Solo Sunset Soul Surf
These are the moments of which surfers dream - catching a fabulous sunset surf all on your own.
Even on the longest of beaches, miles long, with plenty of breaks & peaks & fun to be had - surfers are notorious for heading straight to where you may be all on your own. Not content to trust their own intuition & find a spot of their own. Almost like sheep homing in on one that looks as if it's found home.
There's a real magic to being in the ocean all alone, pulled by the kaleidoscope of the filtering sunset, backed by a swell pushing in that same direction, creating a connection between you & the sun.
Like the draw of a full moon, only better because you are the one that's being drawn. Pulled to the epi-centre of the universe, a galaxy even perhaps.
All you need is for the swell is be too small to draw the crowds that can drown out such moments.
But just big enough to catch your longboard & tow it towards those rays of dwindling sunshine color-booking the skies.
To see it at any time, you just need the patience of a Job to out-wait the many many beach-goers, all packed up & gone wherever they tend to be going.
It doesn't happen all the time, but the awareness that it could happen is everything.
The surfer wasn't even going to get in the water but he couldn't help himself when he saw the sun going down.
But the connection he made with the sun in this shot is everything I feel when I'm in the same situation out there. On my own.
And this is what draws me back to this photo - that line between soul surfer & sun.
There's just nowhere else to be. The world is here & now.
Moments.
Magic.