The First Surf Image That Gave Me Faith I Could Do This Photography Thing
Getting a start as a creative is no easy task, especially when you don’t have a clue as to what you want to do, create, or, most importantly, enjoy. As a kid, I always thought I would be an author, which I became about a month ago with my first book, but the idea of “becoming a photographer” never crossed my mind. Becoming a filmmaker was not something I ever talked about with my family growing up, but my first documentary won a few awards at film festivals last year. So, what the heck did I do as a kid?
I played my heart out in water.
Sunset surf at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, CA. Photo by Dalton Johnson
Growing up near a lake and swimming competitively, I loved the water. Still do. Some might say I lived in water as I practiced 3-5 hours a day during high school and college. However, when I was 8, I had the opportunity to learn how to surf in Baja and fell in love. Not your typical love, either. I used to download the cams off pipeline off LimeWire — anyone remember this platform? I looked, it still exists — as a kid and upload that to my iPod video and watch it going to bed. Yeah, that kind of love.
So, when I started this process of “becoming a creative” I spent all of my money on a water housing for my camera so I could be closer to the sport. Every morning and every evening I would get in the water and shoot until my memory card was full or the battery died. Then, during the night, I would edit those images and see what I came up with.
This image here, from Steamer Lane, was one of the earlier photographs I remember taking and being like, “Wow, that is cool!” Maybe it was the frozen hands, numb lips, or just desire to see something different, but this image was one of the first images that gave me hope I was moving in the right direction.
Outside of my own thoughts, many peers — mostly on Instagram at the time — gave me a lot of encouragement to keep going, keep shooting, and keep up the grind. Fast forward 8 years, I still look at this image and smile.
