Ray Collins

Ray Collins is an Australian photographer who focuses on taking pictures of waves and the ocean, but also photographs people and other subject matter. When photographing waves, he uses a really fast shutter speed and manages to make them look like mountains in some cases, tunnels in others. I like how he plays around with light and perspective in his work because it allows a simple thing like a wave crashing into shore seem like an event and something monumental. In reality, the wave crashing takes very little time yet, for one moment, the wave he's depicting is still. 

"Ray feels more at home floating in saltwater with his camera than anywhere on land. Freezing the ephemeral relationship between water and light is what drives and inspires him to clamber out of bed in the dark each morning to celebrate the sun rising over the sea."

“I’ve had a few instances where I’ve been concerned for my well-being and general safety. Just miscalculating and underestimating the power of a wave.”--Ray Collins

"But there are moments  when it all comes together, and they are moments that propel me."--Ray Collins

Ray is alive, well, hip, and cool. He also has an instagram cool things happen if you click it.

(List of things he has (from his site): "Ray has been the recipient of the prestigious 'Follow The Light Grant' (2009), placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the ‘Australian Surf Photo of the Year' (2012), Semi Finalist in the 'Moran Portraiture Prize' (2012) named ’Emerging Sport Photographer of the Year’ (Capture Professional Photography Magazine 2013) Runner Up ‘Ocean Geographic - Pictures of the year’ (2013), Placed 1st in the 'California Academy Of Sciences - Big Picture Awards'  (2014), Portfolio Of The Year 'The Inertia' (2014), 'Overall Winner' and 'Best of Show' in 'The Ocean Art Photo Competition' (2015), Shortlisted Finalist of The Terry Oneill Photography Award (2015), 1st Place ‘Australian Surf Photo of the Year' (2015), 'Juror's Award' - 'The Center for Fine Art Photography - USA' (2015), Shortlisted Finalist for the prestigious 'Smithsonian - Annual Photo Contest' (2015). Winner 'American Aperture Awards' - Landscape/Seascape/Nature (2015).

Ray's work has been featured by Wired, Yahoo, CNN, ABC (USA), ESPN, Huffington Post & BuzzFeed and can regularly be found in Art, Lifestyle, Sport and Photography Magazines around the world, his Seascapes have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout The United States, Europe, The UK and Australia.") http://raycollinsphoto.com/