Surf City

by Az Jackson

Title

Surf City

Artist

Az Jackson

Medium

Photograph

Description

In the barrel of a wave as the lip is about to close out as the high rises of Surfers Paradise Beach line the shores of Australia's most popular Surf City called the Gold Coast featuring Q1 building, Soul Building and the Hilton Hotel.

-- Artist Notes --
This image is very special to me in many ways but I don't think I'll be getting back into the water to capture shots like this anytime soon so this is a bit of a one off for me.

I've learnt the hard way that capturing these images is a very masterful skill and I take my hat off to other great wave and ocean photographers like Sean Davey who seem to capture this style effortlessly.

I actually love this image and have wanted to capture something like this for many years. In the process of making sure to get the angle right with just enough wave overhead, with both hands on the camera, I totally forgot about where I was and this seemingly small wave dumped me like a sack of potatoes onto the shallow shoreline and twisted my back. I shot for another 10 minutes in the water while my body was still warm but when I got back to my apartment and cooled down, I realized I had a problem.

I tried to sit it out and wait for the pain to pass over the next few days but it seemed like it was getting worse. On the 3rd day of what felt like a broken back my partner decided to call the ambulance due to the intense pain I was in.

Four ambos barged into my small apartment with one wearing a body cam device (like the police) and talking in legalese. Immediately I felt violated lying there helpless as they barked instructions at me. There was no empathy or compassion in any of these people and my back was getting worse just because of the stress. My partner wanted me to go with them but my intuition was telling me no as I didn't feel safe.

Eventually I said no and decided to just put up with the pain (which ended up lasting for months). Actually, I can still feel the effects of it to this day, but in the end I know I made the right decision as I didn't feel as though I would've come back the same person if I went with them.

It reminded me of that scene in "Jupiter Ascending" where the lead female had a premonition about being abducted whilst laying on the operating table and ended up being saved at the last minute by the hero. Could they have been the Acturian Greys (in human form) that so many people have claimed to be abducted by over the millennia? They sure seemed like it.

In any case, this is what human photographers are prepared to go through to capture unique images to brighten up your home and I hope that you get as much value out of it as I do.

Uploaded

August 21st, 2021

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