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Portfolio: Lucia Griggi

From shooting portraits in the calm control of a studio to swimming out into the maelstrom of Pipeline, Lucia's photography is a broad palette of still, quiet and violent and loud.

BY Lucia Griggi |

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  • PERFECT 1O. Kelly Slater's Perfect 10 at the 2010 In Memory of Eddie Aikau. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    PERFECT 1O. Kelly Slater's Perfect 10 at the 2010 In Memory of Eddie Aikau. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • STEPHANIE GILMORE, Portugal 2010. This portrait was taken for Surfgirl Magazine. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    STEPHANIE GILMORE, Portugal 2010. This portrait was taken for Surfgirl Magazine. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • MALDIVES, DHONVELLI ISLAND. This photo was taken from a water hut on the east side of the island. We had explored many waves over the last few days on the island. This was a paddle back we made from one of the outer reefs. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    MALDIVES, DHONVELLI ISLAND. This photo was taken from a water hut on the east side of the island. We had explored many waves over the last few days on the island. This was a paddle back we made from one of the outer reefs. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • BUTTONS. Hawaiian surfer Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani. Half Hawaiian, half African-American, and all talent during the 1970s. It was the "anything is possible" surfing of Hawaiians like Buttons that inspired the low-centers-of-gravity surf-skating of the Zephyr skate team. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    BUTTONS. Hawaiian surfer Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani. Half Hawaiian, half African-American, and all talent during the 1970s. It was the "anything is possible" surfing of Hawaiians like Buttons that inspired the low-centers-of-gravity surf-skating of the Zephyr skate team. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • THE MALDIVES LOST ATOLLS, somewhere in the Indian Ocean 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    THE MALDIVES LOST ATOLLS, somewhere in the Indian Ocean 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • MALIBU, California, The locals! Photo: Lucia Griggi

    MALIBU, California, The locals! Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • YVON CHOUINARD of Patagonia. A humble man and inspiration for outdoorsman and women, as well as environmentalists; taken at his beach home in Ventura, California in the summer of 2009, this portrait was for Outside Magazine. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    YVON CHOUINARD of Patagonia. A humble man and inspiration for outdoorsman and women, as well as environmentalists; taken at his beach home in Ventura, California in the summer of 2009, this portrait was for Outside Magazine. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • AERIAL VIEW of the 12 Apostles, along the Great Ocean Road, Australia, 2011. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    AERIAL VIEW of the 12 Apostles, along the Great Ocean Road, Australia, 2011. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • TONY HAWK, Vista, CA. Hawk, looking like a roman senator and representing the squeaky-clean "Ozzie and Harriet" side of 1980's skateboarding. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    TONY HAWK, Vista, CA. Hawk, looking like a roman senator and representing the squeaky-clean "Ozzie and Harriet" side of 1980's skateboarding. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • Mike Parsons and Kelly Slater argue over a wave score in Spain, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    Mike Parsons and Kelly Slater argue over a wave score in Spain, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • JAY ADAMS. Getting all cubist. Photographed in Hawaii during the winter of 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    JAY ADAMS. Getting all cubist. Photographed in Hawaii during the winter of 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • PIPELINE. The line-up at dusk, as a small set rolls beneath. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    PIPELINE. The line-up at dusk, as a small set rolls beneath. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • DUANE PETERS, Going punk. Peters was banished from Newport Beach to Michigan for a year. Going back to the 1970s when the second skate boom was hitting he was a rider for Dogtown Skates and then Santa Cruz. Peters took punk into the pools and bowls and innovated a set list of moves. Peters has played in numerous punk bands, struggled with heroin and lost a child to a car accident. Good times, bad times—Peters has seen more than his share of both. This portrait was taken of him late 2010 at his home in California for The Skateboard Book, The Good, The Rad and the Gnarly. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    DUANE PETERS, Going punk. Peters was banished from Newport Beach to Michigan for a year. Going back to the 1970s when the second skate boom was hitting he was a rider for Dogtown Skates and then Santa Cruz. Peters took punk into the pools and bowls and innovated a set list of moves. Peters has played in numerous punk bands, struggled with heroin and lost a child to a car accident. Good times, bad times—Peters has seen more than his share of both. This portrait was taken of him late 2010 at his home in California for The Skateboard Book, The Good, The Rad and the Gnarly. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • OWEN WRIGHT, Portugal 2010. This was taken at Supertubos in-between competition at the Rip Curl Pro Peniche. The year before, in 2009, Owen was on a rookie dream run here at Supertubos before he had to bow out of the semi-finals after bursting his eardrum on an absolutely vicious wipeout. No fear here, though. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    OWEN WRIGHT, Portugal 2010. This was taken at Supertubos in-between competition at the Rip Curl Pro Peniche. The year before, in 2009, Owen was on a rookie dream run here at Supertubos before he had to bow out of the semi-finals after bursting his eardrum on an absolutely vicious wipeout. No fear here, though. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • ADRIANO DE SOUZA. Before his heat at the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search, Somewhere in San Francisco. He was coming off his big win over Slater in Portugal the week before. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    ADRIANO DE SOUZA. Before his heat at the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search, Somewhere in San Francisco. He was coming off his big win over Slater in Portugal the week before. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • MODEL/SURFER, EMMA SKINNER. Maldives 2008. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    MODEL/SURFER, EMMA SKINNER. Maldives 2008. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • HERBIE and CHRISTIAN FLETCHER, Orange County, CA. Photographed in Herbie's studio (next to Herbie's painting of Dennis Hopper) in the summer of 2009. Christian used skating moves to inspire his surfing. Herbie used skateboarding moves to mimic surfing moves in the 1960's. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    HERBIE and CHRISTIAN FLETCHER, Orange County, CA. Photographed in Herbie's studio (next to Herbie's painting of Dennis Hopper) in the summer of 2009. Christian used skating moves to inspire his surfing. Herbie used skateboarding moves to mimic surfing moves in the 1960's. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • SUNSET SURF, Hossegor, France. A late evening in France. We took to the water's edge for a quick dip before night came up. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    SUNSET SURF, Hossegor, France. A late evening in France. We took to the water's edge for a quick dip before night came up. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • SOMEWHERE IN SRI LANKA. A typical fisherman with a perfect left reeling behind him. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    SOMEWHERE IN SRI LANKA. A typical fisherman with a perfect left reeling behind him. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • GIRL AND TURTLE. Maui, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    GIRL AND TURTLE. Maui, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • JOEL PARKINSON, Portugal 2010. Taken before Parko's heat at Supertubos, shot through the window of the surfers' area. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    JOEL PARKINSON, Portugal 2010. Taken before Parko's heat at Supertubos, shot through the window of the surfers' area. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • THE RANCH by train, California, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    THE RANCH by train, California, 2009. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • TURTLE. Oahu, Hawaii. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    TURTLE. Oahu, Hawaii. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • WINKIPOP, Australia, during the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    WINKIPOP, Australia, during the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • CLOSE OUT. Waimea Bay, 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    CLOSE OUT. Waimea Bay, 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • SKIP ENGBLOM Photographed at his swimming pool in Altadena, California, June, 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    SKIP ENGBLOM Photographed at his swimming pool in Altadena, California, June, 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • STEVE ALBA, Vans Skatepark, Orange County, CA. Alba is a product of the Upland Pipeline. Taken in the winter of 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    STEVE ALBA, Vans Skatepark, Orange County, CA. Alba is a product of the Upland Pipeline. Taken in the winter of 2010. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • THE CONCH SHELL. On the "katragarma walk", a pilgrimage from the northern territory of Sri Lanka through Yala National Park to the southern tip, barefoot pilgrims walk year in and year out. This portrait was taken for a Surf Europe feature. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    THE CONCH SHELL. On the "katragarma walk", a pilgrimage from the northern territory of Sri Lanka through Yala National Park to the southern tip, barefoot pilgrims walk year in and year out. This portrait was taken for a Surf Europe feature. Photo: Lucia Griggi

  • AFRICAN SUNSET, on the way back to Jeffreys from Shamwari National Park, 2008. Photo: Lucia Griggi

    AFRICAN SUNSET, on the way back to Jeffreys from Shamwari National Park, 2008. Photo: Lucia Griggi

Half English and half Italian, Cornwall/Venice resident Lucia Griggi’s photography combines the English love of nature and countryside with the Italian love of everything. From shooting portraits in the calm control of a studio to swimming out into the dangerous maelstrom of Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Lucia’s photography is a broad palette of still, quiet and beautiful, to violent, loud and beautiful. But beauty is the key ingredient. That’s the Italian side, not that Britons are immune to beauty.

Born in Venice and educated in England, Lucia speaks with an English accent but goes about things with an Italian passion. Over the past three years, her life has been the epitome of adventure; shooting surfing, portraits and commercial work for advertising, editorial and books from South East Asia to the Maldives to South Africa and Hawaii, where she migrates every year to shoot the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves on the North Shore of Oahu. Female surf photographers are rare, but female surf photographers willing to swim out over the lava reef of the world’s most dangerous wave to capture photographs are even rarer still. Lucia might be unique in that respect, but the results she gets are spectacular: powerful Hawaiian surfing backed by beautiful Hawaiian landscapes.

Accustomed to the passion and action of surfing, it was a natural transition for Lucia to jump aboard The Skateboard project and shoot the sport’s most colorful figures, whose own passion for riding ramps and asphalt matches that of their brethren in the ocean. In an effort to document a complete history of the skateboard, Lucia photographed hundreds of skateboards and dozens of vivid portraits of famous skateboarding figures of past, present and future, including Tony Hawk, Jeff Ho, Tom Sims and Dogtown Boy Skip Engblom.

Lucia’s energetic and unique style of work appears internationally for her Advertising and Editorial clients.

Lucia has also contributed to various surf-related book publications, including Extreme Surf, The Surfing Handbook, and The Surfing Yearbook. Her most significant book contribution before The Skateboard came in the vivid and beautiful 2010 look-book, Shooting the Curl, which showcases the work of 15 top international photographers and tells the inside story on the surfers and the waves that inspire them.

View more of Lucia’s work at LuciaGriggi.com.

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