In 1975, I saw the movie Jaws the only way you could’ve seen it at that time: in a theater. I went with my sister, but we sat apart from each other, so I feel like I saw the movie by myself. I was 13. I loved Jaws then, and at 52, I still love it, but that movie changed my relationship with the ocean. It made me fea… Read more

In 1975, I saw the movie Jaws the only way you could’ve seen it at that time: in a theater. I went with my sister, but we sat apart from each other, so I feel like I saw the movie by myself. I was 13. I loved Jaws then, and at 52, I still love it, but that movie changed my relationship with the ocean. It made me fearful of what swam beneath its surface. When I first encountered DecompreSEAN’s wave photos on Explore, I wasn’t thinking about any of that. All I thought then was, WOW! Here was a guy who shot photos of the insides of waves—as they crashed down on top of him, sending him "ass over teakettle," as my Mom would say. I was in awe! From my own fearful readings of the ocean, I knew that the second you stood in water up to your knees, you officially became part of the food chain. Sean routinely puts himself in harm’s way to bring us photos of something most of us have never seen. But here’s the thing: he doesn’t think of himself as being in harm’s way. He has a loving relationship with the ocean, and he knows a hell of a lot more about it than I do. He also knows a hell of a lot about waves, and I love learning about “barrels” and “lips” and “sets” almost as much as I love diving into his photostream, which recently included a shot of a shark. (He is passionately opposed to the ongoing practice of shark culling.) Sean has given me a gift. He’s shown me that to truly appreciate the unpredictable beauty and power of the ocean, you have to engage with it firsthand. You can’t shy away. Thanks for that, Sean!