The five things travel taught me: Russell Ord, surf photographer

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This was published 5 years ago

The five things travel taught me: Russell Ord, surf photographer

By Julietta Jameson
Updated
Russell Ord has learnt it's best to travel without expectations.

Russell Ord has learnt it's best to travel without expectations.

EXPECTATIONS

In my early days of travelling to incredible surf destinations such as the Mentawai Islands (Indonesia) on surf missions and photo assignments, I learnt very quickly never to travel with high expectations or any expectations for that matter. Perfect time of the year for this location? Perfect weather and waves can turn into week-long tropical storms combined with no swell, high winds and rough seas. Having no expectations allows the mind to wander and create something from nothing, photos you can be proud of and in the end keeping the magazine editor happy they made the right choice in sending you in the first place.

PATIENCE

I am not a patient person at the best of times – that's an understatement, to be honest. Driving along a secluded southern Western Australian beach alone gave me plenty of time to think and reflect where I had been going right and more importantly where I had been going wrong. I started to get bogged: there was no turning back, I was committed to this stretch of soft sand. I stopped the car before it got any worse and let the last amount of air out of the tyres, the tide was due to peak in an hour. I knew there was a chance of losing the car to the ocean. If I had only been more patient and waited until the tide was two/three hours on the other side of the high ... Luckily, the now 16psi tyres made all the difference, the journey continued.

GRATITUDE

I live in Margaret River, Western Australia, and at times I will catch myself complaining about the internet being down, the mail arriving by pony express, running out of coffee beans – utterly the most mundane things. It does not take long to wake up and start being grateful for your life when you step off a plane in a developing country, people smiling, the kids are out playing in the street having fun, happiness surrounds you as you look around and think to yourself how harsh the whole environment seems compared to home. I remind myself right then and there never to complain again (well to try not to, anyway) when I arrive back home to my comfortable life.

RESPECT

I love travelling abroad and documenting people's stories, all sorts of people with an array of different backgrounds, beliefs, cultures and how they go about their daily lives. Having these first-hand experiences while travelling has no doubt changed who I am as a person, something I would have never learned from a book. I certainly hope my kids want to travel and have their world and mind opened by others.

West Australian Russell Ord's spectacular images have won him worldwide recognition. A former NRL player and fireman, his work has been published in magazines and books throughout the world, and he has won many prestigious awards. His new book, with Anthony Pancia, is Surfing – Water is Freedom (New Holland Publishers, $49.99). See newhollandpublishers.com

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