Month
Sept. 08
Gutierrez 5
The US Open of Surfing is one of the most heavily attended professional surfing competitions, drawing over 400,000 spectators over 10 days. Held in Huntington Beach in July, the US Open displays the incredible talent of the best surfers in the world.
This year was a little different than previous years as surf conditions on the Friday and Saturday before the finals were a little rough with two competing swells and some robust rip tides. Catching an edge was a matter of luck but when a surfer was lucky enough to catch a wave that didn't close out, it was usually a left break.
Therefore, I shot from the pier which was just north of the break and was able to capture some unique images. The weather was overcast most of the time which is really my preferred condition under which to photograph surfing. Once the sun breaks through the clouds, contrast increases to the point that it is really difficult to get an image that isn't washed out.
I used my trusty, built like a tank, D2X with 300-800 F5.6 zoom on gimbal head. I also shot with a new 120-300 F2.8 lens with 1.5x teleconverter which turned out better than I thought it would. Exposure was standard matrix metering, 1/3 stop under exposed to reduce the possibility of white out.
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