Surfing has long been a passion, both as an activity and photographically. I grew up in Los Angeles where the surf culture was and still is omnipresent on the westside. Ever since my first ride as a kid, I’ve surfed and later in life, passionately captured surfers all over the world.

The genesis of the Silhouette Surfers Art Project, which I started in 2014, actually stems from a blunder. Early one morning on the Venice Pier in Los Angeles, I was photographing a half dozen or so daybreak surfers on the south side of the pier where the morning sun had already risen halfway above the horizon. The sun’s shine was intensely reflecting light on the water and without realizing it at the time, I had underexposed most of the surfers and to a lesser degree, overexposed the ocean and waves. 

Once I discovered my “error”, I immediately found the resulting silhouettes to be more intriguing than if I had exposed them “correctly”.

And so, the Silhouette Surfers art project was born, a collection of images where I have purposely underexposed ordinary, everyday surfers in a way that focuses entirely on the amalgamation of when these men and women become one with their boards and the ocean below.

To exhibit this project, please contact the artist, Joakim Lloyd Raboff