Hi Rydian,
One thing you have to love about Sydney are the beaches; they are an underwater photographer’s paradise. Dozens of photographers have established great reputations based on their work on the city’s surf beaches… and per usual, the challenge for any photographer following in their footsteps is to come up with new ideas and angles.
This image is not what I would call unique but is still a good shot. I am not an expert on surf photography but I do know that you are working in a difficult environment; the surf is pushing you and the camera around, you are trying to maintain composition and at the same time nail the moment. At a good guess you had about a tenth of a second to get this moment right.
The one really strong element in this image is the diagonal of the wave; diagonals are a very powerful design element and you should make the most of them when you can. My feeling is that you would have been better to have had the surfer dropped into the lower right of the picture and had the camera up and more to the left to make the most of the wave.
As another element that might make this stronger, I would look at manipulating the colour slightly too, just to add some more warmth to the image. In this instance I have opted to use the Graduated Filter in Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4.
Good luck pursuing more of these images. Anthony
Bondi Duck Dive - Image Doctor's edited version
