"This shot was taken of Pro Surfer Mike Morrissey at a local surf spot in Laguna Beach, Ca. Mike is an old buddy of mine and we had talked about shooting together while out mountain biking one day. I hadn’t shot surfing at that point and thought he would be the perfect candidate. The reason being that I understand his surfing vernacular; when his going to do an air, big lip bash etc. and well he just kills it.
That day the tide was perfect right as I got off work so we met up for a session. There was a fun solid south swell that had been filling in with a little bit of texture on the water due to the annoying wind that seemed to pick every time we shot that week. Once arriving he proceeded to put on a show by doing huge stylish airs, sketchy late take offs and powerful turns. He did this air I was able to capture about halfway through our second session under light close to the golden hour which is what we were aiming for. A tip I had learned from one of photography mentors Joe Bailey when we shoot skimboarding together is that you want to be as low as possible so when these guys do an air it does them justice. Well…with surfing in some cases that can be tough but at this particular spot I was able to get low and close to mike as he was doing his thing.
I guess one could call it beginners luck to grab a few shots of Mike throughout our sessions together. This one seemed to grab some attention via surfline.com posting it in their last swell feature, Nation Mfg. (Mike’s board sponsor) acquiring a few of them and now this… This has been a ton of work and I have enjoyed every minute of this photographic journey. I hope you like this novice’s photograph and a huge thanks to Mike Morrissey for being an amazing subject. Yew!"- Taylor Osborn
Mike is a beast. Great shot, great comp!
Way Cool. Saw you sitting there getting some. I was on the stairs for a bit and a few beaches away, as well. Here's a few I got on the same exact session, on the same exact air, for the first one. I was there working for a couple guys in the water, but Mike is always exciting to shoot.
Cheers
www.drewmartinphotography.com
Right on Drew! Epic shots. It was a fun day down there. Thanks for sharing.
Congrats on a super RAD shot.. that whole series you did was Rockin'..Mike is such a Killer Dude...aloha
Thanks Jim! Appreciate it! You must have seen the ones I tagged him on facebook? And yeah he's a bro and was great to work with. Can't wait until the next swell to do it again.
Super cool ! Well done boyz
Although we haven't met, Mike and I are second cousins. I so admire his cooliosity and only hope that we share a gene or two.