The article series: Element of Water – Olivier Morin
In this series we interview people who are fascinated by water in all its forms.
A Bordeaux born, award-winning photographer Olivier Morin learned the secrets of härmäsurfing in the wild Arctic waters, when he moved to Vaasa on the West Coast of Finland. With the Seven Seas captured in his eyes, Morin talks about his journey on the waves.
Text: Inka Porttila
Photos: Olivier Morin/AFP
Self portrait in Unstad, Lofoten Islands. Photo: Olivier Morin/AFP
“I had this vision of the Atlantic Ocean in my head, before I could even swim. It was the 1970’s and we were on the beach in Cap Ferret, Bordeaux. Holding hands with my parents and watching the waves crash on our feet. That was the moment my fascination with water began. All I wanted was to explore this unknown world – like Jacques Cousteau and his scientific ship Calypso.
I’ve worked as a photographer for the AFP News Agency for the past 30 years covering daily news, nature and sports around the world. Me and my family landed in Vaasa, on the West Coast of Finland about twenty years ago. Here I found the Bay of Bothnia and the West Coast archipelago. It’s dramatically aesthetic. Ostrobothnia truly is a mini world of beauties – the sea transforming into ice and stopping the time for half of the year. The sun playing nerves in the wintertime and being generous in the summertime.
Spending time in wild water is essential to me – salty, sweet, open or frozen. Surfing, swimming or photographing in the water makes me forget all the troubles of daily life. It makes me calm and relaxed, it's soul cleansing.
While I was working as the Head of the AFP Photo Department in Paris, I craved to be in the water so much that I sometimes had to go for a dip in the Seine River. Even if it was not allowed to swim there.
I swam beside the Eiffel Tower early in the morning before the city woke up or in the night when there was no one there just to feel the power of the water.
I’ve been lucky to have been able to combine my two passions: surfing and photography.
In surf photography I always try to show the positive part of it – hopefulness, optimism, happiness, lightness. My goal is to capture the action at it’s purest form. I try to eliminate every detail non-essential at the framing. I’ve learned with experience that less is more. Though it's a challenge: the size of the next wave, my position in the water or the surfer’s next move – it’s a combo of parameters that I don’t have any control over. It’s exciting when a photo is close to what I was aiming for. Because this style of photography is far from an exact science.
The most breathtaking moment in surf photography for me was without a doubt my first experience in Arctic surfing in the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Diving into the Atlantic swells surrounded by the snowy landscape was something new and fascinating and worlds apart from the warm sand beaches in Hawaii or Australia. I actually discovered personally that people have been surfing in Norway since the year 1962.
In Finland surfers are also called the härmäsurfers. So how would I describe a Härmäsurfer’s soul? It’s the toughest version of sisu and asenne – I have it in my blood.
Recently I’ve been documenting closely the climate change in general way. In September I went to Svalbard to photograph the polar bears. I had a chance to testimony the shape of those mammals. Scientists say that the period after summer is critical for polar bears, because of the lack of ice. In four days, I only saw one polar bear, which was very skinny and walking along the shore trying to find something to eat. An obvious impact of the climate change.
In November I followed orcas in the arctic Ocean of Northern Norway. I went underwater to get a closer look with my camera. They follow herrings, their unique menu.
The scientist say that the herrings are 200 km more north nowadays than 20 years ago, to find the exact temperature of water to build protein and fat. That means that water got warm enough in only 20 years for herrings to migrate. That’s a very short scale.
Doing underwater photography in the Arctic Waters puts you in an almost meditative state of mind. Underwater everything slows down and your senses sharpen. Your head must be clear to make the right move at the right time if necessary. If something goes wrong in such conditions, things can get complicated very quickly.
Of course, I love warm water too, for all the reasons you can imagine but Arctic water has made an impact on me. Probably because it’s out of my comfort zone. After Arctic underwater photo sessions I feel rebooted and purified. That leads to total happiness. It’s addictive.”