Defeat

Pushing boundaries comes at a price and the ocean will always make you pay. This is the day that I was truly humbled. I had let myself fall into a comfort zone in a place that was unforgiving. In a lapse of judgement, I decided to shoot an angle that only a handful have tried and even less, have succeeded at. I failed. I fell early on the wave and was at the mercy of one of the biggest swells I had ever captured. The violence of this wipeout was nothing I had experience before. It felt like my head was in a vice and my limbs were being torn apart. All I wanted to do was scream. I had an inflation vest with 2 canisters that I released to help bring me to the surface. What felt like a lifetime underwater was only 45 seconds and I surfaced to blinding light. Dazed and confused I was picked up and placed in the safety of the channel. With two blown ear drums and blood flowing from my nose, I was quickly put in my place. As I sat and continued to watch the waves roll through that afternoon I was really bummed at myself for allowing my mind to fall into complacency. At what cost is a photo? I reloaded my camera and got back in the water to shoot. Each wave I swam through was extremely painful on my face, but I did not want to give up. After another couple of hours swimming and not shooting anything I was happy with, I started to make my way back to my ski. I turned my back for one last look, and out of the deep blue arose the above image. I lifted my camera, set my focus and captured this moment I will never forget. Anj Semark