2022 Vans US Open of Surfing in HB
The 2022 Vans US Open of Surfing photo update has been up on OCPix.com, but its not until now that I post about it here on the blog. Normally I post a short update here when the photos are up, but this past year has been especially busy for me. I have been re-designing my OCPix website as well as the rest of the galleries in that site. Plus I’ve been adding more photos from the past surfing events in Huntington Beach to the galleries.
For 2022, the Vans US Open in Huntington Beach was a nice change of pace for me. Although I only attended a couple of days of the week-long event, they were fun and exciting. Some notable surfers that I was able to capture included Lakey Peterson, Courtney Conlogue, Tia Blanco and talented Alyssa Spencer.
It’s always a challenge to photograph these surfing events as it takes lots of preparation, endurance and dedication. I talk about it on my photography blog in parts one and two of surf photography. There I explain how I started in surf photography and how this site OCSurfpix originated.
I skipped the 2021 US Open, so the last time I had attended was the 2019 US Open of Surfing. I must say, I was a little rusty. You can probably notice after looking at some of the other galleries from the previous years. Normally I like to photography some behind the scenes shots like this one of Sally Fitzgibbons in 2016. Or a World Surfing League camera man recording fans with Courtney Conlogue after her set. And of course action shots like Samantha Sibley at the 2019 US Open of Surfing. Or Alyssa Spencer at the 2019 US Open of Surfing.
This year, for 2022 I was able to capture some nice images of surfers with their coaches. The surf was strong and pushing surfers north west toward the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. So they had to run south on the beach instead of paddling out each time they caught a wave. Here Alyssa Spencer and coach are seen talking as she was still in her heat but having to run south on the sand to paddle out after catching a wave.
The same situation happened with Sol Aguirre, Samantha Sibley and Zoe McDougall. I spent most of my time on the beach capturing images as they ran back and forth.
