Famous and Professional Photographer Profiles: CLARK LITTLE : ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

As Clark little celebrates the opening of his latest gallery, the Hawaiian surfer turned professional photographer tells Matty Graham how, in less than four years, he’s mastered how to turn the simplicity of the ocean's waves into an artform

"IT ALL STARTED four years ago when my wife wanted a photo for the house. I grabbed a small Canon 'point & shoot' camera and headed to the shore to take some photos. I was pleased with the images and saw the potential to take this new hobby further, so a couple of months later I bought a Nikon D2, a fisheye lens and an underwater housing, then started taking images of the waves, not from the shore but actually in the water.

Not a lot of famous photographers were comfortable being in the shore break, but because I've spent my life in this environment, it seemed very natural to me. The ocean, particularly the shore break, is my second home. I even did some pro surfing in my time, so when it came time to take a picture, I found it easy to get myself to the right part cf the wave to capture a great image. A photographer called Brian Bielmann passed on some great knowledge about techniques, which catapulted my development forward a few years and gave me a great head start.

"I was working as a supervisor at the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens in Honolulu, a great job I had been enjoying for 17 years, but as my images became more popular and sales increased, I made the big decision to turn my photography into a full-time pursuit. "What makes a good wave image is subjective but it can be dependent on the conditions. Is there a nice sunrise or sunset? If it’s during the day is there a bright blue sky? If the shore is in the frame, can any mountains or a palm tree be seen? Th s all adds appeal. Sometimes i:'s hard to delete images, so I show them to friends and family to get their opinion, but if it pops then I'll include it in the portfolio and put it up for sale online and in my recently opened gallery.

"When I'm shooting. I'll spend around four to five hours in the water each day. It's good exercise and keeps me fit - the more do it, the better I feel. Rigid now I use a Nikon D300s with a 10.5mm fisheye and a D3 with a 16mm fisheye. Sometimes I also use a 24mm lens but for 90 percent of the time, I stick to a fisheye.

The nine-frames-a-second burst rate is the major advantage of the D3 body - nine-foot-high waves break pretty quickly and the extra couple of frames each second can make the difference between catching the wave at the right point or missing the moment. I have a number of underwater housings from Water Housings Hawaii. One of them has a custom splash guard that adds extra protection against splashes to the dome, while another has room to add a flashgun to the DSLR. use the Speedlight SB-800 and SB-900 units - flash is good for the days when the sunset has gone, but there's still colour to illuminate so you can light up the tube part of the wave. The tricky par. about using the flash is to balance the power output of the unit so it fires in strobe mode while still using a ''ast shut:er speed, which took me a bit of reading up in books to master.

I shoot in Raw and don’t go overboard with the post-production to keep the natural Hawaiian colours. "I don't wear buoyancy aids, tut flippers are a must to manoeuvre around in the shore break. Being able to hold my breath is a massive advantage, as there are times when you can't escape a wave and you're sucked underwater until the wave has crashed over you. A few months ago I was shooting on the sand when a ten-foot wave smashed into me - the impact was so severe I injured my shoulder. There has been a couple of t mes in the last few years when I've seriously wondered whether I'm go ng to make it out of the wave alive - it's risky but I don't have to be out in tie ocean, I want to be there.

"I don't know exactly what it is that draws people to my images, but I'm stoked about the recognition. The images have sold well to regular people through my website and galleries (we have one in Hawaii and one in Laguna Beach. California), but also on a commercial level with skateboard manufacturers, white-collar companies and even Apple contacting us to use our images. Maybe people can feel the passion that I've put in to capture these images or maybe it's a spiritual impulse due to the natural essence of the ocean, sky and sun. There's beauty all over the world, but I've been able to capture it where I live on the north shore of Hawaii. I love sharing my images with people and if they're happy, that makes me even happier -I like to put a smile on people's faces and pass the love around."

Unknown Komentar