BEHIND THE LENS

I can imagine! So, what is in your bag? Any advice for aspiring photographers?

Honestly, I don’t like talking too much about gear. I don’t think the specific equipment matters as much as knowing how to use what you have. Read the manual for every piece of gear you own. Learn its features inside and out. If you want to shoot sports, just know that photography gear isn’t made for this kind of abuse – so be creative, and be ready for things to break. If I showed you my Instagram DM’s you would laugh. I get so many people asking me what gear I use. It’s funny how photographers are fascinated with gear. Maybe even more so than kiters!

Another of your signature styles is having water in the foreground of the shot, which requires yet more gear! How did you develop this style?

The water-in-the-foreground shots I call the “almost drowning angle.” It’s one of the first things you discover when you start shooting from the water. I first noticed it when testing a new water housing just shooting scenic shots of Rio. The water really close to the lens creates this beautiful bokeh that you can’t see with the naked eye – it gives a sense of depth that’s hard to show otherwise in a flat image.

Was it a natural progression that you started shooting kiting because of living in Rio?

I actually got into kite photography because of Reno Romeu. At the time, I was really into wakeboarding, and Reno would join us when the wind wasn’t blowing. Shooting wakeboarding is a logistical nightmare – you need two boats, two drivers, a rider… and if you’re shooting from the water, you better trust your driver! Reno claimed kiteboarding was way easier to shoot, so I gave it a try – and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Has it become one of your preferred sports to shoot?

Yeah, kiting is definitely my favorite sport to shoot. I wish I had enough kite work to shoot it year-round. It combines being in the water with the flexibility of constantly changing environments, which keeps things exciting and creatively fresh. I just did a trip with Slingshot through France where we got yelled at for kiting spots we probably shouldn’t have been at… but they looked amazing! In a way, shooting kiting feels like shooting skateboarding, but with a water element added. It’s fun to be able to direct, to pick where the photo will be made. In a way the wind is everywhere. It’s not like I can go to Pipeline and be like: wave please move a bit over there so the background is nicer. In kiting you basically can. Don’t get me wrong, I still love shooting other sports too. And I really think my background in BMX and skateboarding has influenced how I shoot kiting today. So in a way it’s all very connected. I don’t think I would be shooting kiteboarding the way I do without shooting the other sports.

Tell us some highlights from your kite photography career.

There have been a lot of highlights. My first shoot with Slingshot stands out – shooting Bebe, Alex Fox and Sam Light in this tiny lagoon in Brazil was amazing. Shooting with Reno is always a great experience – we’ve learned a lot from each other, and he’s been my test subject for pretty much everything. Bebe’s also one of my favorites. We’ve shot so much together that we have this unspoken flow. I remember a season in Cauipe around 2015 – we had a dream crew and the lagoon shaped in this perfect way with three little peninsulas creating ultra-flat water. That shape never came back. I’ve also been lucky to shoot in places like Turks and Caicos and Tahiti – truly some of the most beautiful places on Earth.

How do you find the lifestyle of traveling so much?

I love traveling. If it were up to me, I’d travel even more – especially now that I live in California and have easier access to flights than I did in Rio. The biggest challenge, though, is financial. Making this work as a career is definitely stressful at times.

For sure it hasn’t been the easiest time in the industry lately!

Yeah, it’s been tough. And it’s not just in kiteboarding – every sport and brand seems to be struggling. Honestly, it’s a little sad. With the explosion of social media, content is being consumed more than ever, but budgets have dropped and the quality of work suffers. There are fewer cool projects being made, and it feels like there’s a missed opportunity for the kind of creativity we used to see more often. And those creative projects could be super awesome now that technology has evolved so much.

Very true. Now, we can’t interview you without mentioning your countless photography awards and numerous kite magazine covers! Do you ever get blasé about achieving another cover or award? Do you have a favorite?

Never. It’s always exciting to get a cover or an award. I actually had to count how many covers I had recently – just out of curiosity. But no, I don’t take it for granted. Picking a favorite is tough. Honestly, I get just as excited about trying out a new idea with a friend at a local skatepark. I simply love photography and get excited by it in general.

The awards are always a surprise. Sometimes you submit something you’re really proud of and get nothing. Other times, something you weren’t even sure fit the criteria places well. It’s very subjective – more so than kiteboarding contests, which at least have some technical benchmarks.

Talking of contests, some of these shots are from the Kite Park League event in Argentina. Is park riding your preferred style to shoot, as we haven’t seen you at many other events?

Honestly, shooting kite competitions has been a dream of mine for over a decade. I just haven’t had many invites. The KPL events are a blast to shoot, and I get along great with the whole crew. Park riding is definitely one of the most visually interesting styles in kiteboarding – metal rails and kites? That combo’s wild. It also feels a bit underrepresented, so I try to give it the attention it deserves. That said, I’m stoked to shoot anything – Big Air, freestyle, wingfoiling – you name it. The recent trip with Slingshot also involved winging and we captured some cool flash-lit shots.

With all this time behind the lens, have you ever found time to learn to kite yourself?!

I have! Though it took me forever to learn. I was already deep into wakeboarding when I discovered kiteboarding, so I knew the names of all the freestyle tricks. But on trips I was always too excited to shoot and never made time to learn. Eventually, the riders had enough and pushed me to start. So big thanks to Ramiro, Ramiro’s dad, Ewan Jaspan, Victor Hays and Laci Kobulsky for making sure I finally got on the board!