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Surfing Paparazzi
Emily Walton surfed the web and found some of the best surf sites with heaps of cool shots.
Have you been hanging out on your surfboard lately with your mates? I bet you look cool on your board with the swell rolling in and the water dripping off your wetsuit. Or do you shrug off the cold and enjoy those waves in your boardies? Either way, it's defi nitely a moment to capture.
Taking a picture of you on your board is hard, though, unless you've got a friend back on shore with a camera. Not many of your mates are going to volunteer when the waves are beckoning. But here's the good news: professional and hobby photographers hit the beach daily, taking hundreds of shots of surfers riding the waves. At the end of the day they upload the best pics onto the internet.
With all those photos on the web it's hard to know just where to go. So if teachers are giving you a tough time, take a break to dream yourself onto the beach.
Emily Walton is a journalism and media management student in Vienna, Austria. She is spending three months in New Zealand on an internship before going home to graduate and work for an Austrian newspaper.
If you're planning a surf trip for your next school break be sure to visit this surfing guide. View some great wave shots and get information on wave and wind conditions, beaches and surf events near you. And it's not just boys battling it out in the waves: girls can sign up on the surfer girls' network. Meet other surfer chicks and keep on top of the gossip, styles and news. Not sure about your surfing outfit or equipment? Download some videos and admire the pros testing new equipment and sporting the latest wetsuits. Plus, there's some great footage on the latest surfing championships on surf2surf.
If you've only got a few minutes in your break visit this site for the newest shots. A community of over 100 photographers upload 3,000 pictures a day. You can buy a picture for about $10 - that's less than a tub of wax. If you haven't got the money for a shot just grab your camera to earn some extra dollars. Surfpix owner Blair Dods is looking for hobby photographers to join his crew. Dods manages the online photo album and $5 per pic go to him - the rest is yours. Surfpix is more than a picture book: rate the photos online, join the forum and win awesome prizes. You can even buy some cheap camera equipment on the site.
This site is the original online surf gallery. Photographers John Keoghan and Mike Langdon have put some stunning closeups on the site and they are all sorted chronologically. If you know the exact time you were out in the swell, finding the picture will be as easy as pie. Unfortunately the pictures are copyright protected so there's no point saving them on your PC. However, it is worth spending some pocket money on a glossy photo or a canvas print. And if you really want to impress your friends get the images printed onto a fridge magnet or key ring.
Mike Hills uploads 200 pictures daily onto his site nzsurfer.co.nz. The hobby surfer knows all about the weather conditions and is out in the best breaks. Mike owns all the professional camera gear, so you might spot his lens poking out of the water as he takes shots under water. Find out more about the private life of your surfing idols in the bro-files on the site. What would Kiwi surfers spend their last cents on and which mottos do these guys live by?
Over 70 international photographers have teamed up here to link surfers from all over the world. This site has only been up since February and already 200 surfers are checking out the page for the best pictures on earth. Spot you and your mates online or treat yourself to a great shot of beaches in Africa, Europe or South America for your bedroom wall. And if you sign up as a free member you can set an automatic notification for new pictures from an area near you. But the photographers are easy to spot: the platform is sponsored by surf label O'Neill.
Why not send your favourite shot to surf.co.nz? It might be voted shot of the day. And the best thing about this site is the photos are free to download. So there's no need to feel low if you can't make it to the beach. Join the surf club and follow the waves in Raglan and Kaikoura on the web cam, chat with boarders or practise your surfing from home with some great technical tips. If surfing is not your thing and you're more a fan of boarding on frozen water, check out snow.co.nz. It's snowing fun stuff there.
