UnderWater Photography

Sailing Saturday with Called-Higher! by Nathaniel Harrington

One of my most anticipated days happened yesterday, a sail out of Ft. Pierce, Florida. 

As a practice run for the Called-Higher group, to help them get their sea-legs established, Donothan Williams setup a fun day of sailing on two beautiful vessels! The "Sunshine Too" and the "Luric".  

We started out the day knowing that we had some big storms cruising in, so we prayed for safety, thanked the Lord for the opportunity to enjoy the ocean, and we're off! We set our sail with a light south easterly wind(which was creating offshore perfection for the surfers at the jetty...) and relaxed our way out to sea. The water stayed glassy with barely any wind for the first couple of hours which gave us a great opportunity to go for a swim at about 3 miles off shore giving a fun opportunity to shoot some photos. :) 

 

The 40+ ft "Sunshine Too" 

The 40+ft "Luric"

Tatum, Heather, and our brave and fearless leader Donothan! 

Watershots are so much fun. The abilities of an iPhone in the sea.. brilliant! We're letting Dono borrow our old iPhone and the Housing so he can bring home the adventures from the Bahamas trip. :) I think he likes it. 

The Fishbowl Look. I was trying to get an image thats in my head, but due to the lack of sun it was really hard to focus on objects above the water.. these still turned out pretty "Sea Dreamy"! 

We got to hang out about an hour before we realized that this storm wasn't passing us to the north, it was cruising straight for us. The "Luric" was looking beautiful and confident with the fast approaching weather. 

No wonder Dono gets so much done and so sea worthy! He's half way to being an Octopus! 

Last photo right at the Calm before the Storm. With sky's like that a few miles offshore you know its time to go! 

As I got back onto the boat the storm began to fill in. I tucked beneath into the cabin for about a minute to put away some gear, when I came out it was already blowing about 40mph wind with heavy rain. The visibility dropped to 100ft and the waves picked up immediately. There was never any threat of our safety, it was more or less just an awesome example of the power of storms on the ocean and how quickly things can change out there. Great practice for the Called-Higher crew as they continue to prepare for their 2 week sailing trip. 

 

Soaking wet and a little cold, my wife Tatum was loving every second of it. :)  

This is Captain Keith. He has spent a life on the water sailing. His stories and experience are inspiring, both him and his wife Roberta.  it was a pleasure to be welcomed onto their boat. We very much enjoyed out day with him and his wife aboard the "Sunshine Too". 

Keep the Called-Higher Crew in your prayers as they head off later this month. I know the Lord is doing an awesome work in Donothan's life and its just so fun to be watching all this happen and to be apart of it! Stoked. 

Thanks again to both boat captains for taking us out! 

 

-Nathaniel Harrington 

 

As Hoped For! by Nathaniel Harrington

Well, I have been Sea Dreaming for the past few weeks for this evening and it has happened! The family and I cruised down to Vero Beach this weekend and as expected there is a little swell in the water. :) Tomorrow and Sunday look really fun! I'm hoping that it does what is saying it will do... Its rare, but sometimes swell charts are accurate. I hope to score a few more barrels this weekend. 

Check these out from this evening. I had about 20 min of light by the time I got to the beach, and thankfully everything came together for a fun little shoot sesh finished of with some really fun body surfing. Enjoy. 

 

Crazy how the sun sets on the other side of the earth.. but those colors! They are still so beautiful! 

Thanks for checking in. 

-Nathaniel 

A weekend of Paradise in Vero Beach. by Nathaniel Harrington

Shoots, this last weekend was a blast. 

It started with an invitation that I wasn't even sure was meant to be a real invite, well, turns out it was more than sincere. My in-laws long time friends(the Brown's) live over in Vero Beach, Florida, they know my wife Tatum pretty well and know that I am crazy about surf. The invitation was to get away and enjoy a relaxing weekend on the east coast. To say the least I jumped on it! I didn't even think twice about it... it's time to see some waves and get my feet sandy. We took off. 

It's fun not knowing where you are going or what its going to be like when you get there.. I love adventures. But these days adventures seem to be a little more tricky than what they used to be. Once upon a time I packed my car with everything I owned and was gone, now I pack my car full of my 4 month old daughters things and then attempt to fit my own gear. Times have changed, so the adventure has also changed. I wasn't sure what it would be like going to the Brown's home with River Lee and Tatum, turns out, not a problem at all. We were greeted with tons of love and an open house.  

I started my mornings off with some super fun shore break in the cold weather. 34 degrees and soaking wet... buuurrrr.... Very worth it! 

To add to the excitement we were able to meet up with our good friends Blake and Chelsea. We spent the day in Sebastian soaking up the sun and enjoying the surf. 

The surf was pretty tiny, but fun! Blake did what he could and I stuck my head in a few barrels.. perfect day. 

The sun came out and made it a fantastic day for the beach. River thought so... Of course she had a photo shoot, to darn cute to not. 

These Photos by Chelsea Erwin. A huge Thanks to Blake & Chelsea for cruising up the coast to hang out with us! Love you guys. 

Click here to see Chelsea's take on the day.... 

Yup, even after all that I still found some time to enjoy a Moon rise over the Ocean. I've never seen a full moon rise like this before.. I guess the East Coast does have some perks! It was AweMazing! I shot it all with a wide angle.. I apologize for that, because it was better than what my photos show. 

...and that is that... one weekend in the books. 

 

Thanks so much to Buddy & Gail Brown for opening your home to my family. We hope to see you again soon. 

Mahalo,

-Nathaniel Harrington

40 Degrees of Thankfulness! by Nathaniel Harrington

First, Happy Thanksgiving! I don't know about you but this is my favorite Holiday of the Year! Just the name gets me.. Thanksgiving! Awesome. 

This morning I woke up here in St. Petersburg to a chilling 40 degrees at 6am. Grabbed my SPL WaterHousing, which I had to brush the dust off of..., grabbed my cup of tea and off to the beach! 

I arrived as the sun came up to see a wonderful sight, waves. Barrels none the less! The wind has switched from the howling on-shore to the glassy-machine-barrel-making off-shore breeze. First thought that came to my head was, "I'm so Thankful!". God hooked it up this morning.

I shot a lot of images as I froze in the cold air, chest deep in the warm water. Every wave was an opportunity for me to get my head wet again warming it up just to be greeted by the chilly bast out the back end. Yes, it was freezing. I shot for two hours, attempting to fill my memory card as fast as possible so I could feel like I had accomplished my mission of finally getting barrels shots again. 

Below is the outcome of a wonderful start to this thankful day. I hope you enjoy, 

Again, Happy Thanksgiving! 

-nh

More from Porter's back yard. by Nathaniel Harrington

I'm currently going through past images, gathering them up and getting ready to ship them off to a brand new Gallery in Laguna Beach, California. 

Here's a couple I found that I haven't put out yet..  Stoked! 

Fan Out! by Nathaniel Harrington

Here's a wave for you! Love that Beautiful backwash effect! Fan out.  

Laguna Beach mystery spot! Who can tell me where this is(excluding porter hogan). I'll say its one of my favorite locations and an amazing spot to find some of THE BEST shore break in California.