This image is one of my favorite surfing pictures because of the story it tells. This surfer carves a curving slice into the diagonal torrent of water racing behind him. He triumphantly throws one arm up and extends the other down -- not only keeping his balance, but also celebrating the thrill of mastering the force of nature itself.

(This particular surfer, whose name is Bo Elliott, was among the most skilled I had the pleasure of photographing. A few days after I made this picture, he came up onto the pier where I was shooting, and asked me if I had made a picture of him in action that he could forward to his family in Georgia. He was the only surfer that I would actually get to speak with in Imperial Beach, and I was happy to oblige. I sent this photograph, among others, to Bo, and later received a note of thanks from his father.)