The shot of surfer Gabriel Medina was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI.
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𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘦 [𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢] 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦.
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With the images being sent automatically from the camera to his editors, the reaction soon came, and Brouillet admits he was “a little bit shocked” by it.
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘹-𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘚𝘗𝘕 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵: ‘𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭’