Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
I love how rainbows form in the spray off the back of waves on windy days. They exist for a fleeting moment: grow intense then dissolve before your eyes as the spray blows away. Earlier this year, while shooting with the Backdoor crew in the Catlins I managed to capture a shot of Caleb Cutmore doing one of his on-rail turns as a double rainbow formed. It was instantly one of my favourite images from that trip.
Last week that shot (see below) was announced as a finalist in the 2022 New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year awards in the Lightforce Aerial category. I'm very excited to be announced as a finalist in among some really amazing images from some of New Zealand's best photographers. You can check them all out here and vote for your favourite five images (please vote for my one ...)
Getting this shot was not easy with the wind gusting up to 20km/h making the drone work overtime just to stay in position. I'd photographed the lads for a few hours by the time I got the drone up and so I knew the places along the wave where they were likely to do a turn. Caleb had surfed for about five hours at this beach and another one when I saw him takeoff up the point on a pretty big wave.
With a lengthy drone shutter delay you have to predict when to take the shot. I timed what I thought was the right one and went for it – a spray of three images. Then my screen blacks out. I never know until I download them if I have the shot. Luckily this time, I had captured Caleb at the apex of his turn and there were two rainbows in the spray.
The NZ Geo awards night is at the end of October. In the meantime be sure to vote (hopefully for my one) in the People's Choice award. Wish me luck!
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Box of Light is about to turn 12. Yep, that's 12 years of images delivered every Tuesday at 10:30am NZST to your inbox. We're stoked to say that we have never missed a deadline. That may change next week and the following as we embark on an adventure in Indonesian waters in search of perfect waves. Reception will be patchy so know, if your Box of Light email doesn't turn up in the next few weeks, that I am in my happiest of places in the tropics chasing adventure.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: