93 million miles away our roaring furnace of a sun blasts an astronomical amount of energy and heat into space, while its gravity keeps our earth fixed in orbit. Only 0.00000005% of that energy reaches us on the ground. During the day, it heats up air above the land faster than air over water, this air circulates and wind is formed. At the same time our moon drags a big lump of ocean around the earth as it orbits us. The wind and energy combine and waves are formed.

Essentially made of cosmic energy, transformed into water, these waves are what you see moving towards the shore, it’s this very energy that’s pushing the surfer along. The wave’s energy and speed and strength are greatest just before it breaks, just before the water starts to move itself, and it’s along this fine line of energy transfer that the surfer rides.

The world’s best right hand point break wave, converges via sun and moon and wind on the perfectly shaped reef at Supertubes, Jeffrey’s Bay. These photographs were made at two specific times of year, both when the early winter swells start arriving and again, with summer on it’s way and the last of the winter swells come through. This is when the sun lights up the bay in the early morning from just the right angle. This light, eight minutes old, shining from behind the wave, highlights the contrast between morning and night, broken and unbroken wave, and it’s along this line of energy transfer that we find our surfer.

Look closely and see the sun and moon, light and dark, the surfer’s style and timing, their muscles and frame, energy from so many sources, all converging in a moment of time. This moment of anticipation was made when all these forces and thoughts and energy’s combined to form a wave, the light, and our surfer’s movement, Silhouetted.