How does a photographer go about nailing the perfect cover? Red Bull Illume chats to Chris Burkard and discovers the journey behind the epic shot for his latest Surfer Mag cover (in the gallery):
Where were you?
On the Aleutian Islands in Alaska along with surfers Peter Devries, Josh Mulcoy, Alex Gray and videographer Ben Weiland in search of empty undiscovered waves. This region is one of the harshest in the world and made up of a chain of 14 volcanic islands.
That’s pretty stormy stuff…
The weather is unpredictable and storms brew quickly. No matter how many scenarios I played in my head beforehand, the waves we got were beyond my imagination and the rawness of the coastline was unlike anywhere in the world!
How did you get around?
We had to take a series of puddle jumper flights, often sharing plane space with supplies for the small villages we would be flying into. We were equipped with a set of ATVs and used these as our sole mode of transportation while on the island!
Tell us about how you found this location…
Each day we rode miles and miles to remote beaches searching for setups where there would be potential for surf. We initially found this setup on Google Earth but didn't see its full potential until we arrived on ATVs. Once we found this location we instantly knew it had potential for the cover shot because it had one of the most dynamic backgrounds.
The conditions look perfect…
It was a testament to our persistence of getting up early and getting on it because the weather shifts so easily out there. So it only happened because we were on it early! The beach was a rare sight as the clouds broke and a volcano that hadn’t been visible due to cloud cover the days prior was crystal clear. And then Josh Mulcoy carved a turn in the frozen water for the perfect moment…
So there you have it… Sometimes you literally need to go to the ends of the earth for the perfect cover. Be sure to look out for ‘The Cradle of Storms’ – a 25-minute film that covers this trip is coming up on surfermag.com.
Chris Burkard's quest for the cover
Chris Burkard's quest for the cover

© Chris Burkard