Nick Green - Photographer

Hey Nick, tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m 18, from Tasmania, Australia. I work as an after school care worker, live a pretty simple life really. Try to see the positive in everything and enjoy my life will I’m here! Guess I'd fall into your typical 18 year old description - family, friends, drinking, having a good time and not really worrying about much haha! chuck in surfing, taking photos and making videos and there ya go!

Do you have any idea what you would like be when your older?
(laughs) that old question! yes and no, I know what type of person I would like to be sure, but I dunno what exactly I'll be doing while I am that person. I like to leave my options pretty open so I don’t get trapped in something that I’m not happy doing, maybe I’m scared of commitment or maybe I just don’t like routine I dunno. All I know really is that I’ve always had the need to make the most of my life, to experience it all.. I started taking photos roughly 3 or 4 years ago and ever since I first started, I’ve been hooked, hooked on the ability to experience something and to be able to relive that experience or allow someone else to experience it by seeing an image.. So ideally for me, the dream ‘job’ would be travelling the world having a kick ass time taking photos or making videos of all the cool stuff I experienced.. unfortunately I know this isn’t realistic (laughs) , so I guess it just comes down to trying to find a compromised version of that. Something that allows me to experience as much as I can but with a certain structure in order to fund it. I’m just waiting to find something that feels right I guess, I feel optimistic that if it's meant to happen, the opportunity will present itself.

So where does surfing come into all of this?
Surfing is one of the experiences in my life that has obviously had a fairly large impact on who I am, it takes up a majority of my time in life, whether it be riding waves, shooting waves, researching waves or just generally thinking about waves (laughs) Of course there are the positives like getting barrelled or surfing with just your mates, the amazing places it takes you, the people you meet, all of that, but I don’t think its simply ‘surfing’ that has kept me interested.. Just the ocean in general really, it’s a place I feel at home at no matter where in the world I am and i haven’t found very many other things like that. If I’m having a rotten day then one of the few things I can always rely on to make me feel better is the ocean. It levels me out to a level I like being at.

So you say the ocean is the main attraction, why shoot surfers then? Why not simply focus on the ocean?
Well a lot of my really good mates are surfers, I like sharing photos of surfers in the ocean for people who appreciate surfing. I understand there are people out there that don’t like surf photographers, ruining secret spots, creating a competitive vibe or whatever negative correspondent you can make with a surf photographer but I don’t know many people who would say to no to seeing a photo of themselves getting barrelled. Might as well press down a button and capture a moment for them to have as a memory and for others to have as a motivation or daydream. Trying to connect with people can sometimes be challenging and I think photography breaks that social barrier sometimes, for me anyway.

Do you have a favourite image? If so why?
ahhhhh man, I dunno! Probably not.. Whenever I think about photos I’ve taken I always kind of feel like I haven’t taken that many, which isn’t true at all (laughs) I have all these photos of all these different things and moments in time but it’s not until I look over them or really think over a certain image do I get the emotion that comes with them or whatever.. Probably like a year ago I shot an empty wave image which basically funded my whole year in grade 11. I’d be spending money on petrol, food, drinks, normal stuff for someone my age really, but when everyone else was working shitty part time jobs to fund their weekends I was just selling prints of this image (laughs). So I guess that is a favourite image in a way, not only does it bring back good memories from the session I took the image at but also is responsible for a lot of other memories.

A young man with a lot to say! Cheers for chatting to us mate, something to wrap it up on?
Yeah thanks heaps for letting me give my two cents! You never know maybe someone reading this will know an opportunity which they think will suit me and the next step to my life will begin, or maybe it’ll get lost in the internet and won’t mean anything, either way I'm still going to surf, I’m still going to shoot and I’m still going to try and experience everything. Peace.

Where can we find you online?

Posted by: Matthew Ryan, on July 29, 2014
Categories: Interviews

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