Remington cracking it off the top this past winter. Photo: Denny.
Continued…
Growing up in the Ocean City area, you are destined to surf big cold water (this past winter season reached a balmy 38°) with seagulls as your only audience. A complete 180 forms the summer crowds. A man of few words, Remington prides himself on paddling into bombs with sub 6’ boards when guys are grabbing for the step-ups with shaky hands. “I think surfing is the best thing for surf training,” says the jujitsu student. Remington’s surfing ability came of age in 2009 when he won the Maryland State Surfing Championship. Among the widely known surfers from the area, there are a greater number of unknown surfers who surf more for local pride than anything else. Remington is one of those surfers.
Over the years, Denny had accumulated a dense library of shots of Remington surfing. “I was sending pictures of a few guys in town, most of them had sponsors, but the editors at Surfline and ESM were picking the pictures of Waldon,” explained Denny. Remington, through Denny’s help, was picked up by FOX Surfing, Shaper Fins, Nectar Sunglasses and local surf shop, Atlantic Shoals. Beyond their friendship, Denny and Remington became a team; both would go out on the biggest, eeriest, grimy days, one with a surfboard, the other with a camera and housing, stoking the fires of their passions.
Denny’s work became synonymous with exceptional shots taken from some of the most inhospitable days, mostly finding himself in the impact zone, knowingly taking a beating for a shot that might not ever be used and destined for the grave on some forgotten hard drive. Photographers are the unsung heroes and the life blood of the surf world.
“This what you have to do,” Denny says, “You have to get up earlier than you would if you were surfing, make sure all your gear is charged and cards are empty. You have to shoot all day long, as much as you can for as long as you can, usually around 3,000-4,000 pictures on a good day, and check each one. I usually do a morning, afternoon and evening swim, uploading my photos between sessions.” The real work begins when the last pictures are uploaded. Instead of kicking back, cracking a beer and relaxing in the euphoria from a long day of shooting, Denny scrolls through thousands of photos. “There are so many times working on pictures where I’m falling asleep at the computer, my body is literally shutting down,” Denny continues. Persistence and devotion are close companions to contribute to Denny’s self-made success.
You can hear the enthusiasm in Denny’s voice, see it through his exaggerated hand gestures and childlike grin that he truly loves what he does. “There are some days that I spend close to ten hours in the water, those are the good days. That’s my favorite thing in the world.” No Johns Hopkins’ salary is worth the glow of liveliness that exudes from Nick’s eyes as they widen when he talks about a long day of shooting. “My thing is,” Denny continues, “I want to swim on the days when no one else is even thinking about going out.”
Remington chimes in while scarfing down a ranch covered spicy thai wing, “Like Doomsday! I was scared surfing.” Denny agrees. “I was scared too,” he says. “I love that shit. It gets the heart pumping.”
As I sit across from Denny and Remington, It’s apparent that both live for the moments like doomsday. They have significantly different goals, but the end is the same: to live for the things that make them uncomfortable and inspired in the same moment. In the unwritten rule of surfing, if you put your wetsuit on, you’re going out. It’s hard to find a dry wetsuit between the two.
Denny captures a rare glimpse on Doomsday as Remington drops into the right.
