March 15th 2022: Dream job

Last week was pretty special for me. I got to take part in a photo shoot that was something of a dream job for me. I got to follow seven of the best surfers in New Zealand around the Otago coastline to create images for their principal sponsor, Backdoor.

Backdoor is a chain of some 20 stores spread throughout New Zealand (though not in Dunedin). They're not like your conventional retail chain. Unlike most of the surf industry that relies on global marketing to sell products to Kiwis, Backdoor gets in behind our most promising surfers and does everything it can to promote them and advance their careers. They're a key part of the success driving athletes like Billy Stairmand and Paige Hareb (both competing in Australia right now).

So to work with them to tell that story was pretty cool. We had six surfers including former and current national champions. They included: Daniel Farr, Caleb Cutmore, Ava Henderson, Jay Piper-Healion, Taylor Hutchison and Paul Moretti. They were led by Darren Celliers, who is the Backdoor marketing guy ... and also quite a talented surfer.

My job was to get them into some of our best waves, but away from the more crowded spots. That meant some adventure and at least a day with a dreadful forecast that was saved thanks to their ability to make even onshore scrappy days look amazing. Not only are these surfers ultra talented, but they're also a bunch of really cool humans and we had a lot of fun along the way.

I can see why Backdoor values them all so highly.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS We'll be running the full story from our trip over on New Zealand Surf Journal in the coming weeks. In the meantime take a deep dive into one of our favourite travel stories on the site: Samoa ... during that Teahupo'o swell from a few years back.