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Since I first started shooting surfing, it was all film and manual focus lenses. A situation where you really had to rely on your camera gear to work. Film cameras were, at times, a bit fragile, with jammed shutter blades or the grease from them smearing across your transparency causing it to ruin your image, although the sound of the camera would not differ from a correctly function one. You simply could not check your image like we can nowadays and you could easily shoot a two week trip and get home to find 3/4 of your images ruined. It did happen to lots of people. Analogue vs. Digital: you did learn to know what to look for in a film camera in order to know if it was working, much like an old car where you could change your own oil, spark plugs etc, unlike these new digital cameras or a modern car which I would not dare open up. As we all know these days, it's instant. You can learn on the run from your shooting mistakes. For the most part, cameras are fool proof and very user friendly, making for your experience a lot less stressful. This photo is the result of the modern age, a flash shot with a fisheye lens at Desert Point. It worked freakily well and was cool to see instantly back on the boat while enjoying that cold beer. Photo: Nate Smith
Editor’s Note: We’ve chosen to focus our relaunch around the theme: EVOLVE. Transformation is core to who we are, and we put it out to The Inertia’s influencers and most talented contributors to share moments that caused significant personal growth and transformation – ideally with some relation to surfing, but also to life in general. These are Nate Smith’s moments.
I can recall when I was really young always being mesmerized by what my mates where doing on a wave as I’d paddle back out – sitting and watching them blow the tail or get barreled. I thought those would make amazing photos. So there was my solution for the next few months. Fifteen odd years later, and I’m still doing it. Funny, yet cool, how things work out.
See more from Nate at NateSmithPhoto.com