Here Are 21 Candid Moments from Shooting Mick Fanning for 19 Years

"He's just a sweetheart of a person. He's very approachable. Hes pretty unaffected by the notoriety, especially considering he’s one of the top athletes in all of Australia. I just think the world of him." Photo: Steve Sherman

These two are from 2000 and 2002. I have a lot of photos of Mick at contests. The more we got to be closer, the more I got do more specialized projects with him. Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's at Queensland in 2009, and I don’t think Kelly was drinking much at that point. He didn't drink for a while so I think Mick forced a beer on him after the contest." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's 2007 when Mick won his first world title and Kelly brought a photo of him winning the world title too in Brazil too. He thought of this photo about a month in advance. It was Kelly's idea, and it was brilliant. Kelly gets into it. He pre-visualizes photos. He brings something to the table with photographs." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's in Hawaii like three years ago. That's Mick in a nutshell. Goofing off, being funny. Mick has a great sense of humor. If he's giving you shit, that means he loves you." Photo: Steve Sherman

When I heard he was going to retire, I was really emotional, and I sent him a text. He said, "There's no reason to cry, mate. Not now, at least." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That was at Lemoore last year after the first run through of the event. Mick was there. I think that was Eddie Vedder's hat. Eddie had just played. And Kelly was there and Mick and Eddie seemed like they were best friends. He's always taking hats." Photo: Steve Sherman

"Those are Dragons. He's been with Dragon since day one. That's one of the firs photos I took of Mick. I shot him in the streets of Kirra. That was at the beginning of me shooting Mick." Photo: Steve Sherman

"Usually before his heats, he goes off by himself and has this thing. Right before a heat, I don't say a word to Mick. I don't even look him in the face, because he just likes to be in his own headspace. He always sits down, crosses his legs, gets in his mindspace. I think he almost thinks about his brothers he lost and Andy. He'll look up to the sky and give props up to somewhere with people he's lost in his life. It's a very intense thing, and he's always by himself. It's one of those moments I've shot a million times, but it's never old for me to shoot. I'm always moved by it." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's when he won Snapper after coming back from his horrible leg injury. It was a really triumphant moment. Woody, his buddy next to him, he was the WSL security guy who hung himself a few years ago. Woody was a good friend to us all, and I jus love that he was on that photo." Photo: Steve Sherman

"What I love about this shot is that it shows you how far they can crank that wave at Lemoore. Look how big it is. It looks bigger than normal. I was blown away. Mick surfs that wave so good right off the bat. He was telling me it's just like Greenmount, the inside bank at Snapper. That’s what it looks like. That's why he just took to it like a fish to water." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's when he won his first world title in Hawaii, and he was staying at the Red Bull house, and Mick passed out drunk in the house." Photo: Steve Sherman

"His first world title in 2007, and I brought this flag, and I had the idea of him on top of the hill for Australia, like a battle. So he gave me ten minutes and we went across the sand dune in Brazil and we shot that photo, and I thought it really summed it up: Australia taking ground." Photo: Steve Sherman

"This is up at Lemoore. There was this '80s band that was really good, so Kelly and Mick went up and were singing background vocals. I had never seen Mick get up on stage and sing, and that's those three guys pounding away at back up vocals. Any time is a good time with Mick." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That’s at J-Bay last year. I’m always trying to get inside to shoot people’s environments. That’s just him in his room at J-Bay right at the point, preparing to surf. I love it because it’s super intimate." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That's the day he won J-Bay again the year after the shark, and he had won. He had just won. The hat in his hand is my hat, which he stole again. He's up on the table wearing my hat giving a speech, and right after that he jumps down and Kelly walks in the kitchen, and Mick charges across the kitchen full speed and tackles him full speed on the floor full jiu-jitsu wrestling on the beer-soaked floor. That's Mick in a nut shell, and he just goes for it." Photo: Steve Sherman

"That was in 2002 I think, and that was his mom's house. We were down in the carpark, and I saw the license plate, and I had the idea that he put it over his face, and it's a pretty cool image of him. He's really young, and that's his mom's house in the background too." Photo: Steve Sherman

"After Andy passed, Mick was the rock that held the tour together." Photo: Steve Sherman

"We were all pretty fired up when Mick won J-Bay the year after the shark ordeal." Photo: Steve Sherman

That's a magazine I did with Surfing for his 11th world title, and I brought it to Trestles to give to Kelly, and he and Mick were checking out the book we did together. It's a pretty cool moment. Photo: Steve Sherman

I met him in '99 when I went over to Queensland for Transworld Surf, and we were doing a whole thing in Australia. Photo: Steve Sherman