Andrew Shield – Surf Photographer. I was born on 12/2/66 and have been married to Mel for ten years and we have two children, Tiani aged 10 and Jesse aged nine. I grew up in Brisbane but have lived on the Gold Coast for 23 years, moving down when I was 17 after I left school. I trained in film and television as a cameraman for a number of years. My brother is one of leading directors of photography for motion pictures in Australia and has been an influence. I think it’s important to be able to shoot more than just the tight action stuff and I’m inspired by guys like Ted Grambeau, Tom Servais and Art Brewer who shoot such good lifestyle and travel pics and portraiture. My favourite pics are line ups and empty wave shots because as a grom they got me off my bum and out travelling. I’ve only been shooting surf photos for a living for the past 10 years. I’ve always been into photography but had the surf bug really badly. For at least 10 years after I left school I based my work, my address and my relationships all around maximising my surf time. Surf photography isn’t the job to have if you love going surfing and I can’t understand a lot of young guys who spend heaps of time shooting stills and videoing their mates and not making any money doing it when they could be out surfing. To me, surf photography is a good job and I can’t imagine doing anything else, but no way is it as fun as surfing. I got my start shooting surf photos when I came back from a two-month overland Indo trip and showed Lee Pegus and Tim Baker at ASL all my shots. Tim was a bit jaded at looking at all the shots from seven-day Indo boat trips where the only interaction with the local people is when the pros go through customs before they are whisked away onto their boats. They gave me a big wrap for those shots then used three out of about 400! A good welcome to the world of Surf Photography! I’ve been able to travel a bit more recently now that my children are older. I hope to be able to keep on shooting surfing and travelling for as long as I’m making enough money from it to support my family.
View Andrew Shield’s Surf Image Gallery on www.Boardersplace.com
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