Russell Ord’s photographic love letter to ocean culture

Russell Ord has always loved to meet people whose daily lives revolve around the ocean. After 19 years with the fire service he became one of them himself.

Bronte Macaulay in action. Picture: Russell Ord

Russell Ord has always loved to meet people whose daily lives revolve around the ocean. “People who’ve shaped their lives to make that happen,” the renowned surf photographer from Western Australia says. “I’m always inspired by these people, and what they’ve done to be able to spend their lives around the water.” There’s a heap of them – surfers, board shapers, fishers, filmmakers and swimmers – in his beautiful new book Life Around the Sea, from which this shot is taken.

Ord, too, has shaped his life around the sea. He grew up in Perth, played league and became a professional firefighter. After 19 years in the brigade, though, he’d witnessed enough death and trauma. “In that job you see how fragile life is, how quickly it can end ... I just thought, ‘There has to be more to it than this.’” So he quit, and embraced his great passion: ocean photography. These days the 50-year-old lives in Margaret River, where he has a gallery. He and his wife Catherine, who have three grown-up kids, also run the Desert Light Foundation, mentoring disadvantaged kids in photography.

Ord shot this image at Kalbarri, north of Geraldton. (Pictured is Bronte Macaulay, a 31-year-old from ­Gracetown who announced her retirement from ­professional surfing last year – though she returned for a swansong at the recent Margaret River Pro.)

Ord, with his camera in an underwater housing, ducked under the surface and shot through the back of the ­barrelling wave as Macaulay went past. “You need ­exceptionally clear water and a bright sunny day for this shot,” he explains. “When it works, you get this lovely effect, full of interesting textures.”