Banzai Pipeline, on the North Shore of Oahu, is an arena like no other. It is what separates good surfers from excellent surfers in some of the biggest and most treacherous surf on the planet.
Winter is the surf season on the North Shore. Large storms in the North Pacific send swell to the island from thousands of miles away and the island sucks them like some kind of magnet. The power of these waves is incredible. When they crash on the reef, you can feel the thunderous boom all the way to your bones.
My wife, daughter and I made the trip over to the island last December. We went for the last contest of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing event, the Pipeline Masters. It was part vacation and part work as I was doing some freelancing for Surfer Magazine.
For 2 weeks we witnessed the world's best surfers riding waves close to 2 stories tall. The contest was amazing and the free surfing even better.
This submission is a collection of some of the best photos out of the 80 rolls of film I shot. There are so many great photos that it was very hard to choose just 15. However, I hope these tell a story to you about the amazing power that happens there for a few months out of the year.
Tech Notes
From the beach, I was shooting a Canon EOS 1v HS with a Canon 500mm f/4 L IS combined with a Canon 1.4xII extender. All of that was tripod mounted with a Kirk BH-1 head and a Wimberley Sidekick.
From the water, I was shooting a Canon EOS 3 with a Canon 24mm f/2.8. My camera housing was custom built by Mike Waggoner.
For film, I was primarily using Velvia 100F but also used Velvia 50 pushed 1 stop. The black & whites were shot with Agfa Scala 200.
Seeing as how I'm now getting paid to squeeze the shutter, I guess that make me a professional. Yikes.