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Jamie O’Brien, under a bus at Newport Wedge, CA

For the first big south swell of the Californian summer, Red Bull had a plan. Two men would be on call and those men would be Jamie O’Brien, pictured here, and fellow Hawaiian Bruce Irons. The swell finally came and, as you can see from this photo, it was classic unhinged and pretty solid Wedge. Unfortunately, Bruce didn’t make it down for the session. But, Jamie did.

This set, according to photog Jimmy Wilson, who took this shot, was the biggest of the day. It was a pack of six waves in total. Jamie got torched on one, then another guy dropped in on one but didn’t make it over the side, and straightened-out. The others went unridden. But, Jamie went under all of them. That’s him duck-diving in the grey suit, towards the bottom of the frame. Not exactly a position to be envious of, huh?

Photo: Jimmy Wilson/ Red Bull Content Pool


Photographer profile

Jimmy Wilson

Jimmy Wilson. Jimmicane. Jimbrodamus. Which blows your hair back? Take your pick and strap in, ’cause Jimmy rides bumpy. You want the truth? Jimmy will give you his truths in the blink of an eye and won’t apologise if it stings. Opinions are nothing on their own, so the 26-year-old certainly has the skills to back up. A good photo, for Jimmicane, is ineffable. “You know right when you lay your eyes on it,” he says. One such photo was the image of Kelly Slater’s full-rotation air-reverse during the Quiksilver Pro, New York against Taj Burrow. “It was rewarding to get such a special image with literally hundreds of other lenses shooting the same maneuver. Also the fact that I’m from the East Coast and that was an iconic event and iconic air by the greatest surfer of all time. I feel very fortunate.” And if you ask Jimmy where surf photography’s headed, it’s a simple answer: “iPhones”.

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