John John and the miracle of pre-dawn photography

For the first time, photographers can capture the preciousness of a pre-dawn session…

One thing you never see in surf mags, online whatevs, are images of those precious pre-dawn surfs. You know ’em. You paddle out into the oily darkness, into the stillness, and for maybe thirty minutes, you’re gifted a few uncrowded ramps or tubes. It’s a special time, a time when you get a feel for what surfing might’ve been like fifty years ago.

The photo, here, is of John John Florence at Backdoor Pipe and was snatched from the darkness at roughly 6:45am, twenty minutes or so before any real light can land on all those digital sensors.

Isn’t the photo (actually a frame-grab) a little dark? Yeah, it is.

But it’s true to what the filmer Chris Bryan was seeing as John flew past, came out of the barrel near Off the Wall and then hucked a double-grab…well, Chris can’t say whether it was a backflip or more of a corkscrew. The waves he says, were six-to-eight if it was Australia, maybe four-feet if you’re talking shop to Hawaiians.

Chris, an Australian, was actually on holidays with his family on the North Shore and was checking the waves in the dark when he saw John John paddle out. “I couldn’t resist grabbing my gear and swimming out,” he says. “I really like to shoot low-light moody kinda stuff.”

It was only because he owns a super high-speed Phantom camera that he had the technological grunt to steal the photo, something that pleases him very much. And not just for the uniqueness of the shot.

“At that time of the day, you’re not chasing photos with every other photographer. You’re not doing battle with ten other guys to get the shot. There’s no clashes of ego. It’s relaxing. You’re out there by yourself and you’re getting something that is very different.”