I got in this crazy mood this summer, where all I wanted to do was shoot underwater. I was shooting surfers, photographers, girls, turtles, sharks, reefs… So, when I got some assignments to take portraits in Fiji, well…I shot them underwater. The contest had finished, and I was staying over a few extra days with Andy Irons. The waves were clean, but I couldn’t help myself — I grabbed the mask and snorkel and proceeded to shoot numerous photos of Andy surfing, from below the surface. It was as simple as, “Hey, Andy! Come here quick and let me get a portrait shot of you underwater!” That’s it!
Brian Bielmann

About the shot

Biography
I was born in New York in 1957 and started surfing in 1970 at the age of 13. in the last two years of high school, all I could think about was graduating and moving to Hawaii. In 1975 I did just that, and so at age 17 I was living in paradise. Since then I've never looked back. When I was 21 I decided that I would be a surf photographer, but it still took a near death collision with a reef to get me off my surfboard and behind the camera.
It has now been 30 years of surfing and photography for me, and what a long, strange trip it has been. Lots of crazy people, lots of exotic places. Not much money, but a fantastic life. I have been lucky enough to see – and in a small way be a part of – the evolution of the sport of surfing. i have seen surfing champions come and go and i have visited and photographed places that were once unknown and have seen them become world famous hot spots.
I have seen technology change the way a wave is ridden and I have watched the pictures I used to draw on my notebook of surfers riding giant waves become a reality. My goal is to try to keep taking the viewer to places they have not visited and to see things unlike anything they have seen before. I work for Transworld Surf in the USA and Volcom clothing, and contribute to most surfing publications outside of America.
I pray that I continue to see the beauty in what God has created and be able to continue to spread that beauty with my own vision. Thank God for this fantastic world.