‘Too many kooks spoil the froth,’ Hawaii. Photo:Timo

SURF PHOTOGRAPHER

You don’t have to be weird… but it helps.

Surf time:

Pretty damn good. The ones that don’t surf don’t surf out of choice, coz there are plenty that do surf and surf really well. On a Mentawai trip, obviously 99% of the time you’re there to work, but you live by the coast and as we all know, surf spots are rarely photo worthy all the time. So you’re probably shooting when it’s A + + conditions but still surfing all the B-days, which there are lots of.

Money:

Until the relatively recent going tits-up of the surf biz, some top dogs at American mags were reportedly getting up to six figures as senior staff photogs, plus brand work, which itself can pay up to two grand a day, and five grand a photo for global rights copyright buy-out for ads. That was the very upper extreme end of the glory days though, today editorial will barely earn you enough to put petty in the car, and no surf brands are really buying ads anymore… and you gotta spend half a zillion on equipment. Meanwhile the ASP only tend to hire South Africans, so they can pay them in biltong.

Travel Possibilities:

Amazing. You’ll spend your career going to the finest surf destinations in the universe with the finest surfers. Or alternatively, around Britain…

Downside:

Spending trillions on excess baggage and endless hours hating on
each other online,crapping on sanctimoniously about the days of film, bleeting about social media… as well as getting your best stuff either ignored or printed postage stamp size by the kooks at the magazines (sorry!). Also, you don’t have to be a weirdo, but it helps…

Qualifications:

No formal qualifications, your photos will be your CV. Need to be able to get on with pros, get up early, swim, and stare at a Mac endlessly. famouS SurferS: Laurent Pujol is a French pro turned photog who’s had covers on half a dozen mags already.