5 Lineup Shots That Prove It’s Still Nice to Sit Behind the Lens (Sometimes)

Panama is a pretty great place to escape the winter doldrums, and if you're a goofy footer you might never come home. This was a perfectly timed strike mission organized by @bgoodjonny; it was pretty easy to convince @buzzdode and myself to tag along. I pinged @patschmidt to jump on board and we all flew in with high hopes, especially seeing a lot of the heavies coming into town (Long, Slater, Garcia, the Vissla team, etc). We got our fill, surfed all over the islands, and even snuck aboard a catamaran for a few nights where Pat and I scored the cover of @easternsurfmag. Good trip to ring the alarm on, hyped to pull the trigger on that one! #my5lineups photo: @ryanstruck

It's really nice to mind surf an incredible lineup photo, but it's also great to capture that feeling of calm and happiness after a good day at the beach. I shot this on one of those super fun San Onofre days cruising around with @rivercovey and his righteous friends. One of my favorite waves in SoCal. #my5lineups photo: @ryanstruck

I wanted to include an image for all the photo nerds out there. I was shooting some really beautiful furniture for a friend of mine in this little hidden room that doubles as an incredible studio space in Convention Hall a few years back. I was buzzing through a really sleek black seamless setup for a glass on concrete concept for @iamthealby, and it starts pouring outside! The rain settled the wind, it went offshore, I took a peek and it kinda started firing for a bit. At that point it was time to take 5, I swung my @profotousa B1 towards the window and fired 3 frames, lighting up the windowsill and freezing the action perfectly. #my5lineups photo: @ryanstruck

Santa Cruz is one of the most special places in the country, and I try and visit as often I can. When I met up with @reillywstone this particular week, we found the waves started off small and cruisy. Just a few days later, I experienced Pleasure Point on a rising swell. I saw an incredible right hand set peel an unfathomable length cliffside in this very same spot pictured. Pretty nuts what a couple days difference can make. This still frame (an actual photo, not a frame grab) was shot during the making of a short film, "Addicted to the Glide", which Reilly and I made. It will be playing at the San Diego Surf Film Festival on May 11th! #my5lineups photo: @ryanstruck

This is such a recent photo I wouldn't normally blast it out to the public like this, but alas the wave is gone so... fair game? This fun wedge was dubbed Tetanus Point due to all the rusty metal used to build the retention wall while they constructed a reinforced outflow pipe. A few people rolled up and tried to surf/shoot it over the past year because it was such a novelty quality-wise and photographically. However, the #TakRats held it down and veraciously surfed it day in and day out. I shot it a fair bit too, and almost cringe at posting but I want you all to keep a lookout for a banger of a clip that @kylearc will drop this summer highlighting the wave he loved so much. #my5lineups photo: @ryanstruck