harry roman

‘The Dark Side Of The Lens’, a short film from renowned surf photographer Mickey Smith.

Smith worked with Allan Wilson (director of photography) from the Astray Collective to present a side to surfing that few of us, as observers or surfers, will glimpse: the life of the photographer. What drives him to spend countless hours in cold and hostile waters in search of a single shot? 

“I wanted to create that something that would give insight into what it takes to grind out a living as a water-based photographer in the surfing industry,” Smith explains, “to provide a short, experimental glimpse into life lived in the shadow of what is, for me, an obsessive pursuit.”

There is an interesting sub-text to the film, too. If your life is spent simply observing and documenting what you see, are you ever really present?