This wave sits at the bottom of the hill just below where I live in the Mentawai Islands. Understandably, it’s one of my most heavily photographed waves. After shooting almost every angle, both from land and water, I really wanted to find a way to show this wave in a new light.
I’d been wanting to shoot water flash for a long time and after finally getting my hands on all the equipment needed, myself and two friends took to the water on a beautiful Indonesian afternoon. A surfer, an assistant swimming the flash in the surf and myself on the beach.
From where I was standing, the signal on my radio transmitter was being stretched to its limits and would only trigger the flash 50% of the time and fire a single burst. After a long lull and with only minutes of light left, the sun came from behind the clouds, surfer and swimmer linked up and with one frame I managed to capture what remains to this day, my favorite flash photograph.
I was using my Canon 1D MkIV with 100-400mm lens, Canon 600EX-RT Speedlight in Aquatech water housing and my Canon ST-E3-RT Transmitter. I shot it at 1/250sec with aperture wide open to allow me to lock in the movement as best I could.