“We hiked 12 miles to get to this remote beachbreak, (pictured above)” says California-based surf photographer Chris Burkard. “It was worth every step.”  A staff photographer for Surfer Magazine, Burkard spends most of his time traveling, and strives to document not only the action, but the in-between moments and the lifestyle of the sport.

Mike Losness laying into a wave against a perfect Central California sunset.

“It seems that every trip to Mexico either brings good stories or good waves,” Burkard says. “On this trip we were lucky enough to get both, as Ben Bourgeois’s carve is overshadowed by the size of the rocks.”

The cold waters of Iceland having very little effect on Mike Losness. This was one of the few times houses were seen on our entire trip.

From SurfLand, Joni Sternbach’s collection of contemporary portraits of surfers photographed on America’s coastlines. Using the historic wet-plate collodion process, Sternbach creates one-of-a-kind tintypes that feel ambiguous, timeless and mysterious. She works with a large- format camera, and because the wet process must be prepared and developed on location, she and her subjects can see the pictures immediately. The elaborate process is part theater and part craft that enables Sternbach to interact with her sitters and other beach goers alike. Working with a wet chemical outdoors also lends itself to spontaneous and unpredictable results. It is precisely this raw quality of the process that suits the subject matter, giving it a distinctive appearance and echoing important traditions of nineteenth-century anthropological photography. Sternbach’s work is on view as part of the group exhibition, Sea Creatures at the Joseph Bellows Gallery until August 13, 2011.

© Dwight Okumoto

Scorching molten lava flows into and boils the incoming surf on the Big Island, Hawai’i. More images by Dwight Okumoto can be seen in The Great Outdoors 2010 online gallery.