[This is part four of a five-part series introducing the 2019 Follow The Light finalists. Click here for part one, featuring photographer Shane Grace, here for part two featuring Ryan Mack and here for part three featuring Paul Greene.
The Follow The Light foundation, in memory of SURFING Magazine’s famous Photo Editor, Larry “Flame” Moore, has been honoring the best young surf photographers in the world since Flame’s passing in 2005, while awarding one winner each year with a $5000 grant to kickstart their careers. Past winners include the biggest names in the game: Morgan Maassen, Trevor Moran and Todd Glaser, to name a few. In advance of the awards ceremony at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point on September 12, we’ll be showcasing a gallery of work from the five 2019 finalists.
The fourth finalist is 23-year-old Nick Green, from Hobart, in Tasmania, Australia.
Nick Green’s photography is self described as “dark and moody”. Which makes sense, considering Tasmania’s rugged coastline and raw ocean is his main subject matter. “I’m always looking out for those really dark days–the days when most people want to be at home all bundled up,” says Green. “Those are the days I’m most excited to shoot.”
But, before it was an integral part of his style, the darkness almost killed him.
“Struggling with mental health was my biggest influence to take photos,” Green continues, on a somber, personal, and very uncomfortable note. “When I was 17-years-old I threw myself in front of a moving car. It hit me at 90 kmh and sent me flying, and somehow I survived with only a broken hip and snapped femur. It isn’t something I’m proud of, but without that mistake I wouldn’t be where I am today–both with my photography, and with other aspects of my life.”
Luckily for Green, photography found him when he needed it most. And now, rather than bottle up that darkness and tuck it away, he’s found a beautiful outlet to share it with the world.
“After that, I started taking care of myself, speaking out and getting help, as well as finding things that gave me joy and purpose; and that’s where photography–specifically in the ocean–came in. I find peace in the sea, it’s a meditation and healing process, so the combination of that and creating photographs was a natural progression for me. Put simply, photography gave me something to do, something to take my mind off things when they got dark, a creative outlet to express myself and immerse myself in the present moment, which at that point in my life I was really struggling with. Photography was the therapy that I didn’t know I needed.”
Scroll below for the six images that landed Greene amongst this year’s Follow The Light finalist.
Tasmania
Rosin Carolin
Dion Agius
Rudi Schwartz
