This sunrise session very nearly didn’t happen.
Boise, Idaho-based photographer John Webster had been invited before. His friend and former freestyle world champion, Nick Troutman, told him for years to make the early morning pilgrimage to Kelly’s Whitewater Park in Cascade, Idaho. “He was like, dude, you need to come up here. There’s all-time light at the beginning of the day,” Webster recalls. But it was just far enough to worry about striking out.
Last summer, on the Fourth of July, he listened.
Sunrise sessions: The story behind the iconic shot
He woke around 5 a.m., a five-minute drive and 500 feet above the wave. “I turned on my car and saw the temp—it was 60°F. I was like, ‘It’s not going to happen.’ Nick had said if it hits 40°F, the fog is really good. We were 20 degrees off. But I was like, screw it, I’m up, let’s go for it.”
Driving downhill, the temperature dropped: 60… 55… 53… 52. Hope rekindled.
“Sunrise was 6:15 a.m., so we agreed he needed to start surfing at 6:10 a.m. Nick looked at me and said, ‘You just tell me when to stop.’ I was like, that’s a horrible thing to say to me—I’ll run you into the ground,” laughs Webster.
The two had agreed a silhouette of a loop would be best. Wave tricks weren’t going to do much with the lighting. But a big loop? That would work. Troutman threw loop after loop—just the two of them, the roar of the wave, and the sun peeking over the hills.
“It was harmonious. We were both exactly where we wanted to be,” said Webster. “No clients, no obligation. Just ambition.”
For an hour, Webster shot. “I don’t think I’ve seen a shot quite like this before,” he says. “Fog, backlight, whitewater—it’s pretty rare.”
This article was first published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. “I love backlit photos. The trick I’ve found is to go into manual focus. If you shoot autofocus in backlight, the camera doesn’t know what it’s doing.” | Feature photo: John Webster
