Holy Humongous Waves Batman!

IanRB · Jul 25, 2009

So im not sure if anyone is familiar with a place called the wedge down in newport beach california, but when the right swell comes in, it gets huge. Today the right swell definitely came in. 18-20 foot waves with an occasional 25 foot wave!! People were crazy enough to body surf them as well. Many people injured and thanks to the excellent lifeguards of newport most people in danger were rescued with an exception of one. These waves actually took someones life today.

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MBasile · Jul 25, 2009

I like 2 and 3 the best, but 4 is the funniest!

By the way, I think someone needs to clean their sensor!

camz · Jul 25, 2009

I've been to the wedge...it's crazy! Can't believe people would body sets that big.

#1 and #4 are the best I think.

#7 seems like your color tones changed significantly compared to the rest. Were you in Auto White Balance?

Stock Photos · Jul 25, 2009

I love #1 it really shows the magnitude of the wave. Insane!

UUilliam · Jul 25, 2009

Nice Shots, Is the person who died in any of these shots perhaps?

I wonder.. If it was the weight of the wave crashing down on the person or if it was he got swept under and suffocated...

Such a sad thing... death.

IanRB · Jul 25, 2009

camz said:
I've been to the wedge...it's crazy! Can't believe people would body sets that big.

#1 and #4 are the best I think.

#7 seems like your color tones changed significantly compared to the rest. Were you in Auto White Balance?

That one i forgot to set the white balance i had it on flash from a previous shoot. Then i set it to auto because the white balance was difficult to judge because i wasn't sure if the wave would have a lot of foam in it or be nice and blue.

UUilliam said:
Nice Shots, Is the person who died in any of these shots perhaps?

I wonder.. If it was the weight of the wave crashing down on the person or if it was he got swept under and suffocated...
Such a sad thing... death.

No none of these shots have him in it. I do have a couple shots of what i believe to be when they were putting him on a boat but im not positive because i found out about the death a little while after i took the shot but the times match up. He actually got pushed into the rocks by a wave. I don't know exact details but i know that he hit the rocks and then drowned, maybe got knocked out from the rocks. It was very sad though

Restomage · Jul 25, 2009

Before I even read your thread I knew exactly where this was. The waves are huge there right now!

IanRB · Jul 25, 2009

Oh i know, i wasn't ballsy enough to go out myself but my cousin and a couple people i know went out yesterday

polymoog · Jul 26, 2009

Nice pics, great colours in the water

Really sad that it cost someone their life though.

AlexGray · Aug 5, 2009

god id love to bodyboard the wedge. The wedge really pumps on those rouge freak import waves.

UUilliam · Aug 5, 2009

oh btw you had dirt on your sensor (right hand side near the middle)

IanRB · Aug 5, 2009

UUilliam said:
oh btw you had dirt on your sensor (right hand side near the middle)

ya i know, i think it was like a small grain of sand or something of that sort on the lense actually. The waves would be so powerful that when they broke many times mist and sand would get sprayed up into the crowd. Couldnt always get out of the way in time and that one probably just stuck there all day.