Scott Dickerson

Tag: surfing

  • Surfing Alaska in icy ’09

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    It’s ten minutes before midnight, maybe I’m having a case of midnight stoke, but I can’t help but share this photo. I jumped on the computer to check email before bed and accidentally glanced over the thumbnails for a recent surf session / photo shoot.  January 5th, 2009. This shot caught my fancy, I hope it does the same for you.

    It’s been an unusually cold week for our little seaside town with temps dipping below 0º F at night. Fortunately though, with the cold weather came a few great days of surf after Christmas and into the new year giving us surfers something to really celebrate.

    Strange things start happening on the beaches when the thermometer drops like this. Take the above photo for an example.  Alaskan surfer, Jake Beaudoin, is standing on what are normally black boulders. Today they look more like marshmellows, however as another surfing buddy pointed out, they are much more slippery than a marshmellow! What seems to be going on here is the receding tide slowly draws the waves away from the very cold rocks and we have what the local fishermen and wethermen call ‘Freezing Spray’ as the splashing water freezes onto the rocks. And in case you were wondering, yes, this freezing spray does occur on the body of a surfer as well.

    There are a lot more photos to share from this last week, and I’m trying to get through editing them. Though today the cold had me distracted searching for a new wood stove…  In the meantime I have some links for the curious:
    – See a short gallery of Alaska surfing photos
    – or browse a couple hundred Alaska surfing photos from the last couple years at my online archive
    – and if you really want more of the scoop on surfing in Alaska visit another site I’m building – SurfAlaska.net.

    Stay warm out there.

  • Passion in photography part 2

    Passion in photography part 2

    In my last post, part 1, I went on about how it can be difficult to actually separate your passions from the many things you like in life. Some signs of NOT following your passions reveal themselves in obvious ways.  If you are working on something (a career, towards a goal, a project) and the work feels like a drudgery, mustering the enthusiasm or energy for the work is difficult,  or the work is the means to the goal only. I’d venture to suggest that you are probably not pursuing something you are truly passionate about.

    Q: How do you know if you are passionate about a thing?

    A 1: The energy, commitment, enthusiasm, and desire to pursue the passion wells up within you spontaneously without effort on your part. In other words, it’s easier to follow this thing than it would be to ignore or avoid it. When you turn away it gnaws at your insides. In the morning when you are laying comfortably in bed the desire for it makes you throw the covers off. I don’t have to try and get excited about photography, I just am. I don’t try to muster the enthusiasm to do a photo shoot, instead there seems to be a boundless supply of motivating desire for it.

    A 2: The pursuit of a passion is satisfying and rewarding in the present moment. According to my definition a passion can not be solely embodied in the future. I think it’s possible to be passionate about reaching a goal, but if you find that the process is not a pleasure then I think it’s time to reconsider. The best way I can explain this is a surfing analogy. For about 10 years I’ve had a vague goal of becoming a skilled surfer, but the first wave I caught was just as fun as the wave yesterday, and if I ever reach this nebulous goal of being ‘skilled’ I don’t expect that I’ll enjoy surfing anymore than I did 10 years ago. That’s because my passion for surfing is not contained solely in the goal of being skilled, my passion is for surfing period. The process, the means towards the goal, is satisfying and rewarding in the present moment.

    There is much more that could be said on this, so let’s look at some photos.  The photos in this post are of a friend and kayak surfer with real passion, Randy Keller. The image at the top shows Randy trying to take his frozen hand out of a frozen glove after a surfing session during a winter storm. Notice the ice covering everything, including his one remaining lens in his glasses. The photos below tell the rest of the story that lead up to the top photo.

    Randy makes it pretty obvious that when a person is following a true passion the endurance or commitment required to overcoming great obstacles is provided. He does not suffer through a session like this, he loves it. I don’t think he particularly enjoys throbbing cold hands and breaking his glasses, but he certainly has a passion for kayak surfing, and lives out a very obvious example of how a passion provides the energy and enthusiasm required for its wholehearted pursuit. The air temp was probably around 10F, it was snowing hard and blowing roughly 30mph. If you are curious about this Randy Keller guy, check out his adventure guiding business – Isuma Guideworks.

  • Photo in Surfer’s Journal magazine

    Scott Dickerson Alaska surf photo in The Surfer's Journal

    This month has broght more than just the beginning of our real surf season in Alaska it appears – Alaskan waves are hitting the magazine racks as well. Within days of Alaska Magazine releasing their issue with the cover photo of Mike McCune surfing on a particularly cold day last winter, I received a copy of volume seventeen, Number Five of The Surfer’s Journal magazine containing an article about cold weather surfing: Baby, It’s Cold – Surfing in the age of neoprene, written by Sam George and illustrated by a handful of photographers including yours truly. If you are interested in surfing and haven’t seen a copy of The Surfer’s Journal, I highly recommend getting your hands on one. It’s an incredibly beautiful magazine with an amazing print job and very very little advertising to filter through.

    The photo above has been getting a lot of attention so I thought it would be fun to share a few other images from that same day, March 6th, 2007.  A day to remember.  One of 2007’s best surf sessions combined with a stunning winter day, beautiful green water, nice winter backlighting, ice covered beach foreground and a snow covered mountain backdrop. I can’t wait.

    Alaskan surfer Ty Gates walks through chunks of ice on the beach.

    Photo of Alaskan surfer Gart Curtis surfing during the icy winter in Homer, Alaska.

    Photo of ice packed against the beach at a surf break in Homer, Alaska during winter.

    That wasn’t exactly what we had at the beach today, thought I did manage to catch a few nice waves in the four hours I was paddling around in the storm surf.

    You can see more Alaskan surfing photos here. And if you want more, I have a couple hundred alaska surf photos online in my stock archive.

  • Surfing photos in Alaska Magazine

    Cover of Alaska Magazine - Alaska surfing photos by Scott Dickerson

    Hot off the press.  This post will be quick since my bags are packed and I’m heading out the door for a week long photography and surfing trip to Yakutat, Alaska. But, I wanted to share this exciting news for Scott Dickerson Photography – The October issue of Alaska Magazine just hit the racks with a cover photo of Mike McCune surfing our local break and inside are two double page spreads, a full page, and a couple smaller photos of our surf scene. The story was written by freelance writer Jody Ellis-Knapp.

    Most of the photos are from last year when the temps were unusually low and the surf was good. Lots of ice chunks and slush in the breaks. Yakutat will be warm by comparison this week so we are all planning on making the most of that before the winter surf season really gets started at home in Homer.

    If you missed it, earlier this year the ‘Surfer’s Path’ ran AlaskaFolio -Alaska surf portfolio.

    A big thank you to my Alaskan surfing buddies who not only endure the cold, but also put up with this photographer, all with a smile.

    Alaska surfing photos by Scott Dickerson in Alaska Magazine.

    Alaska surfing photos by Scott Dickerson in Alaska Magazine.

    Alaska surfing photos by Scott Dickerson in Alaska Magazine.

    Alaska surfing photos by Scott Dickerson in Alaska Magazine.

  • Alaska surf season has begun

    Brad Conley heads out for a fall surf in Homer, Alaska.

    Finally! After several months without a single surf session, I woke this morning to a strong west wind that put some messy, but precious, swells on the beach in my hometown. The weather patterns in the summer here prevent waves from building where we need them, so despite the allure of surfing when the air is above freezing we rarely get the chance in my hometown. Come fall, the weather patterns change and out come the surfboards.

    The photo above is actually from a couple years ago. Move the snow line up the mountains a thousand feet and that’s what it was like at the surf break today.  I can’t show you exactly because I left the camera in the car. The waves weren’t particularly photogenic and the potential images are not nearly as exciting as the mid-winter shots. Don’t get me wrong, the scenery is still stunning with 4,000ft mountains rising out of the ocean and fresh snow on their peaks. But, I have to work this balance between surfing and photographing. When the waves are poor and the weather not extreme I figure surfing has a bigger reward than taking some mediocre photos.

    If you want the real winter surfing see this post and photos of winter surfing in Alaska. Or you can go straight to an online gallery of Alaska surf photos.

    UPDATE 11/27/08:  I’ve launched a little hobby blog for sharing more session reports, location info, photos and stories about surfing in Alaska. Check it out here –  www.SurfAlaska.net