D'bah Freesurf Sessions - Chris Eyre-Walker Photography

It’s Saturday, 4.55AM. Two bags and myself are waiting on the side of the road near my apartment in Queenscliff. No wind. I can smell the salt in the air and in the distance I can hear a constant deep rumble. It’s PUMPING and I’m about to get on a flight.

The previous afternoon I raced down to Dee Why Beach after work at the studio to find clean, 4-5ft waves breaking – a little straight, but surfable. I knew the weekend would bring more, but my plans were set in stone: I was heading up the coast to Snapper Rocks in Queensland to shoot the first WSL event of the year, the Quicksilver PRO.

After the first two days here I find myself scrolling through a small collection of shots all shot at Duranbah (D’Bah) or further south. Yes, it’s in NSW, no it isn’t pumping as much as Sydney, but heck! the level of surfing here is as good as it gets and knowing that there is a monster cyclone brewing off the coast promising a lot of waves helps overcome the pain of missing a swell at home. So hopefully I can capture bigger, juicier and better surf photos towards the end of the week. Thumbs up!

I’m making use of the event down-time to work on my photography, style and scouting out the spots. Luckily a my very welcoming friend, Adrian Bort from Adrenaline Shots Photography has taken the time to show me all of the spots I need to know about and drove me around sharing his extensive local knowledge with me. I’m very grateful for this as it’s my first time up here and hope I can return the favour one day.

For now: a selection of 15 free surfing shots taken over the weekend while the competition was on hold. I’ve tried some new techniques: photography and editing wise and would love to hear your feedback in the comment section at the end of the article.

Oh, and for the gear heads out there: All images were shot with the Olympus E-M1 and M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO inside the Olympus PT-EP11 housing.