"Motivated by a beautiful woman and through the help of three close
friends, I learned to surf so I could one day say "I surf".
This
project is a portrait series that Chris Sembrot is shooting to document city dwellers who
make the trek to the nearest shore with each passing swell.
Finding
surfers in the Tri-State area isn't as easy as finding them on the West
Coast, but that's exactly what Chris Sembrot wasn't looking for when he
began the project. He specifically wanted people in
the NY, NJ, Philly/PA areas that had their own board, wore whatever they
wanted, and were willing to hit the water & be photographed by 6am.
Each location is no more than a block from each subject's home.
Chris
has been using social media to find some of his subjects. He initially
posted on Facebook, followed by Instagram, and uses those same
platforms to post the photographs as well, but the overall project was
directly inspired by three friends of his who took him under their wings
and withstood with the humiliation (that he still brings when I go out
with them) of helping a newbie. Chris can now say that "he surfs" as easily as he can say "I am a photographer."
