In my experience filming surfing with drones, getting footage is best done in one of two ways: you either have to go to a spot like Rincon, Pipeline, or Malibu because there are a lot of really good surfers who want to have footage shot of them and generally won’t give you shit, or you have to find a really good surfer and travel with them to a great spot with nobody on it.
The problem with crowds is that it’s hard to focus on one guy. Kilian Garland and I have been struggling to get great clips when he paddles out at Rincon because it’s so easy to lose him. It’s like following one car on the 405 freeway. But when we go explore random peaks for fat air sections, we tend to get it all to ourselves. Sometimes, we even score.
It also helps that we have been working together for about a year now. We can plan out shots or ideas. Because our waves are not as big as the North Shore, we try and push new elements of filming surfing by drone. Meaning we try and get really close, finding those really tight angles. I told him just to ignore the buzzing in his ear. And for the good footage, God bless him, he was cool with it.
See more from Jesse at Aizemedia.com and follow him on Instagram.
Kilian Garland landing an air at Jalama from MrJesseAizenstat on Vimeo.
