A tropical swell is no joke. Heeding warnings of 50-foot waves, your average beachgoer would probably give the boogie-boarding a rest and hunker down shoreside for a while. But not if you’re Fred Pompermayer. He’s stowing his camera aboard his jet ski and launching off right into the danger zone.
His aim? To capture world-class surfers challenging ginormous walls of water—the thrill of man against Mother Nature on the ocean frontier.
Yet the risks he takes on are calculated ones. “You have to understand what the hazards are to avoid accidents,” he tells The Epoch Times, adding that it boils down to “risk management, taking in all the what-ifs.” The key thing is making the right decision in the moment, he says, being in the right place at the right time.
Following that advice of being in the right place, Pompermayer’s moving to Southern California decades earlier was what led to his subsequent success in the surfing photography milieu.
Although he was born in Piracicaba, Brazil, where he studied to be an architect, after graduating from university and working for one year in his chosen field, he decided that wasn’t enough. Pompermayer had always loved surfing and, having taken a photography course during his school years, he became enamored by a new prospect and opted to pursue a dream. He left everything behind—his friends, family, career, and definitely his comfort zone. But it was all worth it, he says.
“I went to pursue my passions of surfing and photography, moving to California to be closer to the best surfing,” he said.
He settled in Los Angeles, where the waves are bountiful.
“I’ve been a professional photographer for over two decades now,“ he said. ”In the beginning, I shot as much as I could in the water so I could improve my skills to get good quality photos to compete with the best photographers in the world.”
He learned the ropes: how to not get flipped over on his jet ski amid the monster-sized waves or get lost in the fog in unforgivingly dangerous conditions. Once comfortable handling a camera in the forever moving, sometimes ferocious ocean, Pompermayer uncovered some of the tricks of the trade—how to get the best shots of surfers as they barrelled down the pike.
“It’s all about anticipation for the shot,“ he said. ”First I have the vision and then I go hunting to turn it into reality. You have to understand your equipment for the specific photos.”
His work soon earned him a full spread in a famous Brazilian surfing magazine and would eventually be featured in publications the world over, including on over 50 magazine covers.
Packing his camera for travel, Pompermayer has ventured to beaches as far abroad as Hawaii and Tahiti to snap some of the world’s top surfers, yielding exhilarating experiences and deeper insights into his craft.
Just weeks ago, he photographed famous surfer Pierre Drollet at Jaws, Maui, showcasing the “scale of the waves and the power of the ocean” that is seldom seen shoreside.
Capturing another notable surfer, Nathan Florence, on a practice run in his preferred training area, Pompermayer managed a shot he didn’t think would yield much, but it showed him just how fruitful chance opportunities can be.
Portraying Koa Rothman surfing at Teahupoo, Tahiti, Pompermayer discovered his allegorical man versus nature shot.
His photograph of Grant Twiggy Baker, Pompermayer says, reveals “how [amazingly far] humans have come to push the limit” in their endeavors to thrive amongst the waves.
Pompermayer’s shot of Kohl Christensen at Mavericks, California, taught him a key surfing photography concept: “Perspective is everything.” It was Pompermayer’s gaining an angle alone that allowed him to showcase the power of those waves, he said.
Decades on, photographing countless surfers neck-deep in their element, he’s arrived at a conclusion, that “it takes years of experience to understand how the ocean works.” Perhaps it is his mastery in one arena that has now led him to explore new territory, for Pompermayer has lately expanded his niche, setting one foot on dry land—err, rock.
H2O becomes the solo star of the show.
“Just capturing a giant wave crashing close to the shore after traveling thousands of miles, sometimes days, to get to that amazing point is amazing,” he said, adding one caveat to carry him home, that “capturing a human being challenging himself in these extreme conditions, showing skill and epic strength transcends the photo to something really special.”
