How much trust do you place in your own two hands?
The ocean is a hard-hearted woman. I was surfing in my hometown secret spot (Bastendorff, Oregon) as a child and had my 1977 Hawaiian Island Creations rainbow twin-fin ripped from my leg and sucked out to sea in a massive undertow. I somehow made it to a barnacle-crusted rock and watched it disappear over the horizon. It was my everything and tears filled my eyes.
I have never fully trusted her since, even though my Hawaiian Islands Creations shred was worth a maximum of $75 and my parents bought me a potato chip Xanadu as replacement. So it is with much wonder that I look upon Erik Ippel, superstar water cinematographer, and his willingness to sit under the lip with $100,000 worth of camera up to his eye. It is with even more wonder that I know he makes the waterhousings that protects it.
Erik knows that a career in water cinematography has a short-ish window, but a career in building the best waterhousings is forever. He must cobble each one together from plastics, seals, metals, tubes and gizmos. They must be light, functional, clear, strong and, above all, waterproof. One small leak and $100,000 is pissed away. “I am working on 2 housings for the Phantom Flex 4K camera right now.. & have finished & use the 2 housings I made for the Red Epic…” he tells me while screaming at haoles to beat it (he lives in Hawaii). The Phantom Flex 4k runs anywhere from $99,000 to $159,000. “I think maybe taking a 100K camera & building a housing for it & filming an iconic epic day of surfing & nailing it is probably right up there for favorite things I do & have done…” he says while choking a haole out.
It sounds very stressful to me and also not fun but, then again, Erik lives in Hawaii. “I love getting to work with the best… best surfers, directors, writers, & camera companies for me it is like a kid in a candy store… to have the company’s Like Red, & Vision research know who I am and want to collaborate & work with me on a housing I have dreamed up for one of there cameras is a big accomplishment that I enjoy…” he says while false cracking two haoles at the same time.
Would you enjoy building something that protects a camera worth more than all the ASP judges and commentators, combined, have earned all year (plus $100,000)? Would you trust yourself to not get sued by every sucker who bought your glorified Ziplock baggie? Me either.
Ippel Films Phantom Reel from Erik Ippel on Vimeo.