Nearly all the images on this site were taken on the north shore of oahu in Hawaii 05 / 06, which pretty well everyone is saying was the best season in a decade. That is no exageration either. Nearly every day I would be greeted with another day of great waves, a couple of them in particular had huge, perfect west / north west swells punching through and the camera was going non stop all day.

I'm Mal Stewart, and i grew up surfing in the cold waters of South Australia, I had a strong love of surfing from the first day I went out on an old "Sunshine" board that had literally been broken in half and then glassed back together again, but I definitely did'nt have a love of any type with the temperature of the water in winter down there, when our best swells would come through. It would be full steamers, booties, gloves and a hood to last anything over half an hour in the water, and you would still get out after a session that cold you had to use two hands to turn the car key .............Queensland was calling.

In 1976 I moved to the gold coast where I still reside today, I was doing photography in my years down in South Australia, but it was in Queensland that my passion for surf photography really kicked in.

I got myself an canon camera for land based shooting and a water housed kodak camera for going out in the surf, and still love one of the shots from my first session out in about 3 to 4 foot waves at Mermaid Beach ........a pic of a guy totally barrelled on a little left and looking straight into the camera.

As a freelance photographer over the past few seasons I have travelled to the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii to shoot some of the best surfers in the world and also the up and coming chargers.

Guys like Reef McIntosh, Dave Wassell, Marcus Hickman, Jamie Stirling, Jamie Obrien, Mikey Bruneau, Tamayo Perry, Randall Paulson, Kalani Chapman, Mark Healey and Braden Dias are all great to watch and photograph and you can tell that they are out there because they just love it , and of course there is always Kelly Slater, an incredible surfer in anyones terms. The image of Kelly taking off on a perfect peak at Banzai Pipeline on page one of this site is one of my all time favourite shots.

The North Shore is an amazing arena for seeing the best of the best going up against some of the biggest surf mother nature can dish up, and there is something about the place that makes you just want to keep going back there.

When it's one of those huge days that you can feel the raw power of the place thick in the air, the beach is full of spectators and the above mentioned crew are out there charging like there is no tomorrow, ....it's something you just dont forget.

With so many good breaks including Pipeline, Backdoor, Sunset Beach, Off The Wall, Log Cabins, Waimea Bay Etc, there is always going to be someone out there tearing the place apart and getting amongst the action.

I love the effect photography plays in bringing those waves into a still format. A large print brings that wave right into your living room with high visual impact.

I have a range of images depicting the split second decisions of a surfer caught inside a big "fear of god" clean up set, or in the lip of a huge west peak pipe beast and going over the falls, as well as the beautifully executed skill of the same guys just cruising down these liquid mountains in totally relaxed mode.

All the images on this site are available in a range of sizes from 5" x 7" up to wall size eg 1.250 meters x 2.400 meters and on a range of mediums including fine art canvas and photographic papers.

I hope you enjoy viewing the site as much as i did putting it together and building it with my own hands......... and will continue to add to it so please stay tuned

Special thanks to my mate Paul (buddy) for helping it to all happen with the right gear, cheers mate.

Enjoy.