Gallery Photofile - Alex Turoy

In: In The Mix Photographer Alex Turoy Fri 12th Mar '10

Tags: Alex Turoy , Mitch Rawlins , Bredan Backshall , Brad Hughes , Western Australia

Alex Turoy is burning bright at the moment with his work being displayed in every publication where you can find quality bodyboarding images. He is high demand by industry companies for advertising shoots and is on the hunt more than anyone for some fresh action to capture. It seemed only fitting to question him to find out who he is and what makes him tick.

How long have you been shooting for?

Near on 7 years but with varying goals and levels of intensity. I guess its only been the past 4 years that I've begun taking things a bit more seriously.

What drew you into shooting photos?

I remember picking up my mums old Canon AE-1 and being pretty fascinated about how they worked. I had no idea really about how cameras worked but I remember playing around with that throughout highschool. When I finished Highschool in Perth I moved to Margaret river to study a career in Vitculture and Oenology(winemaking), at the same time I'd bought a Nikon F100 and a beat up old 35-70mm. I guess the kind of environment down there drew me away from those studies and more towards photography and surfing. It sort of just manifested from there

Within the industry who did you grow up looking up to for their photo work?

Loaded question ahahha? Definitely yourself (Phil Gallagher) but also guys from over here like Paul Jarvis, Peter Quinn and the Regnard twins(Tungsten) I used to and do still love the photos those guys shot especially when its stuff going on around where you live.

How do see yourself within the industry these days?

Im not too sure, I guess im a part of the bodyboarding media to an extent and I feel as though I perform the tasks required of me well. Would I say I'm an integral part, no, theres always someone that can do your job better that will step in if you slack off or step out. Its funny, I see so many flaws in my work and my photography and there are so many what I consider to be better photographers get less work run than myself, but I guess where you sit isnt just decided by how good a photographer your are, how hard you work and how much your willing to commit also plays a part.

Its hard to answer this question without sounding like you've got tickets on yourself but I do think that I play a part in the industry by working together with magazines and companys to deliver images to the public. Although in the end, im ultimately and easily replaceable.

 

Tell us about the learning curve for you going from a average punter to semi professional photographer?

For myself this transition was less of a learning curve and more of a juggling act that resulted from a conscious decision at the end of 2008 to take things more seriously and work harder to succeed. I came to an arrangement with my fulltime employer to become more flexible with my working hours, this meant I was needed to work a minimum of 12 hours a day 3 days a week. Which days these 3 days fell on was up to me and I would discuss it the previous week with my employer when I had looked at the weather and swell charts for the next week. Often this meant I would be working 12 hours on a Monday, getting 5 hours sleep that night, getting up at 3am and driving down the coast, shooting all day and driving back to work 12 hours the next day only to leave straight away after work for further down the coast, drive 6 hours through the night, shoot all morning drive back and work 12 hours the next day. That's a slightly extreme example but it happened like that on a number of times with only a handful of those trips being fruitful. I found myself taking risks on "what ifs" a lot, you know the kind "what if that wind is actually lighter and more east in then predicted, what if that swell comes up more then the charts say". This mentality can lead to a lot of skunkings and broken hearts but it can also bear fruits to some amazing sessions with no one around. Another aspect I guess is the level of communication I begun to have with riders, magazine staff and bodyboard companies. A healthy level of communication here was also definitely part of the key, knowing who wants what of who at a particular time, what the plans for the next issue are and what riders are being featured and simply just knowing when the best riders are going to be around and surfing. Also being quick and prompt with delivering images and information was something I found myself striving to achieve over 2008/2009 (something which I've disappointed myself in the last 6 months). Being reliable and quick is always a plus for someone because they know theyre guaranteed the images will be there for them to start work on so they can plan co ordingly around that.

Where are some of the locations that you have had your best work come from?

Mitchells Wedge, The Box, Cyclops, The Right and Padang Padang have produced for me what I think I my most memorable images.

Any new exciting plans you can tell us about for the coming months?

To be honest I don't have anything in concrete at the moment. Im hoping to get over to indo atleast once or twice before august, its just too cheap and easy not to from Perth. Other than that try and make of the most of the good season here in WA and work towards correcting my flaws and increasing my knowledge and skills as a photographer.

With the talent and waves of the West side, do you think you can see yourself basing yourself anywhere else? If so where and why?

I'd find it really hard to live anywhere else than Perth or Dunsborough I think. I seriously love WA so much and not just for the waves it has, but also for the place that it is. Its gotta be one of the best places in the world to live, the quality of life is amazing. It has all these beautiful places in the far corners of the state and also ones close to the city that im lucky enough to get out and see on a pretty regular basis. With WA we get this pretty consistent stream of long period groundswell even when its flat, its not really that flat. If your willing to drive and you know where to go you can pretty much get fun waves on any given day of the week.

Also with some of the best riders in the world calling it home and waves like North Point, The Box, Rotto Box, Mitchells and Mandurah wedge, The Right, The Left , Rons, Salty dogs, Cyclops, Tombstones, Slaters right and hundreds of other waves that all get pretty amazing on their given day, how could you live anywhere else?

Explain your dream shooting scene and who is the subject?
That Pirelli calender shoot that Terry Richardson did with the supermodels was that thing serious? I'd kill to be in that position.

Haha nar but bodyboarding related, id really love to get a big perfect session at salty dogs this year with mitch brad chad adam and brendo all towing in. Or a perfect session at rons with the same guys all paddling in.

Where can people check out your work?

www.alexanderturoy.com.au would be the first place to look even though I haven't updated it in over a year. I do have plans in the pipeline the revamp the content and format of the website but it will still be atleast a month away before anything goes live.

 

Thanks mate and good luck out there.

Keep an eye out for more of Alex's work on the site as the year progresses.