"Hassle the photographers" -- 2/22/02
Neal Miyake
to check out the action. For some reason, I wasn't all that jazzed to ride.
I just had this strong urge to shoot from the water, and since the Gotcha
Pipeline surfing event was on, I decided to try my luck there.
The area around Ehukai Beach Park was a madhouse of cars and people.
Apparently, the area was being shared not just by the contest crowd and
onlookers, but by the film crew that was shooting "Surf Girls" right next
door at Ehukai.
The surf was tiny by North Shore standards with just overhead surf coming in
from the northwest. Easterly trades buffeted the waves offshore, making for
some nice, misty overspray. The water color was exceptional, with nice blues
and green hues across the sandbars and reefs. Also, there were hardly any
clouds--very important in surf photography. It was small, but all the other
elements were in place for a good photo shoot.
Earlier, when I was getting my gear together, I found that I had already
preloaded some film in the camera. Had to lose a shot to make sure, and I
wasn't certain if the film speed was set correctly or how many shots was
left (no film window on the Nikonos). I just guessed that it was still the
Fuji Provia (asa 400, 36 exposure). Kinda unsettling because you want to
know exactly what your limits are before swimming.
(Apologize in advance for the shameless name-dropping.)
First, I had to schmooze things over with the contest crew, rekindling old
friendships and making sure it was all right to shoot. I first went to the
venerable Rabbit Kekai just fo' talk story and to find out where contest
director Reid Inouye was. He directed me to Mick O'Brien's house out back.
On my way there, I had to hassle announcers Bo Hodge and Jeannie Chesser,
who have playfully given me some jabs through the years. Found Reid with
head judge Jack Shipley and we shot the crap for a bit.
After getting the green light from all parties, I grabbed my gear and headed
for the shoreline, acknowledging photog Bernie Baker on the way out (who was
judging at the time).
Swam out real easily to the lineup and hung out in the Pipe channel. After
shooting my first shot, I realized I didn't check the camera settings. Of
course, it was set wrong. Argh!
I soon realized that Backdoor was better, so just before the end of a heat,
I started getting closer to the competitors. "Water photographer, please
move out of the contest lineup!" was blurted out by Bo to the entire beach.
Little did I know that this would be the trend of things to come. I
acknowledged him and backed off, but soon after, the horn sounded the end of
the heat and I motored across the lineup and into the "channel" at Backdoor.
It's amazing what a difference the angle of the sun can make. Whereas the
lighting at Pipe was more backlit and shadowy, shooting from Backdoor had
this very tropical look, with the water color really looking vibrant.
I was feeling pretty good, just cruising all by my lonesome. Because the
surf was so small, I was sitting in water that was barely seven feet deep. I
was the only one shooting, and it felt great. Of course, it didn't last.
Soon, a couple of videographers joined me. One was named Ray Hollowell, who
was the hired hand for Gotcha to shoot the event. The other was named Mike,
who was shooting slo-mo video set at 140 fps!!!
Those guys really knew how to get into position. They sat real tight and got
up close with the contestants. Sometimes a bit too close, I thought.
Two things happened because of that. The first was that I got a whole bunch
of shots of the backs of their heads as they deftly positioned themselves
ahead of me and in the midst of the action. It was a bummer for me, but I
understood that this is their livelihood and just my hobby.
But the other thing was that the announcers starting to continually call us
away, saying that we were too close to the competitors. It was really
frustrating because it wasn't like we were totally clueless. We've all done
it before and made sure that we did't get in the way.
Yet over and over again, Bo would boom out a warning for us to get further
away. I think the judges were on his case.
Ray joked to me that it seems they "hassle the photographers" every single
time, even though we are the very ones promoting and documenting the event.
It's almost like it's their duty to hassle us when we are out there.
Eventually, Mike gave up and paddled back to Off the Wall. I hung in there,
but the complaints kept coming so I finally followed Mike out of the lineup,
leaving Ray behind. Guess by leaving just one camera dude in the lineup, it
eased the judges a bit because the whining stopped.
Moving over to OTW wasn't a total loss. Actually, the waves were punchier
there, with some pretty hot action going down. Perry Dane was dominating the
lineup, along with longboarder Lance Hookano and some bodyboarder dropping
da knee.
After burning my film, I came in feeling fairly exhausted and all worked
out. I went back to the judges stand to make peace, but nobody gave a s#!t.
They all understood that I was trying to help the contest, not undermine it.
Guess they just had to play "hassle the photographer" after all. :-)
Aloha from Paradise,
sponge
www.hisurfadvisory.com
www.bodyboarding.com
Story also at: http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh381.htm
Pics at: http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/photos/gotchapipe02.htm (poor scans)
OBsurfr
Great report and photos. I like the tight shots you got using the bigger
lens.
OB(heading for San Francisco today)Surfr
--
OBsurfr(kneed4speed)
www.kneed4speed.com
"Neal Miyake" <spo...@iav.com> wrote in message
news:cXYj8.7638$wt5.2...@twister.socal.rr.com...
Neal Miyake
Cool guy.
sponge