Tough day at the office: How photographer risks life and limb to catch the perfect wave

By Mail Foreign Service
Updated: 09:51 EDT, 18 July 2010

You might think frolicking in the surf sounds like a cool way to spend a day - but professional photographer Clark Little reveals there is a lot more rough and tumble that comes with his job.

Standing in the shadow of giant breakers in Hawaii - home to some of the planet's biggest waves - Little waits until the last moment to capture these spectacular images... before the crushing impact hits him and literally sweeps him off his feet.

Despite the dangers of broken bones from being slammed into the seabed, drowning or even being attacked by sharks, Little's passion for the awesome power of surf drives him back into the water every day.

Good Morning: Photographer Clark Little frames the rising sun with a breaking wave off the coast of Hawaii

Now his personal favourites from a stunning collection four years in the making - and some never-before-seen images - are available in a new calendar.

Included in the mix is 'Good Morning' - the moment Little spotted the rising Sun perfectly cupped by a curling wave.

He said: 'Sunrise is my favourite time to shoot since the wind tends to be calm and nobody is around. I will swim out in the dark 15 minutes before the first hint of light and start taking pictures.

'Seeing colours fill in what used to be pitch black is an incredible feeling I never get tired of. It keeps me going to the beach in the pitch black day after day, year after year. I love it.'

Another image, Typhoon, shows the underside of a wave shot from the sea floor straight at the sky.

Beauty and danger: Little says shore breakers like this can be a painful experience if you get caught in them

Typhoon: Taken from underneath the wave as it curls over, Little captures the accompanying air-filled vortices

Clark, 41, said: 'Due to the circular motion of the tube and the movement of the water and air, some tubes form tornado-like cylinders filled with air that circle around the tube. Very strange behaviour. Even surfers who have surfed their whole lives have not seen these or do not realise they exist.'

Another breathtaking image, of Hawaii's golden sand being sucked up into an otherwise clear breaking wave, is deceptively benign.

Little revealed that the beauty of this image in particular hides a dangerous secret.

He said: 'This means the wave is a large wave breaking in very shallow water of two feet or less.  

'If I do not time it right and escape out the back of the wave, the full force will come down on me and push me into the sand.

'Imagine someone throwing a bed mattress out the window of a two story building and it lands on you. 

'I have seen people break their arms, legs and even necks from the force of these shorebreak waves. People do get paralysed for life if they are not skilled and careful in these waves.' 

At work: Little shows how he wzaits until the last second to freeze the ocean's awesome beauty

And waves aren't the only potential danger.

Little said: 'One concern is sharks are known to feed in the early morning or late afternoon, which is when the sun pictures work best. 

'I have seen very few sharks while photographing, but you do feel their presence sometimes and it keeps me aware that I am a visitor in their home.'

Having lived on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, for 35 years, Clark has never been far from what captivates him most.

And his camera - typically a Nikon D300 - lets him freeze for everyone the jaw-dropping sights he has enjoyed all his life.

He said: 'Since I was a child the ocean and the waves have always fascinated me. Like snowflakes, no two are the same.  

'I surfed for 30 years so my mind would capture these split-second images, but then I would forget them.

'Finally, when I discovered the waterproof camera and started taking pictures in 2007, I felt I could stop the waves and see details and the beauty.'

Clark's new calendar is available now in the UK through his website www.ClarkLittlePhotography.com.