Surfer prefers catching waves with camera

Thomas Forde, of Kaka Point, sweeps past Hayden Campbell while surfing the Catlins coast this...
Thomas Forde, of Kaka Point, sweeps past Hayden Campbell while surfing the Catlins coast this winter. Photos by Blacklabel Photography.
Hayden Campbell has been obsessed with photography since returning from a surfing trip to...
Hayden Campbell has been obsessed with photography since returning from a surfing trip to Indonesia three years ago. His photos are on display at Catlins Cafe in Owaka.

Catlins photographer Hayden Campbell has been surfing where he shoots for more than 20 years.

And the Kaka Point surf and landscape photographer's commitment to photography has now begun to interfere with his surfing.

''I love the water, I love the ocean, whether that's surfing, or taking photos,'' he said.

''That's the point it's getting to now - it's crossing over hard. If it's pumping, I'll shoot first and then surf ... .''

Mr Campbell's work last year featured heavily in the first marketing campaign by the area's new regional tourism organisation Destination Clutha.

He sells prints and canvases online as Blacklabel Photography, but his current show at the Catlins Cafe in Owaka is the first time he has exhibited his work.

Mr Campbell (33) only got into photography after a surfing trip to Indonesia three years ago, but he has ''hammered it'' since then.

''If I saw something I liked, I'd try to find out how to do it - it would take me hours,'' he said. In the summer, he shoots every day and in the winter, while he missed some days, during the long nights he dragged a tripod out and shot images of the night sky.

His wife Julia has fielded questions from neighbours and friends who see him out swimming, taking photos at the beach at Kaka Point at dusk, he said.

''People come and tell Julia they see me swimming if I'm doing just some wave photography. `What's your idiot husband doing in the middle of the ocean just on dark by himself, swimming around?'

''That gets brought up a lot. That's a `thing','' Mr Campbell said.

''Julia gets hit up all the time. Not `What's wrong with him?' but `He's quite committed', I suppose.''

Mr Campbell, who pays the bills working as a plumber in Balclutha, is a self-confessed ''gear whore'' and his latest acquisition, new underwater housing from Laguna Beach's HCW Housing, has had a workout over the winter months, but he is ''not letting too much go'' when he discusses where the photos of friends surfing have been taken.

While many spots in the Catlins were well known, ''there's only a very few that people don't know about, or can't get to.

''We want to keep it that way.''

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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