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Jordy Smith, Rainbow Place warm-up, Gold Coast

Jordy Smith is in the zone before his heats. His headphones are an immovable fixture til he reaches waters’ edge. He takes ‘em off for no one. After some star jumps in his room (in this case, the Rainbow Place apartments just above Snapper Rocks), Jordy then heads down to the contest site. After stomping around the competitor’s area, maybe jumping on the exercise bike momentarily, he puts on his leash and walks down the sand (he’s one of, if not the only competitor to attach leash before hitting the sand). He doesn’t wait for his caddy/trainer – he hot-foots it down the sand with Garth Tarlow and/or Jarrad Howse.

At the Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast, Jordy fell in the semis to eventual contest winner Taj Burrow. But, the heat before that one, Jordy took down Joel Parkinson. This shot was taken just before that quarterfinal. He’s so in his own world that, even though it’s playing on the TV behind him, he ain’t watching the heat before his.

Photographer profile

Ryan Miller

Ryan Miller, 33 years old, does not know how to write a bad email. Your pals at Stab have learnt to live vicariously through Miller’s red wine-fuelled letters from the road. His travels take him to some dreamy locales and, in those places, he scores all-time photos: “My favourite photo I’ve shot was of Benny Bourgeois in the Caribbean, with a fisheye. Often I just take photos, but rarely do I get to make one.” In an age of tail-highs and released fins, Ryan still most likes to shoot someone who can lay-down a big backside turn. Namely: Jordy Smith, Dane Reynolds, Gabe Kling, Kekoa Bacalso, Damien Hobgood and Peter Mendia. Like most photogs, Miller misses Scott Aichner’s work. But, as far as contemporary inspiration? “Trying to see things through my daughter’s eyes. It’s wild to think about someone experiencing something totally new on almost a daily basis when, as adults, we rarely get to experience something truly new.”

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