Exposure: Zander Snape

This image was taken one morning before the sun popped up and it was too dark to shoot the surf. The swell was pumping from the east and I was so eager to start, but spent some time shooting this tree. The shot shows about half of the tree. The camera is mounted on a tripod and left on a 3.2-second exposure set at f/9 on my 50mm f/1.8. I have added some contrast to enhance the colours of the sunrise in post processing.

This is shot from one headland south of this particular wave. I used my 100-400mm lens and had it on 400mm to get the right framing. It is shot at 1/400 on f/6.3. I really like the framing of the pool in the foreground and the offshore spray coming off the lip.

This was one of the sickest days of surfing down my way I had seen for ages. There were at least six photographers, and at one stage there were six tow-teams and a bunch of surfers including Zahn Foxton, Brett Warner, Justin Crawford, Joel Spillane and the Fitz brothers.

To capture this bank, I needed to shoot straight into the sun, so it was pretty hard. It is shot on my 100-400mm pulled back at 100mm at 1/1600 with an aperture of f/8. The white wash from the first wave is epic and the ski out the back gives an idea of the size.

This image was taken on my 70-200mm in Mexico. The guy was carving art; the light and where he was sitting looks really cool. I don't think it is that often you get shots like this that are not set up to some degree, but I could be wrong. It is f/5 at 1/320 zoomed at 200mm.

This photo makes me really happy because of its vibrant colours. It was on a river in Mexico City. These boats looked as if they were about to fall apart, but they were painted in the most amazing colours. I shot this at 140mm on my 70-200mm at 1/200 with an aperture of 1/200.

This is at the notorious Venice beach in LA. I was there for two days on my way home from Mexico where I sat and took shots of this 14-year-old skating. This photo is interesting because in the background you can see many of the other skaters watching, which gives atmosphere to the image. It is shot at 28mm at f/10, 1/200 on an old 18-55mm lens. This is the only good photo to come out of that lens...

This was the first time I have ever taken photos at the snow. It was a sunny day and I just sat and shot the same crew that would come up and down through the park. This stands out to me because the framing is perfect with trees on both sides of the rider, and with the slight bit of snow following the riders, it created a sense of movement. It was shot using my 70-200mm at 87mm with a shutter speed of 1/640 and an aperture of f/9.

This image is at the Getty centre in LA. Taken on my 50mm at f/14 with a shutter speed of 1/320. The gardens were so refined and the grass in the foreground of the shot made it a little more interesting.

This was the day after the Shark Island Comp 2007. Mike Stewart was out ripping and it was fun. I was in the water with fellow surf photographer Andrew Smythe and it was so cold. This was shot on my first water camera, a Fujifilm e900 with Ikelite housing. I have been trying to sell this camera and housing for ages, guess it is waiting for the right buyer. The angle of this shot is pretty nice, looking straight down into the barrel.

I love this photo because the silhouette of the spray on the background of the image is crazy. The image almost looks black and white with a tinge of green running down the line of the wave. I think the four paddlers make this image feel as if something special is going down. It has been edited a bit to make the background black, but the water was actually green on that day, which was odd.

This shot is of a pool on the northern beaches of Sydney. It was about 5:30am and I was playing with time exposures. This particular image is shot using my 70-200mm and pulled back to 70mm on a 15-second exposure with an aperture of 11. The colours are really eerie. The light of the pool is pretty cool and that's where most of the colour out of this image comes. It has had a touch of saturation and fill light added to it just to bring those colours out of the image.

I like this shot because the spray looks almost mechanical. The two waves have virtually the same spray and look as if they are breaking perfectly, which they did. It was shot at 400mm on my 100-400mm at f/8 with a shutter speed of 1/2500 and ISO at 200. I have enhanced the levels of black a little to get sharper edges. It is also a little different because there is really no whitewash in the image and you don't see that much anymore in photos.

Surprisingly, this photo of Cape Solander was taken with a point and shoot, an Olympus SP 550 UZ. It is actually one of my favourite images and also one of my best sellers. It's shot on ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 1/320 at f/4. I have not enhanced the colours at all in this, just added a bit of contrast. It was a beautiful day.