Lighthouse and Barreling Wave
This photograph was taken at Cape Zampa, where I managed to frame the iconic lighthouse alongside a powerful, barreling wave. I had my camera secured inside an Aquatech Surf Housing, and from a distance I used an 80mm lens to capture the exact moment the wave began to pitch over into its barrel. The shot was a balance of timing and positioning, but also carried with it a constant awareness of risk — the waves in this region are notoriously thick and heavy, and conditions can shift without warning. What starts as a promising photo session can, in the blink of an eye, turn into a very serious situation. That mix of beauty and danger is what makes photographing moments like this so exhilarating, and why this image stands as one of my most memorable from Okinawa’s rugged west coast.