Patrick Trefz

Patrick has his own particular vision of the surfing world through the unique characters he portrays. While some are more famous than others, they all have in common that they shine in obscurity far from the mainstream surf media limelight. But that is no obstacle and their stories have a profound impact on us all nevertheless.

Harbour Bill. Photo by Patrick Trefz

Andrew Kidman. Photo by Patrick Trefz

Lance Glassing. Photo by Patrick Trefz

Josh Mulcoy. Photo by Patrick Trefz

Tom Curren. Photo by Patrick Trefz

Idiosyncrasies a photo exhibition by Patrick Trefz. June 4 – July 4 at Galería NoColor, Donostia – San Sebastián.

Niegà

In his own words, Assaf loves “water, rice, corvettes, WW2 fighters, and 6’3″ surfboards.” His work is polarised between intensely detailed studies and blurred, use-your-own-imagination renderings that could be paintings or polaroids. Look closely and you’ll notice little twists here and there, cunning titles, and unexpected hand-wrought flourishes. Sometimes it feels like you’re looking at Assaf’s pictures from underwater, at other times through a microscope.

Check out more of his portfolio here.

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Pacific playboy

More recently, thanks to the documentary project ‘Mountains D’Água’ (Water Mountains), I had the opportunity to get a closer look at Lemos’s extensive portfolio. He’s been living in Hawaii for almost 20 years now, raising a family and earning the respect and friendship of the local community. He’s also one of the fortunate few to carve out a successful career as a pro photographer on the North Shore For those Brazilian surfers who, like many other haoles, make their pilgrimage to this mecca of surfing, Bruno is a bit of a hero.

Not that that’s gone to his head – Bruno’s more than happy to chat about the pleasures and difficulties of life as a surf photographer and filmmaker on the highly competitive North Shore.

How do you rate the 2010 North Shore season?
This season has been incredible. I’ve never seen such consistently good waves, but what’s been most impressive is the number of 20-foot-plus waves. In recent years, this would happen once or twice during the season, but this year we had loads of good sessions in Waimea. Without a doubt it was one of the best seasons of the past 20 years.

What’s your daily routine during the winter season?
It gets a little complicated, because I have a day job that helps me get by throughout the year, and it can be tricky to reconcile that with my photography. It can be very hectic, because I try to shoot early, go to work and then straight to the beach to shoot again.

Sometimes, when the waves are very good, I take a day off to focus on my photography. It’s worth the effort – I’ve captured some amazing moments.

[Jamie O'Brien - Pipeline - 2010]

You’ve been living in Hawaii for almost 20 years – have you seen much change in that time?
I arrived here on the North Shore in 1991, when you could count on your fingers the number of Brazilians in the area. Localism was far more aggressive and the rent was relatively cheap. Now it seems that Portuguese is the second-most-spoken language on the North Shore – even the locals are likely to speak a few words in our language! The rent and house prices are expensive, three times higher than when I got here.

The traffic in the region is absurd, particularly when the waves are on. I think surfing has become so popular that it eventually destroyed that rural vibe the North Shore had. Now we can call it ‘haolewood’!

You have the advantage of working in one of the most photogenic places in the world, but the pay-off must be that the competition is huge and the images will inevitably recur. How do you make your photographs stand out?
Finding new and different angles here on the North Shore is very difficult. I look at shots from the 1970s, and it’s all very similar to what we’re producing today.

Often I just set up my tripod along with several other photographers and start shooting. Sometimes, by chance, I get something really special. When new photographers arrive here they get really carried away and shoot everything, and I think I probably miss out on a lot of good material because I’ve been here so long that everything has become usual. It’s a double-edged sword.

[Jaws - 2010]

What do you think sets surf photography apart from other sport photography?
I think the main thing is the waves, especially those big waves and tubes, which are such beautiful things and represent the main difference between surfing and other sports. The sea is fascinating, whether you’re a surfer or not. And there’s no better place to be than on the beach – everybody loves it!

The colours of the late afternoon waves, the sky, the water, the texture of the waves – these are all things that inspire me to shoot.

What equipment are you currently using?
I’ve never been crazy about buying the most expensive equipment. On the contrary, there was a time that my philosophy was to try to make money with the least possible investment, but after a while I realised that I had to spend a little money! If you want to follow developments in technology you’ll need to replace equipment every six months, but I take a bit more of a relaxed approach.

Today I have three bodies – two Cannon EOS 20D and a Cannon EOS 30D – and a few different housings – one SPL with flash and one from Taro Pascual. In addition to the basic lenses I have 600mm, 70-200mm, 15mm, 28-135mm. I’ve got two HDV1080 video cameras, a bigger Sony HDV1000 for documentaries, and a smaller Cannon VIXIA40 for aquatic images.

[Ross Clarke-Jones - Jaws - 2010]

Any new projects on the horizon?
I have so much on my mind, but everything boils down to time and money! Realistically, I would like to be able to complete a documentary of big waves based around the images I’ve captured over the last decade, and I’d also like improve the quality of my programme Kaunala Road on the Brazilian cable TV channel Woohoo.

It would be nice to publish a book of my work, and also hold an exhibition at some point. I think my biggest problem is that I’m always so busy taking photos that I have little time left to show anything, or to turn the pictures into profit. But I guess that every artists is mostly concerned with the ‘soul’ and forgets about the financial aspect of their work.

Do you still find time to surf? Which are your favourite Hawaiian peaks?
Good question! Sometimes I forget that I’m surfer [Bruno has competed in amateur circuits in Brazil], especially at the height of the season when all the pro surfers are on the North Shore and I turn into a pro photographer. But after two or three months at this pace, I go back to normal and try to surf whenever the waves are good.

Usually I like to surf next to where I live, so while living in Sunset, I just surfed there, regardless of the conditions. Now I live in V-land and just surf here, in front of my house. Occasionally I head to Sunset or Waimea. These are the three waves of the North Shore that I like to surf the most.

Check out Bruno’s portfolio.

I like making photographs. Almost as much as I like surfing and tripping the globe looking at stuff.

So I stumbled across Drift a while back and a few months ago I summoned up the courage to offer up my portfolio for use as stock images – which has since developed into this… so you’ll be hearing (or seeing and reading) a bit more from me in the future.

I’ve spent the best part of my twenties so far lugging surfboards and camera gear around the world on an overly extended surfing, work and photography trip. Like many surfers who keep a camera by their side, much of my photographic output is directed more at the things that I see along the way, a result of either travelling for waves or embedding myself in surf locales; looking in on this lifestyle of ours from somewhere out on the periphery despite being well and truly in the thick of it. I shoot on film using a range of old and semi-broken SLRs, a few vintage medium-format cameras and a holga. I dig analogue. I have a far from fancy and often inadequate kitbag but it gets me through – my money tends to go on flights and surfboards before replacing camera gear if the truth be told.

I draw a lot of inspiration from surf photographer/adventurers, and relate most to work by photographers such as Jeff Johnson, Joe Curren and Dustin Humphrey and Jon Rose as well as those from outside the world of surfing, most notably Chris Searl, Mike O’Meally and Andrew Paynter.

Cut to today, and I’ve been shivering my way through this snowy Cornish winter distracting myself from proper work putting together a tatty and rather bulging “surf trip scrapbook”. It’s just a glorified manila folder full of ideas, newspaper clippings and mud maps drawn on scraps of paper, the result of plenty of map gazing and those surfing secrets that people let slip once a few post session beers have lubricated their tongues. Hopefully at least some of these ideas will see their way to fruition and keep me inspired and on the road, both at home and abroad.

So here goes, I hope you like my pictures and my angle on this life of ours.

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Photographing waves and people riding them is a bit of a sticking point for me. I’d rather be surfing, which reduces my ‘surf’ photography to the moments when I’m doing a run up the point or taking a pit stop on the boat for water and sunscreen. Cloudbreak, shot on Fuji Velvia with a broken old Minolta camera, October 2007.

From February 15 until March 28 at the Bar Lepanto (C/ Pedro Eguillor Emparantza 2, Bilbao). Check Ion’s website HERE to get a glimpse of his art.

Niegà

Photographer John Ryan has four decades of surfing under his belt – two years of logging before the shortboard revolution and the rest, as they say, is history. He lives with his wife and dog in a sleepy coastal town “just north of Santa Barbara and just south of Mendocino” and is inclined towards vagaries when pressed for details.

Nevertheless, his surf photography is all about a sense of place. He nestles behind dunes and hangs from rocky crags to catch surfing movements, preferring to go unnoticed by his subjects in the water. In his words, “When surfers know there’s a camera around, the natural dynamic changes. And for me, that pretty much ruins it.”

You wouldn’t know it from these shots, but John’s only been focusing his talents on surfing for about a year. Before that it was the corporate slog; family, death and taxes. Now you can find him amongst the Malumutes that howl at the church bells in a place where new-age masseuses steal smokes out of bathroom windows and fog is a way of life.

[All photos Blackwood, except picture 2, taken by RuTGer]

“When I’m not busy being a dad, taking photos or cruising in my Volkswagen bus, I like to ride longboards. After watching Thomas Campbell’s films I was inspired to get a fish, which I actually find quite hard to surf compared to a longboard. But I’m loving it anyway!

Mahalo to my wife Eveline for being my flower girl, RuTGer for introducing me to surfing and Ronald for introducing me to shooting TtV.”

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This is fondly known as my 'Duaflex Contraption'. My digital camera sits on top of this rig, which enables me to shoot photos with my digital camera through the viewfinder of my old Kodak Duaflex. I need the paperboard tube to let the light out.

How did you become a professional surf photographer?
In 1993 I started out as a studio assistant for the advertising agency Almap/BBDO, and did my first job as a pro photographer in 2002. Initially I favoured studio photography, but as time went by, I started losing interest in the advertising industry and working in a studio – it wasn’t really my thing in the end. The challenge of living near the ocean and recording moments from the sea was – and still is – the most important aspect of my life.

Tell us a little about your favourite jobs so far…
All my work has a special meaning – sometimes those sessions in my backyard are the best. One day I went up a trail here on the island of Florianopolis with my friend and pro-surfer Guga Arruda. We had a good vibe going on, the waves were amazing, the air was fresh. We wandered down an unbeaten track and chatted like friends do – all those things combined to make a memorable day.?Of course, travelling to new places is always exciting – I was lucky enough to bump into the Malloy brothers with Rob Machado and Gerry Lopez on a trip to the Mentawai Islands. That was an amazing shoot that eventually made the cover of Trip magazine.

What are you working on right now?
I’m currently trying to develop my underwater photography skills and expand my database of images of Santa Catarina. I also want to go back to Hawaii – although I lived in Oahu for a while, my dream destination is still the North Shore in season. ?I’m currently also working with a project called BoardInform, a sort of totempole in Florianopolis airport that provides info about the local waves and weather, and also includes a lot of my photographs. We want to expand the idea and put these ‘totems’ in various places all over Brazil.

What are the peculiarities of surfing photography, do you think? What professionals you admire the most?
Shooting surf has a whole special feeling. You give up many things to live a simpler life in total harmony with nature. It isn’t easy to make a living from surfing, contrary to what many people might think – making money from this way of life requires dedication and a great love of what you do. The pleasure of falling in the water and experience the motion of the ocean makes this sport have a very special value to my life. ?I admire the work of various photographers, both in and outside surfing. As much as modern and emerging photographers are going beyond the limits, I would still go for guys like Scott Aichner, who is a master in the water; Aaron Chang, whose sensitivity I admire; Sebastian Rojas, a true master; and Sebastiao Salgado, who has nothing to do with surfing but captures Brazilian culture so powerfully .

You must have experienced some pretty amazing things, all in a day’s work…
Yes, I’ve been lucky to have had some unforgettable experiences! Like my first ever surf/photo trip, driving out of Floripa with big-rider John Capilé all the way to Punta Hermosa, Peru. Our goal was to hit good swell in Pico Alto, but I was blown away by El Gringo in Chile – I’ve never seen waves that size and formation. John got me really pumped and persuaded me to jump into the sea, despite the heavy 8-10 foot sets! I was totally inexperienced, and was hit in the head and lost my camera, but it was the biggest adrenaline rush of my life! Luckily I found my camera floating in front of me in the foam and it all worked out fine. But it was more than the surf that made this trip so memorable – as we descended the Andes we witnessed the devastating power of nature, passing a city that had been destroyed by a tsunami.
Jumping in Pipeline for the first time was also an unforgettable experience. Pipe was 8-feet plus, a real spectacle of nature! I had no idea how to get out of the water [laughs]. I ended up swimming to the nearby shore break where I took a proper beating to get out of the current.

Digital technology has developed and democratised photography. How do you feel it compares to film photography?
Digital photography has innovated and improved the universe of images. Personally, I always liked the process of revelation and the anxiety of traditional film photography. That whole process was a wonderful mystery. ?To be photographer in the days of film, you had to understand light and sensitivity, use the right material, and the margin of error was nonexistent. You would jump in the sea with a 36 exposure film and you HAD to get it right.
Today you can take 300 pictures in high-definition, and digital cameras greatly facilitate the process of capturing images, making everything easier.
Because of this, the photographers of today don’t think much when they’re shooting and usually forget to study and deepen their technical knowledge correctly. Sometimes they take good pictures but they forget to work with depth of field, correct light sensitivity and to capture the most striking angle. ??But digital has its advantages too – you can operate without fear of error, and evaluate your work as you go. Being able to correct your mistakes while you work is one phenomenal advantage to working digitally. ?I think that what makes a great photographer from an average photographer is someone who has a language of their own – a personal style of shooting. The guy who knows how to work with a set of lenses at the right time of day to convey the true charm of perfect light and setting, regardless of his chosen medium, is a great photographer.
Even with all the benefits that digital brings, I still believe that to stay relevant you need to find your own identity.

Where do you love to surf and where would you like to visit?
I like to shoot in Fernando de Noronha (north Brazil), Moçambique (Florianópolis) and a secret spot in Floripa. ?Noronha is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, if not the best. The unspoiled Moçambique beach is part of my personal history, because it’s where I learned to shoot in the water. I began to love Floripa because of the waves – I always get good photos there. The secret spot in Floripa is also special; it’s a place I go to recharge my energy and that helps me be aware of my eternal search for the best waves and images. ?As far as travelling goes, I want to know so many different parts of the world that I can’t begin to list them all! I like to surf in warm water with sunshine and hollow waves – these are the perfect ingredients for a great experience.

Most recently, thanks to the superbly monikered illustrator/designer Diggy Smerdon, I’ve been introduced to the work of Ollie Howe. I’ll let Ollie do the talking…

“I’m thankful to have grown up in and around the sea in South Devon. When I was about 14, I got hooked on bodyboarding. I had a great pack of friends to surf and hang out with locally down here and up in North Cornwall, but as soon as I was able, I began travelling in search of the images I had spent my youth staring at in magazines. Many great waves and cultures later, I’m now pretty happy riding any kind of board in any kind of wave – I still love bodyboarding, but I’m equally happy hopping on a fish, shortboard or log, whatever suits the wave.

I’d always been pretty amazed by skate, snow and surf photography, but growing up I was too busy actually doing one of those three things to take time out to document them. In the last couple of years, though, I’ve grown to love capturing moves on film just as much.

As far as inspiration goes, I’m always stoked by the people I hang out with at home. Everyone’s into everything, and they all respect each other’s different styles and chosen ways to ride. Heaps of my friends cross over from skateboarding to snowboarding, longboarding to shortboarding, riding bodyboards to fish.

I think that my photography is influenced by people like Alex Williams, a great local photographer who etched the path for most of the newer guys – guys like Mickey Smith, who’s capturing incredible images that just keep getting better. Appreciating other genres also helps keep things fresh, and I try to incorporate ideas from skate and snowboard photographers like Newsome, Brittain, Kosick, Barash and Blotto.”

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[Rick Kenyon: South Devon point] This is one of Rick’s favourite surf spots; problem is, it's a bag of crap more often than not. But on those rare days when it does what it’s meant to, he's always on it, riding whatever suits, from Bonzers to 9'6 planks, always the deepest and always loving it.