Brazilians dancing, singing, hooting and making a lot of noise in general: Brazilian Filipe Toledo just won the first Championship Tour (CT) event by finishing his last wave with a perfect 10 score. The only perfect 10 of the whole men’s event.
As I mount my fisheye lens onto the Olympus E-M1 and to the end of my fully extended monopod the crowds are dashing over to meet the new champion. It’s the first WSL event, his first event victory, he’s now placed number one on the world rank and just finished his heat with a perfect 10 score. Reason enough for a whole nation to go crazy – especially one that really knows how to do exactly that. I’m now fighting the crowds and taking as many shots as I can from the action holding up my monopod with the camera attached on the end capturing the emotions and celebrating crowds around the athletes.
It’s a big mess and as the athlete moves along the beach to meet his family and coach the crowd becomes like a moving, unstoppable, stampeding herd. It’s a battle to get close and get the right shot – an intensive but fun one. I can only feel the joy and emotions and I’m glad to be in the middle of it and share the moment.
The waves kicked in on the last 2 days of the event and it was great fun to watch the last rounds of the Roxy Pro and Quiksilver Pro unfold in these conditions. The cyclone building off the coast didn’t quite make it to Snapper Rocks yet and the predicted 7-10ft waves dropped down to 4-5ft ones. More than enough for the professionals to make surfing look the way it should. Vertical turns, cut backs, floaters, drop wallets, air-revs and a whole selection of mind boggling tricks and moves were on offer and my camera happily snapped to the action at full speed.
Congratulations to Roxy Pro winner Carissa Moore and to Quiksilver Pro winner Filipe Toledo and of course to the 2nd places: Stephanie Gilmore and Julian Wilson.
Now I invite you to enjoy some of my best shots of the finals day. Please take a minute and let me know what you think in the comments below.
All images are taken by me and are for personal use only and are for non commercial use. For any inquires please contact: chris@chriseyrewalker.com
Awesome pics! I’m new to photography and can only wish to capture events as well as this! Awesome! What lense do you use for fish eye? The light is amazing
Hi Kate,
Thank you for the kind words. Always nice to hear that I inspire people.
The fisheye lens I use is a Panasonic LUMIX 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens.
Chris