A lifelong swimmer and surfer from California has captured the beauty and power of the ocean through his long career, and his reverence for water radiates from his art.
Fine art photographer Aaron Chang, 66, lives in Carlsbad, California. He started competitive swimming at the age of 7 and surfing at 9. He credits the ocean as “a major component” of everything he does to this day.
“I often think of waves like snowflakes, there are no two waves that are identical,” Chang told The Epoch Times. “There’s so many things that influence the appearance of a wave: the tide, the size of the swell, the interval, the bottom configuration, the wind direction, the sun direction, the sunlight. ... it’s just kind of a fascinating dance you do as a photographer with waves, to try and place yourself at the right place at the right time.”
As a teen, Chang was exposed to the underground surfing culture of 16mm films touring the California coast, and after watching the “granddaddy of all surf films,” the movie “The Endless Summer,” it became Chang’s goal to travel around the world and film surfing.
At the age of 17, he made his own 90-minute, 8mm surf movie that was shot around San Diego, Vero Beach, and La Jolla. He won some awards in his high school photography class that helped him lay the foundation of his trade. That same year, Chang left home for Waikiki, Hawaii, for a job taking photos of tourists at Luaus.
From there, Chang began to photograph surfers and sell his prints.
“I had a very peculiar skill set,” he said. “I was a champion swimmer, I was a surf photographer, and I was, in a very crude teenage way, an engineer ... making plexiglass housings for my camera and swimming out in the ocean with them. I was producing pictures that were very rarely seen in the surfing world, where you’re actually inside the wave with the surf.”
He believes this is the skill set that put him on the photography map. He could also do the same cinematography with film.
Chang was later hired by local news and surf movie crews, even working for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. But more often than not during his youth the lure of surfing won over the lure of advancing his photography career.
It wasn’t until he made another 8mm surf movie in Hawaii, and took that film on a tour of California, that he made a name for himself. In 1979, Chang became the senior photographer for Surfing Magazine and spent the next 25 years traveling and taking photos on commission.
“One of my first excursions was to go to Indonesia ... after that success, I was put on the road constantly,” Chang said. “In the early ‘80s, I was going to places like Australia, where I would spend three months traveling and surfing. Then I started to expand that terrain to include countries like Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand. All over the world, basically.”
Soon, Chang found himself learning various photography skills as his job expanded while traveling. He was hired by major brands to do marketing campaigns for them.
Then almost 14 years ago, Chang opened a gallery in Solana Beach, California, to showcase his epic photographs, a fine art photography homage to the complexity of ocean waves.
“By running this gallery, I started to discover that I could really explore the artistic interpretation of waves and water in fine art photography,” he said. “I started to shift away from the action and just look for the beautiful situation in the water, or created by the wave itself. ... I found myself on the beach, sometimes before sunrise, waiting for that three-minute window when the rising sun is reflected in the face of a breaking wave.”
“[T]he big thing is to graduate from a novice to what’s called a waterman, somebody that proves his ability in adverse conditions in the ocean in Hawaii,” he said. “I was looking for a day when nobody would go in the ocean because it was too wild. That was to be my day. I found that day ... all the best surfers and watermen were standing on the beach, watching the surf, because it was literally dangerously out of control. I put my swim fins on, put my camera in a housing, and jumped into the ocean, not knowing if I would make it back to the beach.”
However to Chang’s surprise not only did he get through the waves that were in the range of 20 feet, but he was able to swim into position and get a portrait of an empty wave. He said: “[Y]ou could drive a school bus through the barrel of this wave and not get wet, so gigantic and powerful.”
This wave he believes put him on the map “in the realm of surfing as a true waterman.”
This special photo even went on to become one of the first Surfing Magazine cover shots that didn’t feature a surfer.
One of Chang’s recent favorite photos was taken in his hometown of Carlsbad in February 2022 and was another “right place, right time” scenario. The pre-sunset clashing waves, with a flying pelican, gave the photo a sense of scale and grandeur. Chang named the shot “Flight,” and it’s one of his most popular images.
Chang believes that there is something about water that draws him to it.
“Our bodies are 60 percent water, so whether you’re in the ocean or not, there’s something about water that draws you to it,” he said. “There is something very spiritually uplifting, and rejuvenating, and exciting about being close to water. ... My mission is to instill in people a sense of appreciation for the simple gift of life, and how it is amazing to be alive.”
However, Chang’s success comes at a price: the constant threat of danger.
He said: “Imagine you’re getting hit by a 40-foot wave. There are millions of pounds of pressure per square inch and the length of the wave that size. Getting smashed down to the bottom of the ocean, it’s terrifying, you’re being tumbled. It’s disorienting.”
Some of the big waves have even killed two of his closest friends by drowning them.
“It’s a real and present danger, constantly,” Chang, who understands the risk of what he’s doing, said.
Chang, who has himself been hit by a 60-foot wave, has learned to mitigate his fear and stay calm in order to hold his breath underwater for up to two minutes. “[Y]ou have to be in peak physical condition, but I think the biggest thing you have to do is overcome the mental challenges of those adverse situations,” he said.
Apart from being able to capture some stunning photos of the waves, Chang feels “so blessed” to have also had the opportunity to photograph elephants in Botswana, swim with humpback whales in Tongo, and visit Red Square in Moscow for his portfolio.
“I have a life memory of incredible photoshoots,” he said.
As for what’s in the pipeline, Chang said that he’s preparing to go to Fiji in a couple of weeks.
“My son, who’s 22, is an aspiring water photographer. ... It is one of the more magical places in the world for surfing just because the water is so clear there, beautiful and alive with sea life, and the waves are just spectacular!”
Below are some more incredible photos:
