The world of surfing is immense. At one end, there’s its professional league — the newly branded World Surf League (WSL) — with wave slayers like Kelly Slater and the Brazilian wunderkind Gabriel Medina. At the other, there are purists who free-surf without caring about a judge’s score. In between is a surfing culture and lifestyle that encompasses everything from artists to bikini-clad beauties, jam bands and environmental activists. Here, you’ll find 15 surfing Instagram accounts that cover the sport’s rather vast spectrum. The one thing they all have in common: beautiful photography.
Alan Van Gysen
Van Gysen is the Photo Editor at Zigzag, an Australian surfing magazine. He takes artistic high-res photographs of remote locations and world-class surfers.
Anthony Dodds
Dodds’ photography encompasses the full spectrum of surfing, from shots of surfboards strapped to motorcycles to pros like John John Florence catching barrels. And of course, he portrays a fair share of beautiful women.
Luki O’Keefe
As a California native and self-described “water woman”, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any indoor photos on O’Keefe’s account. This film and digital photographer likes to capture female surfers who play in and around the shore.
Matt Clark
Based in New York, Clark is a well-known photographer in the surf industry. Some of his clients include Quiksilver, Mercedes-Benz and Tommy Hilfiger. His high-speed stop-motion photography, which covers everything from wave art to urban surfers, aptly captures the coastline’s raw beauty.
Woody Gooch
Gooch is a professional photographer who, by playing around with color and light, is able to create some pretty epic shots. His photos have great composition, and cover everything from surfing landscapes to the rare moments of down-time each surfer has.
Giang Alam Wardani
Beautiful and high quality, Wardani’s shots are of surfers who have old school flair — meaning many like to nose-ride. He also does an amazing job capturing the beauty of Indonesia, which is where he mostly shoots.
Stephanie Gilmore
The six-time-and-reigning ASP World Tour Women’s champion gives her followers a seemingly candid look into her life. Blonde and beautiful, Gilmore’s post range from high-quality surf shots and candid shots of her playing guitar, goofing around and traveling the globe.
Todd Glaser
Glaser is a staff photographer for Surfer Magazine. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Outside Magazine and The Surfer’s Journal.
Morgan Maassen
Maassen has amassed quite the resumé. His photos, which have been featured in some of the most well-known American publications (Harper’s Bazaar, Wired, National Geographic, Esquire), include beautiful portraits, underwater landscapes and some of the best surfers in the world.
Willie Kessel
As the Photo Editor for Do Something Cool, Kessel’s artistic photos deal mostly with the culture of surfing. New followers should expect photos of enchanting sunrises, the sea floor, funny animals — and obviously inspiring surfers.
Aaron Bruce
Looking for home screen-worthy photos of sunsets and swells? Look no further.
Craig Anderson
Surprisingly, professional free surfer Craig Anderson doesn’t post as many wave-riding photos you’d expect. Instead, his feed is populated with the landscapes, people and art he encounters on his travels.
Nick LaVecchia
LaVecchia is a world traveler and professional photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine and Outside.
Peter Taras
Taras is the Photo Editor of Surfing Magazine and deals with photos of the sport’s biggest names every day. His Instagram, however, is mostly made up of artistic portraits of people he encounters.
Alana Blanchard
Blanchard’s current ranking on the WSL World Tour won’t impress anyone (as of July 2015, she’s 133rd). However, she’s amassed a Instagram following of over a million for different (obvious) reasons.
