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Sachi Cunningham the daring surf photographer
Sachi Cunningham wears many hats. She is a journalist, photographer and filmmaker. But, not in a traditional way.
SAN FRANCISCO - Sachi Cunningham has dedicated her life to capturing once-in-a-lifetime shots of some of the best surfers in the world, as they ride some of the biggest waves on the planet.
"I knew as soon as I got in the water and took my first shot that I was in the right place and this is what I was meant to do," said Cunningham, who lives in San Francisco.
She captures images of surfers from in the water right next to them. But, what's more shocking than some of the images she captures, is how she does it.
"Getting a shot is really challenging; the ocean is tough," Cunningham said. "My arm is attached to the camera. I can't use my arms to swim, I just kick with my fins."
KTVU joined Cunningham as she headed out to shoot at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, which can be the deadliest beach in the Bay Area.
The waves were small but choppy.
Still, Cunningham was more than 200 yards from shore without a floatation device, waiting for the wave and then the surfer.
"As the surfer is coming down the wave im going up the wave and we do a yin-yang movement," Cunningham said. "We try and intersect at the most critical part of the wave."
Cunningham described getting the shot as the perfect dance but in this case it takes more than two to tango.
"You make that connection you see it in your eye you feel it in your body its absolute magic," Cunningham said.
She always free swims, even when she shoots at Mavericks in Half Moon Bay where waves can swell up to 60 feet.
She uses just her legs, her camera is Velcro-ed to her wrist, she doesn't wear goggles. In choppier water, she sometimes wears a helmet.
"I don't take that for granted," Cunningham said. "I am always on guard and thinking about safety."
Despite the risk, her decades long passion for surfing and photography has never dimmed.
She fell in love with being in the water and photography when she watched an Aaron Cheng documentary, while growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
At that time, few women surfed. Fewer documented the waves they caught.
Now, Cunningham is changing the landscape one picture at a time.
She has chosen to focus her lens on female surfers and surfers of color, who often get less attention than their male and white counterparts, all in an effort to give back to a sport that’s given her so much.
"To see someone that looks like me doing that sparks the possibility in yourself," Cunningham said. "I hope there are some young Asian Americans out there who might be watching this and sparking an idea in them."