Chen Uzana, a native of Ashkelon, was five years old when he got on a surfboard for the first time.
Like so many people who live in Ashkelon, the sea is a second home, each drawn to their favorite spot in the miles of beaches the city has to offer. Chen grew up five minutes from the beach. Being so close to the beach, his parents and brothers used to take him there frequently. Chen said: “I had an amazing childhood, especially because the beaches were like being in a different place, outside the crowded city, a place with great waves, amazing people and vibes.” His two older brothers were surfers and he watched them and other surfers. As he got older, he started to surf more and more, getting tips from other surfers until he was able to master the waves by himself.
Offshore selfie of Chen Uzana
Chen was hooked to surfing the Ashkelon waves. He described his feelings: “What draws me is the feeling of freedom being in the ocean surfing. It feels like the only place where no one tells you what to do and how you move and you act the way you feel is right — freedom at its best.
Three years ago, Chen broke his hand playing soccer. What does an avid surfer do when he can’t surf? He was not able to give up his strong attachment to the sea, and found himself going to the Ashkelon beach to watch his friends surf. His whole perspective changed when he viewed it from the shore. He went from being an active participant to an observer. He began to see the surfers from different and interesting angles that he did not see when he was in the water with the others. When he saw images and videos of surfers online, Chen felt that they did not capture the same things that he was seeing, so he decided to start taking videos of surfers.
With his left hand broken, a camera in his right hand, Chen would go to the shore and videotape other surfers. Chen said: “I started with the videos and learned editing. I shot some really great videos and began posting them online. I received feedback from others and started to develop my skill and my eye for strong images.”
Chen’s hand healed and when he returned to the water, he brought his waterproof camera with him, with the idea of shooting from the water, not from the shore. Chen said: “I was really attracted to water photography, seeing other surfers while I was surfing in angles that were amazing, so I figured why not take a camera and capture it?”
Chen works a software engineer and when he finishes work, he heads to the beach, with his camera and surfboard, to ride the waves and capture what he sees from his board. If you see a surfer at the Ashkelon beach with a camera, it is probably Chen, capturing the excitement of surfing and his love of the sea.
