A photographer dragged a waterproof suitcase full of equipment onto an open boat, dressed in a diving suit, and set out near Maui in the surging blue waters in search of the infamous treacherous waves known fittingly as “Jaws.”
The short journey to where Jaws resides is far from relaxing. Forty-two-year-old Andrew Shoemaker was anxious on his first visit because the 40 to 70-foot waves sounded “very dangerous,” he told Epoch Times. But this former photo gallery owner from Lahaina is now much more seasoned. He focuses on capturing that perfect curling 7-story-high wave.
Jaws is Hawaii’s biggest wave. “The Hawaiian name is Piahi,” he says, “You can actually shoot it from the cliffs, but we go out by boat, we are right next to the waves, surrounded by surfers and jet skiers.”
Being on the boat is more dangerous, but Shoemaker believes “it’s worth it,” adding that “unfortunately, almost every time we go out, someone gets seasick because the waves out there are really surging.”
Mr. Shoemaker has developed a friendship with the captain, Loren. For passengers’ safety, Loren steers the bow directly toward the waves because if the wave hits the side of the boat, it will capsize. Today, Loren is a powerful ally in capturing the towering waves forming perfect curls, resembling a giant jaw about to devour the distant cliffs of Maui’s famous North Shore.
Shoemaker calls it a “tsunami.”
Clearly, it’s a perspective trick. The islands look miniature, just bite-sized, as if about to be devoured. But the metaphor echoes the real relationship between these lonely volcanic islands in the central Pacific and the monstrous waves that have relentlessly pounded them for millions of years.
Winter storms south of Alaska set this ocean in motion, unrestricted as it traverses the open sea and then ambushes Hawaii directly. The group of islands known as Hawaii are giant mountaintops protruding from the seabed, a fairly obvious barrier that sudden shallows separate incoming giant waves from. Hawaii’s North Shore was particularly affected by the hydraulic action, becoming famous when surfers in the 1980s realized they could ride and traverse the tunnels beneath the giant waves.
Among the most famous is Kai Lenny. “That’s a different level that guy is on,” Shoemaker says, who captured the surfer riding the waves at Jaws. “It’s like watching him surf at Niagara Falls. It’s crazy.”
The photographer notes that any regular surfer is “just trying to survive on that big blue monster,” but not Kai Lenny, “watching him surf is like watching art.”
At that particular gathering, one of Mr. Shoemaker’s all-time favorite photos was born: “Super Kai.”
He enjoys adding a surfer to the frame for one reason — it puts a real scale into perspective; otherwise, it can be deceptive. “That wave is 70 feet,” he says, “You can’t really imagine that wave being 70 feet, right? Unless there’s a little surfer in the photo.” His photograph “Wave Rider” illustrates this point.
“When you put a surfer in the photo, you really get a sense of how big that wave is,” he says, referring to why he captured “Adrenaline Rush.”
Yet the beauty of the water itself shines through in his photos. The peculiarities of the waves and water, “even though they might be violent, there’s something about them and something about what’s external to them that calms me down.” The iconic curling wave is embodied in his photo “Blue Crush,” one of his best-sellers. “Firebird” showcases the fiery colors illuminated during sunrise on the raging waves: fiery ochre, pink, and turquoise. He says the uniqueness of Hawaii’s waves is that they are beautiful at any time of day, in any light.
The calming effect of the water contrasts sharply with the photos of cruising alongside Loren in search of Jaws, and the photographer adds that these photos are best taken during Hawaii’s warm winter, when north winds propel those massive waves to crash against the world’s most remote group of islands. However, once thousands of photos are safely stored in his memory card, he packs the camera back into the waterproof box, and they can relax by having a beer on the way back to the harbor.
He says, “The trip back is when you reflect on how awesome that day was.”