A Big-Wave Photographer Faces Frigid Water, Sharks and Currents to Get the Shot

When a run of massive winter swell is forecast at Mavericks, the iconic big-wave surf break 25 miles south of San Francisco, Sachi Cunningham is typically up in the pre-dawn darkness, pulling on her wet suit and readying her camera gear.

Cunningham, an ocean photographer, is at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay by the time the first light hits. The nervous energy is palpable as jet skis and small boats rumble to life, and surfers and their teams ride out to the break, a half-mile offshore. Cunningham knows all the faces; she’ll often hitch a ride out with the big-wave surfer Bianca Valenti, whom she has been photographing for a decade.

One by one, the surfers drop into the frigid water with their surfboards. Cunningham follows them and swims around in the lineup. So fluid are her movements — even while holding a 20-pound waterproof camera — that she’s earned the nickname Seal Pup, bestowed by her friend Lance Harriman, a longtime local surfer.

To understand the challenges of the work, imagine swimming around in a cosmic washing machine filled with mortal hazards: icy water, sharks, currents, numerous bodies on 10-foot surfboards jockeying to catch waves that can grow up to 50 feet. As surfers take off at the peak of the wave, Cunningham waits and watches around the impact zone, holding on long enough to get the shot and mindful of the rapidly closing window she has to swim down deep and fast enough to escape the hundreds of tons of water falling on her head. She is often the only photographer swimming in the water at Mavericks, female or not.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/sports/big-wave-surfing-sachi-cunningham.html