Ben Thouard
Nearly 10,000 miles away from Paris, where the dirt road physically ends in a village called Teahupo’o, the Olympics of surfing begins. The wave, off the coast of French Polynesia’s Tahiti-Iti, holds the same name as the town. Well-known to surfers, Teahupo’o breaks over a sharp, shallow, and sometimes dry reef, and is largely considered to be one of the heaviest waves in the world. When a big swell hits the spot, an entire school bus could fit inside the barreling wave.
Professional photographer Ben Thouard has been photographing the wave, and what’s underneath it, for more than 15 years. He’s broken surfboards and waterproof camera housings, been hit in the face by his own equipment, and “gotten worked” (a surfer term for getting deeply jostled around in the whitewash of a wave).
His dedication to photographing the sport has produced some of the most unusual surfing and underwater images, been the subject of his two books, and landed him the job as the only photographer allowed to shoot the surfers from the water at the Olympics.
Men’s Journal sat down with Thouard prior to the start of the Games at the opening of his photography exhibit at Dirk Braun Gallery in Malibu, CA, then again after day five of competition to discuss the dangers, challenges, and rewards of what it takes to be one of the few photographers allowed in the water at the 2024 Olympics.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ben Thouard
Ben Thouard: Teahupo’o breaks on the reef, so there's a reef bottom everywhere with coral and fish, and it goes from really deep to really shallow. That’s what creates that wave and creates that shape. It’s always dangerous. The wave breaks in deeper water—it's this big, heavy wave. When its smaller, like it has been during competition, it’s very dangerous as it gets closer to the dry reef. These surfers have been surfing in about a meter—or three and a half feet of water—that’s it. Below that is a sharp reef. If you fall in West Bowl, a certain part of the wave, there’s a good chance you'll touch the reef.
I had a very good first good day. It was not big, but it was super clean. The surface of the water was very smooth and I shot with a wide-angle lens. I was supposed to be the only photographer in the water, then the International Surfing Association pushed to have one guy as well. So I’m not the only one anymore, but I have priority on the spot.
View the original article to see embedded media.
It’s a great challenge. I’ve never done that before. I’ve probably done eight hours before on very good days and taken some breaks. But I’ve done it for one day, then rested. The challenge here is I have to be in the water for every heat, shooting every surfer both above and below the surface. Lucky for me it was three days in a row, then the wind turned onshore for the next two days. Day three I was really exhausted, it’s so physically demanding. I have six minutes in between heats, which can last up to 45 minutes each, so usually I try to go back on the boat, change the camera battery, ans drink as much water as possible. It’s not like I’m having lunch. Just protein bars and sugar and back into the water.
View the original article to see embedded media.
My setup weighs 22 pounds. I’m using a longer lens, up to a 70mm-200mm to really zoom in because I’ve been asked to back up a little bit because the broadcast is live and they don’t want me in the televised shot. So that’s heavier. And I have a transmitter on top of my camera to send images in real time to editors in the U.S. and Paris. All of that is in waterproof housing. That housing is attached to me with a leash and I’m swimming with it all day. When I dive down underwater it’s more buoyant because it’s bigger, so getting down is harder. It’s a bit of a struggle, but it’s also something new, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which is really exciting.
Swimming with such big equipment is hard and it makes you slower. It was one of the bigger waves Gabriel Medina caught. The guy ended up getting sucked over the top of the wave and losing the camera, but he’s ok.
It’s one of the heaviest waves in the world. I’ve gotten pushed on the reef a few times. But that’s part of the job and fortunately I’ve never lost my camera. Sometimes you have to pay the price. It’s part of being out there and part of the risk. You have to pay attention and constantly swim and be in the right spot. But it's also endless inspiration, because every day is new. Different conditions, different wave. It’s amazing to have a front-row seat to this once-in-a-lifetime experience!
