Defying Gravity

This shot was in my head for a long time. Having all of the elements come together was extremely difficult. Flynn Novak had to do his part with the maneuver and as the photographer, my positioning was key. Flynn and I shot for years before this was captured. We almost didn’t go out that day. The waves were dysfunctional at best but the lighting was gorgeous. We agreed it was worth a shot. I saw Flynn take off down the line, how fast he was moving, and determined based on the look of the wave that he would go for an air. I swam under to the other side of the wave, surfaced, made sure there were no water drops on my housing port, and aimed as he took flight. All of this happened in split seconds.