This series is a project combining resources from a few of my business interests. Scott Dickerson Photography is my photo and motion business that I’ve been at for 12 years now. This is my main work. For the last five years I’ve also been developing the SurfAlaska.net website and in the last three I’ve been selling stand up paddleboards, surfboards, wetsuits etc. in Alaska. I’m also partners in Ocean Swell Ventures which offers boat based surfing adventures in Alaska.
I’m directing/producing the series and have been collecting footage over the years. That’s where the teaser video footage mostly came from. In the past few months I’ve been working with JGS concepts to put this teaser together especially the editing and some additional filming on recent trips. They are also helping me promote the teaser and will be working with me on the series.
The surfers appearing in the videos will be myself and a variety of friends. Mike McCune who owns Ocean Swell Ventures and the m/v Milo will be a big part of it for sure since we usually surf together. Other local Alaskan surfers from Homer, Girdwood, Anchorage, Seward, and other towns that we visit will be included along with some visiting professional and recreational surfers.
We surf all over Alaska. We live in Homer so most our journeys start here but we’ve surfed from Southeast to Sand Point already with plans to go further.
The real story here is the incredible Alaskan coastline with its immense wilderness areas and awe inspiring weather. The video series will show what it’s like to venture out into this incredible scenery at times when the weather is not necessarily hospitable. A lot of our surfing adventures take place in the fall, winter and spring when the biggest storms are generating the best waves. This is not always the easiest time to be out at sea or camping on the beach.
How did I get into surfing? I wonder that myself. I grew up in Homer and had never even seen someone surfing as a kid. I must have knew of the concept and had a strong desire to play in the water. It was about the time that wetsuit technology was just making it possible to enjoy being in the ocean without immediate risk of hypothermia. My progression from bodysurfing in a borrowed 2mm wetsuit wearing fish picking gloves sealed with duct tape to my arms to where we are today with a crew of surfing friends and a 58ft boat, fly-out surf trips, and toasty warm wetsuits. . . is a long story. But I can tell you one thing, it was a slow and often very cold process that only a true innate passion could endure. All my dreams of how surfing could be done in Alaska have come true so I just keep making up new ones.
I started the SurfAlaska.net website in 2008 as a place to share some of my enthusiasm for surfing in Alaska. My obsession with surf and photographing it had reached a point where it didn’t fit very well just being a part of my photography business. SurfAlaska.net was the needed outlet for all these photos and stories I wanted to share. I also thought about how difficult it had been for me to learn how to surf in Alaska and if I shared some of the basic information it could really help people along. This same thinking also led into Surf Alaska becoming a surf shop where I’ve been able to make all the needed gear available to fellow Alaskans along with good advice on choosing the right equipment. As anyone that enjoys adventures sports in Alaska can agree – the right gear is really critical if you want to have a good time and stay safe outdoors, and this is especially true when you enter the water.
Surfing in Alaska is not something that very many people are ever going to do. I’ve been sharing photos and stories, we’ve been taking people on surf adventures through Ocean Swell Ventures, and the Surf Alaska video series is just the next step in this tradition of sharing the experience. Being out there in the wilds, immersed in this incredible spectacle of nature is such a rich experience. And it’s so much more enjoyable when you know what a struggle it’s been to get there. I want to share this whole experience and video seems like the right way to do it. Of course I think everyone should just go on a surfing adventure themselves, but practically I think the Surf Alaska video series is going to have to be close enough for most people. So I hope to do some justice to what an amazing experience it is.
A guilty conscious has driven Scott Dickerson to sharing some of the beauty he's experienced over the years of living and pioneering surf in Alaska. It just doesn't seem right that one person could be witness to so much of nature's magnificence and not share a bit of that visual opulence. Surfing, photography and flying are three passions that keep him prospecting around the next cape on Alaska's 34,000+ miles of coastline.
