When I roll up to the beach and the surf is absolutely pumping, the first thing I usually do is run back to my car to get into my wetsuit and setup my water housing. While this has become somewhat of a ritual for me it is not always the best decision. I’m usually so eager to get in the water that I ignore the conditions and find myself later exhausted with very few good shots to show for it. There are several factors that should determine whether I should try my luck in the water or post up on the beach with the long lens. These factors may not apply to everyone but for me it is what I use or should use when I go to shoot a solid day of surf.

          The conditions of that day is the biggest factor to determine whether I’m going to shoot from the water, shoot from land, grab my board and go surfing, or go home. I would say 99% of the time for me to be willing to shoot the wind must be offshore or very light. If the wind is howling in any other direction other than directly offshore, more than likely I am either surfing or going back home. I’ve gotten to the point where I am pretty jaded so if the waves aren’t barreling I’d rather surf.

          If the wind is off shore, the next thing I pay attention to is the current. Bad current is pretty much always your worst enemy as a water shooter as it makes it very difficult to link up with anyone surfing as it is much easier to paddle a surfboard against a current than to swim it. If I have a buddy that is willing to drift with me to link up for a shot I will usually give it a shot. If I know the current is going to be atrocious I will usually shoot from the beach for a while so at least I can walk away with some decent shots to show for the day before I waste the rest of the day fighting an uphill battle of swimming against the current. Having a long lens in the water is a good way to salvage those bad current days but it’s not a perfect solution as those lenses tend to be heavy and make swimming even more difficult.

          The lighting is the next thing I pay attention to in order to make my swimming decision. When shooting anything really sunrise and sunset tend to be the best times to shoot as the lighting is the most interesting. Sunrise (at least where I live) can be a mixed bag of lighting conditions. Sometimes I’ve that shooting from land will be better because when we get the darker colored water here it does not let enough light through the waves to really back light them properly and shots often come out too dark. Other times I find that shooting from land at sunrise the sun always seems to be in front of the perfect wave that I want to capture and completely blows out the sky. Land shooting usually wins out for the sunrise as it’s easier to point my lens in a different direction than to try to brighten up a bunch of under exposed shots in Lightroom. Sunset usually works for either land shooting or water shooting around me as you get only the golden light without facing directly into the sun. Light direction is going to vary from spot to spot as not all beaches face the same direction and the sun angle changes depending on the time of day and time of year. For my local beaches in New Jersey that face east, I’ve found that mid day on a winter south swell tends to be the worst lighting conditions imaginable to shoot water. The sun ends up right in the center of the frame for pretty much the whole day since it is very low in the winter. I’ve found that on those swells unless its overcast it’s better to shoot from land or wait until the sun is getting ready to set as the brightness in the middle of the day tends to blow out the sky and the water leaving me with very unappealing images. I can go on for days about good and bad light and when to shoot either but at the end of the day the most important take away is to pay attention to the light direction and how much you can adjust your shooting direction from the beach or in the water.

         Crowd factor is the next thing I pay attention to whether it’s on the beach or in the water. Ideally I like to shoot with a couple friends and no one else around but that is rarely what ends up happening. For me, if there are 30 people shooting from the beach, I don’t care if it’s the worst current on the planet. I am swimming out to get my shots. I don’t like having the same angles and shots as everyone else which is often why I swim out to shoot. At the end of the day it is much easier to walk around and shoot a long lens then it is to suit up, swim out, and try to link up for some water shots. If there are a ton of photographers in the water (in the middle of the winter in New Jersey there rarely more than 3 or 4 in the same spot) I will take that time to shoot from land and judge when the lighting might get better for water. If the lighting is all time and the waves are firing I will swim out with the rest of them and try to distance myself so I am not sitting on top of anyone. I usually ask what other people in the water are shooting and if I am shooting a longer lens I do the best to stay out of there way especially if I know I’m too close for the shot to come out and they have a better angle. I also try to ask other photographers if they were trying to link up with someone specific and if I should hold back any shots I get of them.(It’s not cool to poach shots) The amount of surfers in the water also affects my decision to swim or shoot land. In the summer there tends to be a lot of people that are inexperienced and don’t know how to steer their boards well. I try to avoid swimming at those spots as the last thing I want is a board to the dome because Rick Kane from Arizona couldn’t turn left. I tend to shoot land on the more crowded spots or head down the beach to try to avoid the crowds, dodging boards in the water is inevitable but the fewer boards in the water the less it’s a concern.

          I couldn’t end this without mentioning wave size as a factor but to me it’s not worth spending too much time on. Where I live in New Jersey the waves top out at around 15 feet on the face and a swell like that is very rare. For me, wave height plays a very small factor on whether or not I should swim or shoot from the beach. If the waves are rather large I tend to want to swim because I know I will score shots with a unique angle as the bigger swells a lot of people tend to show up to shoot and most people shoot from the beach. I try to consider all of these factors in my decision on to swim or stand on the beach. I usually end up swimming because even if I don’t get any shots I enjoy swimming out in the waves.