The Wet Lens

Recent Ink

2009-02-23T16:54:00.001-08:00

Got some rad magazines in the mail this week from all over the world. Australia, France, and Brazil! Nothing like getting paid in Euros.

Australia Surfing Life Travel Bible. Charley Stevens Puerto Escondido

Fluir January 2009. Hawaii Issue. Jeronimo Vargas, Off the WallMexican moonlightRusty Long from the roof in PuertoJohn Maher in the Travel Bible Mexico
TripSurfFrance. Pipeline
TripSurfFrance. Archy at Off the Wall

Australia Surfing Life

2009-02-18T12:50:00.001-08:00

So pumped this finally came together and ended up in print!

Caption reads: "...Spare a thought for photographer Ben DeCamp- in his quest to document the true size of a Pipe barrel with a housing containing two cameras, Ben got sucked clean over the falls onto the reef, ending up next to the poor bastard trying to punch through the back in front of him.

Project Vertigo

2009-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

I had a whole article written about how hard it was to swim with two cameras, the technical challenges we overcame, and what I hoped to achieve with it. I think this photo does enough explaining about double vertical fisheye. It's in Australia Surfing Life's Hawaii issue. Thanks to Chad Stickney for helping make this crazy waterhousing a reality.

Bruno Santos & duckdiving surfer, Pipeline

Surfer's Path Article

2009-02-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Got this in the mail yesterday from Europe, 10-page spread on my trip to an outer island in the Pacific. So many people email me to find out where this is, based on the fact that I was the first person the islanders had ever seen try to surf the waves, this one is going to be kept under wraps for round 2...

Movement Brazil Article

2009-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

Got a nice package from Pete Moore at Movement Magazine in the mail today. Stoked to finally see how the Brazil article came out. Such a fun trip, great guys, great girls, great waves. I don't think I can go back because I have too many expectations for what it should be like the 2nd time. Thanks to Lackey for being the amazing tour guide, and SimonO for being my wingman and partner in crime.

Kiron Jabour 5 Questions

2009-01-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

What’s it like living in Hawaii as a younger guy when the tour invades with the big name WCT competitors, do you still pull rank?

I think it’s sick that all-my favorite surfer’s come here every year so I get to see them surfing in person at my home breaks and observe and learn from their surfing. But getting close to the end of the triple crown I’m already over all that crowd and get really stoked knowing that allot of the crowd is going to leave and the crowd is going to mellow back down. As for pulling rank I just watch out so that I don’t burn or get in the way of any of the local guys other then that I cant be paying much attention to the 1,000,000 foreigner’s that are out there or else I would never catch any waves!!!

It looked like you almost lost it on the bottom turn, and then recovered to stand up in the tube. What was this wave like?

I was paddling back out from one wave and this set wave came in and it had this bending double-up (horseshoe) thing going on with it. It looked pretty sick I was kinda late and ended airdropping down the face of the wave so when my board hit the water on the bottom of the wave I was holding on waiting for the fins to catch so I could project my bottom turn and go forward. As I did my bottom turn and was letting go of my rails I barley made it under the lip into the barrel without getting decapitated by the lip!!! That was for sure a fun one.

What was your reaction to this photo? And you know I went over the falls and hit the reef for this! Haha…

I remember seeing the Decamp red camera box when I was in the barrel but I realized that when I was paddling back out from that wave I didn’t see Decamp in the area where I saw him shooting me in the barrel that’s when I looked in side and realized he went over the Falls on the wave…AHAHAHAHAHa…. When I first seen the photo I was at the Quik-house and Strider [Marketing Director] showed me the shot on his phone… I was stoked on the shot that came out sick!!!

Bikepath or Kam HWY?

I have to say Kam HWY if I’m coming from my house cause there is no bike-path at Laniakea. But once I’m on the other side of Waimea and somewhere like the Quik house I would for sure have to say bike-path.

What’s been your best tourist-girl scam so far?

I haven’t really scammed tourist girls I mostly just enjoy being around the hot ones and enjoying some nice views of them on the beach. I don’t know if that’s a good answer..ahahhaha

Wave of the Week

2009-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

I swam out and noticed some fog inside my dome port from going straight from an air conditioned room into the warm Hawaiian water. But there was a little clear spot in the corner so I tried to frame every shot around it and lucked into a wild refraction.

Internet LOVE

2009-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Internet is loving me right now, here's a photo on Surfing Magazine's page about Nathan Fletcher breaking his leg doing a cutback. It's misleading because this is not him actually breaking his leg. This is a flawless cutback.
And here's from Surfline's Top 10 Stories of 2008, mine wasn't a story, but I suppose they thought it was a fitting image for an opener. That photo session in S. America is the session that just keeps on giving back to me this year. I think it's at 5 or 6 spreads and in a book.

Wave of the Week

2009-01-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

Cool angle at the Banzaii. I love how you can see the beach down near Rockpiles, and the specular highlights in the foreground.

Thoughts on Style

2009-01-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people say I have a certain style... I hear this from a variety of characters in the surf industry. “You shoot like this or that photographer, your work reminds of so-and-so, etc.” They try to place me in a category. People like to put labels on ideas and others; it makes them feel more comfortable in an uncertain world. I couldn’t tell you what my style is, but others certainly seem to be able to. All I know is that I shoot what my gut tells me to and what interests me the most. Top left, flash at 10 ft., bottom right... very very big Pipe.

Hawaii contact sheet

Full bleed{ing}

2009-01-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

Full bleed{ing} all over the place!!! Rusty Long in a Puerto bomb. When he took off on this wave it was still dark out and as he bottom turned that light saber came over the horizon and pictured is that golden 2 seconds of light that looks really insane; all the whites turned gold!

Surfer Magazine February 2009

Wave of the Week

2009-01-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Golden hour bash at Off the Wall

What are you looking for?

2009-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Waves? Solitude? Meaning?
I often find myself going to the ends of the world in search of perfect waves, but something more as well. Each person is looking for something different; but what’s more important is the experience of the journey itself…
Enjoy your search in 2009 and beyond. Happy New Year.

Wave of the Week

2008-12-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in California and working on a lot of new projects. And it was great to come home to a stack of mail containing a bunch of paychecks! Here's a photo of Off the Wall from the Red Bull house when 3rd reef Pipeline was breaking. Big and chunky...kinda like Campbells soup, but less of Terrell Owens and more of his pain and punishment.

Brown Barrels

2008-12-27T16:53:00.001-08:00

Well, the power went out all last night. I guess it made national news because Obama is staying on the island. Pretty quiet on the North Shore, but all this rain has made the water an ugly color. Brown barrels at Backdoor looked more like Mexico than Hawaii. A lot of people got sick from swimming in ocean the past week. The flooding washed all kinds of trash and chemicals into the sea.

Hobgood, Off the Wall

Backdoor during the Pipe Masters

Mele Kalikimaka

2008-12-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

Check out this interview I did with a surf website called SpongeWars based out of Israel. Also, I just read in the masthead of the new issue of Surfer Magazine I'm listed as a Senior Photographer alongside the likes of Sean Davey, Art Brewer, and Jeff Divine. Super pumped!!!

http://spongewars.com/v3e/?p=949

Swimming at solid Off the Wall with the new HCW waterhousing...Keep your eyes peeled for the Hawaii issues of Surfer and Surfing Magazine out soon! photo//Sangiolo

Wave of the Week

2008-12-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

Check out late afternoon green colors! My feet were touching the reef when this thing heaved over...It's pretty rare to see a wave pass by empty during the WCT madness in Hawaii.

Low tide Pipeline

Swell Coming?

2008-12-20T00:20:00.001-08:00

Thank God there is a little bump on the swell radar maps because I'm going stir-crazy in Hawaii. But I suppose palm trees and sunshine is better than any day back in the states when it's snowing in SoCal and Vegas...
Stay warm my friends; the waves are coming...

Brazilian Buses

2008-12-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

Matt Lackey sent this sighting to me the other morning from somewhere in Brazil. The photo is from my last trip to Mexico swimming in the pit with Derek Dunfee. Still not sure who took it to end up on the side of a city bus, but pretty classic nonetheless!

Wave of the Week

2008-12-15T11:25:00.001-08:00

The colors of Waimea Bay draw a lot of photographers, and usually I shoot tight-cropped empty wave photos with a 600mm for stock imagery. This afternoon I decided to take a step back and shoot from across the river in an effort to capture the whole scene.

Postcard from Paradise

2008-12-12T08:48:00.001-08:00

Surfline was loving a sequence I took of Pat Guadaskas at Pipeline. The wave spit hard and it threw him off balance and we almost collided in the impact zone. I posted it earlier this week, but this is in a flash slide show, so it's really rad to see it autoplay like a movie and see what it was like as he was flying at me. View slide # 10
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/freesurf-highlights-from-two-days-of-perfect-surf-on-the-north-shore-postcard-from-paradise_21095/photos/1/

Summertime & the Living is Easy

2008-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

The other morning as soon as I got out of the water I removed my camera from the waterhousing, traded the fisheye for a portrait lens, and headed back towards the surf team houses at Off the Wall. This beautiful girl Summer wanted me to shoot her custom cruiser bicycles on the North Shore bike path. We bounced some ideas off of each other and picked outfits. That was the most daunting part, because she probably owns more bathing suits than a surf shop. The white summer dress was perfect for that wholesome look, but of course my suggestion for a skimpy bikini attracted several creepy lurkers on the sidelines. Overall, we were both very happy with the images and had a blast!

Sequence Mania

2008-12-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

Hawaii has been amazing... Usually this early in the season it's characterized by rain and clouds, but it's been sunny with offshore winds! And this morning I can hear the waves breaking on the shelf across the street. Time to go for a swim. More to come...

Swimming at Pipeline photo//Stallard

Working hard this week! photo//Roy

Wallpaper Paste

2008-12-08T21:21:00.001-08:00

The emails don't stop about this wave. I've even had offers from random people to pay me to take them here! Surfer Magazine ran it as a 2 pg. spread, and now you can set it as your desktop wallpaper. Enjoy.
http://surfermag.com/photos/wallpapers/

The 4 Year Photo

2008-12-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

The other night there were 10 water photographers and no one shooting land, so I took advantage of the situation. I've been trying to get this photo since I started shooting; can't believe it's been less than 4 years. Kalani Chapman, speed blur blowout at Pipeline.