2 minute read
BOOKS: Derek Morrison
Best Coasts
Having the chance to document New Zealand’s surf communities was a dream assignment for Derek Morrison.
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The Dunedin photographer and author’s new book Surf Dreams dives deep into 15 surfing locales, including the South Island’s Kaikoura, Westport, Greymouth, Sumner, Dunedin, and Riverton.
Having photographed the coastline and surfers for over 25 years, Morrison had a vast archive of material to draw on for the book. But choosing the right images to tell the story, and feeling an obligation to frame the communities in a social context, presented challenges.
Many surfers had moved to coastal communities for lifestyle reasons, choosing to earn less so they could do what they loved. Now their children have often been priced out of those towns.
“That’s quite sad,” Morrison says. “It was one of the biggest themes to come out - people have basically been pushed out of their own towns.”
Many older surfers have previously not had their stories recorded. While Surf Dreams covers some New Zealand surfing history, his next book on surf shacks in New Zealand will go further. As a surf photographer, Morrison goes to extreme lengths to get the right shot. In recent times he’s embraced the potential of drones to capture the coastline and those who are drawn to it.
The cover of Surf Dreams depicts a secret surfing location where he must remain in contact with the control tower of the nearby airport while the drone is airborne. “I go to a lot of effort for a lot of my work,” Morrison says. “You could definitely take shortcuts, but I’ve always kept that philosophy of throw everything into it to get the best result out.”
(Photo: Derek Morrison)
Surfing in the south
“In Kaikoura you’re surfing a beautiful wave, you’ve got mountains covered in snow running down to the bush, running down to the sea. It’s something that you just don’t get that anywhere else in the world. It’s pretty special.”
“Otago has probably one of the world’s greatest coastlines for surfing. People don’t want to promote it because they don’t want people to know that internationally. But we get a lot of brands coming down here to do their campaign shoots. They’ll go under the radar, and do their campaign shoots because they’re just about guaranteed waves every day, lots of different types of waves, and there’s amazing light.”
“Fiordland has some really big waves. Massive mountains, bush, and then the ocean. You’ve got to use planes or helicopters, or lots of surfers go and walk for days with their gear. It’s one of our real last frontiers, and it’s the equivalent of a hunter’s experience for a surfer. There’ll only be them out there, probably a lot of sharks, and these unbelievable waves. They’ll come back with stories for their close mates.”
