US OPEN OF SURFING
Tuesday was the first official day for the US Open of Surfing Championship! For me, that meant heading to Huntington Beach in the pre-dawn hours to capture some of the earliest practice runs, as well as the first rounds of competition.
Some of you may be yawning at the thought of leaving your house in the early morning darkness to head to the beach. Fortunately, it’s a pretty short drive for me!
🙂
But I have to tell you, there is nothing like watching the sunrise from a beach draped in early morning fog! It’s actually very surreal! My early arrival allowed me the opportunity to greet many of the pro surfers heading out for their early rides. It also allowed me to gain a prime camera spot prior to what seemed like an additional one thousand photographers who had descended upon the beach by the 7:30 AM official start to the competition.
When shooting surf action, it doesn’t take long to fire off 1,000 shots!! By 9:00 AM I thought a break was in order, and decided to enjoy a wonderful breakfast at the Ruby’s Diner on the pier. You should have been there – I was buying!!
🙂
After a hearty breakfast, I couldn’t wait to get back out to the competition for some additional surfing excitement! After all, the surf was expected to peak around 11:00 AM! I squeezed into an open space on the pier for an overhead perspective this time.
Here’s one of my shots from early in the day!
I look forward to this event every summer! It’s pretty amazing what these professionals can do with a surfboard!
Photographyfree4all's Blog 
Sounds like a good time! Great capture of teh action. 🙂
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Thanks, Ted! It was a fun day! Part of the upside of being a photographer!
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