Shunning Surf Porn: Photographer Al Mackinnon
MODERN SURF PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE SHEEP. Most often they can be found following top surfers around the world’s most predictable locations. There you will see them lined up on the beach or swarming in the channel, firing away and producing a never-ending stream of surf porn that populates the ads and pages of surf magazines to the degree that many an armchair surfer can take one look at most pics and easily identify the wave despite having never been within a thousand miles of the place itself.
Al Mackinnon’s photos create the opposite reaction. Even among the most seasoned surfers, and indeed many a photog, the first reaction to his images is a baffled ‘where the fuck is that?’ Shunning the common formula for surf photography, Al has made a name for himself through his willingness to spend months and months on the road at a time, immersing himself in the cultures he finds himself, and favoring exploration on the worlds remote, and often frigid, coastlines looking and waiting for the fleeting combination of swell, wind, tide and light that produce the desolate perfection he seeks to capture.
Beyond the waves, Al separates himself from the pack not only with his patience but also with his keen eye for documenting the people and places he finds himself. Al is a throwback to the golden years of surf photography where a photographer’s passion for adventure and balls to brave the elements were as important as his or her camera. 
