Tradewinds: Behind the Lens with Quinn Matthews

After our recent 'Life's Better in Boardshorts, Chapter 7: Tradewinds' trip to Oahu's North Shore, we asked photographer, Quinn Matthews, to curate a few of his favorite shots from the expedition. We also asked him to give some insight into the behind the scenes magic that goes into each capture - some context of what was happening outside the frame, adding meaning to what was captured within.

Quinn: "These photos were taken across Oahu earlier this year during the off-season. We went for roughly a week to coincide with a large swell, which unfortunately also brought a lot of rain and wind making the conditions tricky at times. All of the action photographs I took on my usual suspect for this type of photography - a Canon 1DX Mark ii. However, the lifestyle imagery was photographed on an array of film cameras I brought with me. Everything from old cameras passed through my family, to my prized possessions (a Leica M6 TTL 35mm camera with a flash, and Hasselblad 503CW Medium format camera). In total I photographed roughly 30 rolls of film and who knows how many digital photographs."

Below are 14 of Quinn's favorite clicks of the shutter, and click here to shop the Tradewinds collection.

1 » Kai Hing at Rocky Point, the swell was unruly and 9 out of 10 waves were out the back white wash. After a couple hours of paddling against the current Kai was able to sneak into this huge ramp, which placed well in the composition I was hunting down the beach.

2 » Kai on the other side of the island. Hawaii was stormy during periods of the shoot so we made a couple trips around the island to find shelter and seek out some novelty waves, meanwhile the North Shore was about to blow away.

3 » Jack at sizeable Rocky Point, most of the surfing this trip was here in front of the house since it provided a taste of everything. Jack was able to find a couple barrels, this wasn’t the biggest, but I like the feel of this photo most.

4 » I love shooting surfing from the water especially airs, there is potential for photography including layers and a variety of angles. Here’s Kai with a large boned out air, if you look at his positioning with where he left the wave it shows how far down the line this air took him.

5 » Josh Moniz down the beach. Shooting across the wave like this in Hawaii can be difficult with the reflection as well as spray from the turn and crashing wave. Luckily this one worked out well and Josh’s positioning was perfect.

6 » We spent a day in Waikiki with the Moniz family as hosts to show us around and take us in some traditional Hawaiian boats. This sailboat was first and watching the whole Moniz family: Isaiah, Seth, Josh, Micah and Tony sail it on the South Shore was a very cool experience.

7 » This is another portrait of the Moniz family, this time in front of their boat prior to launching. I shot this on my favorite camera a Hasselblad 503CW medium format camera. I was able to shoot a bunch of film during the shoot and I think that medium gives them a timeless element, this photo especially with nothing specific and identifiable to a year or season.

8 » Creed McTaggart with his Hawaii quiver. Creed was only there for a couple days and didn’t bring too many boards but we still had to do the classic quiver photo, with his twin fin bodyboard included. Photographed on my Leica M6 35mm camera.

9 » The Moniz brothers (Seth, Josh, and Micah) preparing a Luau we had in association with the Hawaiian Water Patrol. It was pouring rain as we stripped the banana leaves and trunk for insulation as cooking the pig. Again photographed on my Leica M6.

10 » Creed post surf preparing for our sushi dinner in town.

11 » Jack and Kai checking the waves as we tried to escape the storm. We did a lot of driving so every time we stopped everyone had to standup and get out of the car to stretch.

12 » Jack out at rocky point, I photographed this on my first 35mm film camera with a telephoto lens, it was my dad’s camera from when he went to college for photography and passed it down to me. I brought it with me on the trip with just a telephoto lens to try and photograph some more contemporary surf scenes influenced by the old Hawaiian telephoto postcards and lifestyle shoots.

13 » This photo is post surf of Seth about to whip Josh with his wetsuit top. As you would guess Josh had no idea what was coming.

14 » Jack and Banks, this was around the same time that Kauai flooded at the start of the year. Alana flew over with Banks to escape and met up with us on the south shore for a couple days.