Making waves

Surf, sea and shore photographer Clark Little tells how a life by the ocean led to a career shooting in, on and under the big blue briny...

- Clark Little

Life can unfold in unplanned ways. You never know when the photography bug will hit, and a few decisions that seem insignificant at the time suddenly change life's trajectory. It wasn't until I was in my late 30s that I picked up photography. It was never in my plans. The only reason it ever happened was a simple request from my wife to get a picture of a wave for our bedroom wall.

We live on the north shore of O'ahu in Hawaii. Everyone in my family loves waves and anything to do with the ocean. She just wanted something cool for the wall above our bed. One day she came back from a local gallery with a photograph of a wave. When I saw it, my first thought was, 'I can get a better shot of a wave.'

Growing up in Hawaii, I had been in waves my entire life - surfing, snorkelling, hanging out at the beach. I see waves from a different perspective, especially since I used to surf big closeout waves in the shorebreak. Technically it was a beautiful photograph, but it didn't have an extreme or up-close element to it. It didn't make me go, 'Wow!' It was a picture that was probably taken from the shore looking out at a breaking wave, using a long lens and tripod.

Frozen waves