , one must understand that a surf photographer in South Texas does not get the swells from the Ocean Waves like in California or Hawaii, we hardly got waist high if we were lucky, so a typical ride on a wave would last less than 30 seconds as a photographer it was a challenge to catch these people trying to ride these 30 second waves and get thier tricks on film. These were still famous surfers to me, because of what the surfers' could do with the little waves that we got, and when a hurricane was close by to Houston or South Padre Island, wow, what a time we had, with the waist high to head high waves. The interesting thing for the surf photographer ,like myself is I made no money doing what I loved to do, it was like being a surfer,when asked who I was, I just said,"I am a surfer with a cam", I was trying to catch the surfer and his big wave and I think all in all I accomplished what I set out to do.

I am not sure if I have outgrown shooting surf photography or if it is the 500 mile journey I would have to take every weekend now to shoot a film I have been wanting to do about professional surfer's on the North Padre Island and Mustang Island Pier area. I do know I miss the sound of the waves and jumping in my car and running to check the surf on the Island , and even though the surfer's and I really did not talk much back and forth as a surf photographer , I felt a bit of trust with the local surfer in these two areas that I photographed. The two pictures on this page are only a minute part of my shots and the one video you are seeing off this page is off You Tube that is one of several hundred , that I made , not for me as much as for them, the professional surfers I called them, and I was darn proud of what I came away with in my time I lived there in North Padre Island. "God gave us a free ride I use to tell people" , at the pier from other countries, "You do not have to buy a ticket to ride, and the waves are always breaking". I may decide to move back soon as I miss my old lifestyle, though I was running fast at the time, maybe my time has come to become a writer of some of the past memories I truly loved.

Christopher Hyer 2.17.2011