Oliver Harding, Ventura speed blur at dawn.

2005/2006 Winter Season

This season was odd all the way around. It started out rainy and wet. We reckoned it would be ruined by dirty brown runoff water, but the high pressure settled in to stay for the duration of the season, sending the storm track way North into Washington and Oregon by late Fall.

The resulting weather set up saw a wildly prolific storm pattern in the Eastern Pacific send swell after swell our way from a more westerly direction than we typically see. What resulted was months of West and Northwest swell with perfect weather. Warm, sunny, blue water, all the elements that make for a surf wonderland.

I think that I shot somewhere over 230 rolls of surf and surf action mostly here in California, from SF on down to LA. Each time I caught myself thinking that I was done, another perfect swell would hit. I must have swam 12-20 miles a week shooting at least.

The only down side is that there were a heck of a lot of white sharks around this season. We kept seeing them in various locations and I actually had to stop filming at one of my favorite spots for a while due to a predated whale being a continual meal call for over a month. On the days we did shoot there later, it was very spooky and a couple of the guys were chased from the water by a big fin on one occasion.

In Future for 2006/2007

For most of us, the images we produce are a reflection of what is going on in our lives. This year it looks like I will be doing some work in Europe, partly as a result of my involvement with a girl from Germany. I have left Europe alone all my life. Being half Yugoslavian, I reckon I ought to spend some time there exploring.

I used to race cars and bikes, and would like to start racing again, and film it, and maybe shoot the Tour De France as well. With the combined assistance of Surfer and my agency (Corbis) I am afforded a huge amount of really great opportunities. So I am frequently the proverbial kid in a candy store, when choosing subjects. I find myself with a large number of things and people I would like to shoot, in alife that simply flies by at what seems like an increasing tempo. Throw in my motion picture cameras and I am truly a fringe ADHD case.

Next week however, I am off to Bali.