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Posted on Thursday February 3rd 2011 at 6:46 p.m.
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The photo you see above was taken on the 1st of April, 2009. It became a kind of take-off point for this exhibition. I'd shot from this same location/position a month or so earlier, trying to capture a-from-behind-the-wave view of surfers at O'Neills Bay on the West Coast - a place I have been visiting for the last eighteen years. Although the surf was pretty bad that day, I was lucky enough to come away with a great surfing image.
The shots that really stayed with me from that day however were a little different. I'd noticed some fun waves breaking further along the beach that from my perspective, perched far out on the rocks, were catching the light in a way that really enhanced their form. Killing time between sets I snapped away at a few empty waves. With the dramatic cliff-lined bay as a backdrop - although the waves that day lacked a little punch - an image seed was sown; the beginning of a project to capture the idiosyncrasies of waves that eventually grew into the Wet Colour exhibition.
I returned to the same spot on April Fool's Day last year, and this time the surf was amazing. Big, powerful, empty Tasman Sea tubes unloaded onto a heavy sandbar in the middle of the bay. I knew you'd get smoked trying to surf it - the paddle would be a nightmare, and most waves shut down far too quick. But from a purely visual perspective, it was a treat.
I shot for the last two hours of light. As the sun went down my favourite colours brushed the walls - a familiar combination of West Coast sea-green versus atomic red-gold of West Coast sunset.
The image above was from earlier in the arvo, but has become my favourite from that shoot as I unwittingly framed a sneaky heron on his northward flight as a wave pitched out.
The thing was, I hadn't seen another soul that whole afternoon. To spend time alone amongst such a energized environment with no-one around, scrambling over rocks to achieve the perfect angle, staring at the sea, listening to the waves break - it all fast became a tonic for the soul, as an equally addictive part of the process as my striving to capture the perfect wave in the perfect light. It's communion with nature, with an eye for detail. The heron's appearance reminded me that rather than being 'alone' out there, you're actually right amongst it.
I bring to my photography twenty plus years of surfing knowledge, ten years involvement in surfing media, and a lifelong interest in and influence from the visual arts. As this project grew, I realized that it was basically portraiture with a twist - wave portraits. Just like snowflakes, fingerprints or faces; no two are the same. I've tried to capture the essence of these waves, to freeze their dynamic motions and indulge time and again in their plays of light. As that classic photography line goes: to show their good side.
I suppose photographing the waves is my attempt to preserve and quantify those moments that at the time can induce such emotion. Though I've sacrificed surfing some classic days, been late for way too many dinners, mis-spent hundreds on gas chasing fizzing sunsets and unlikely offshore changes, and rusted-up some very expensive camera gear, it's been an absolute pleasure chasing these images over the past few years. It's helped me understand that as an artist you need to have a goal, a focus for your work, to explore a particular theme from a personal perspective... and to be a little obsessive about it! I'm stoked to finally bring it to fruition and share it with you.
In an interesting aside, the vast majority of the images here have been made within an hour's drive of Auckland. As the exhibits catchphrase goes, the oceans of Auckland like you've never seen, and I really enjoy being able to show the beautiful, natural side of New Zealand's biggest city - just in case you missed it. That's kind of been the idea behind my photography all along - to ask people to slow down and look a little harder at what's going on around them, and find joy in the colour of it all.
Best wishes,
Rowan
Check out facebook.com/wet colour, depotartspace.co.nz, and for all your photo and framing needs: factoryframes.co.nz
Rowan Klevstul: Wet Colour
DEPOT GALLERIES, 28 Clarence St, Devonport:
15 January - 10 February 2011 DATES EXTENDED