Tiger Tales

Profile: Surf Photographer

Every day, Sydney’s Eugene “Uge” Tan gets up at the crack of dawn and lovingly photographs iconic Bondi Beach, often from in the water, then emails his images to the 40,000 people who subscribe to his Aquabumps blog. His website (www.aquabumps.com) is a hub for an international community of beach lovers – both landlocked and coastal. Eugene also runs a shopfront gallery in Bondi, mere steps from the sand, where fans snap up beautifully presented prints of his finest work. He has just launched his first book, A Day At Bondi, From Sunrise to Sunset. Does he have the best job in the world? We think so. Let’s dive in.

WHERE AND WHEN DID YOUR PASSIONS ARISE?
I’ve always loved the water. Before I could swim my father used to body surf with us on his back. Photography came into my life a little later, when I was nine. I remember buying a camera at a garage sale and was besotted with it. The fascination of freezing a moment in time inspired me.
I documented everything that came in my path.

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO START AQUABUMPS?
It was kind of a combination of leap of faith and good timing. I was a creative director at a web design agency. I’d been there for 10 years and had itchy feet.
I was bored and, to be honest, overpaid. One day I rode into town, leaving a beautiful day at Bondi behind – clear skies, three- to four-foot (1m) surf – and I thought, there’s got to be a better way to make money than sitting in a cubicle. So I resigned that day. I didn’t really have any plans, just resigned and waited to see what happened.
Weeks later an old friend offered me a tiny retail space – 20sqm in North Bondi. It was reasonably cheap and had no foot traffic. I had never thought of a permanent gallery, as I didn’t think people would buy my work, but they thought I could make it work – or at least just give it a stab. I signed up, opened doors and it worked. There were some pretty lean times financially in the middle there. I’m talking real lean, but it all turned out okay in the end.

WHY BONDI AS YOUR BASE?
Bondi is a good location to be a photographer.  
(A) it’s in Australia – good weather. (B) Bondi is a weave of so many different types of people – bums, drunks, yuppies, skegs (surfers), artists (still bums), actors, models, poseurs – all mashed into the one area. This mismatch makes for great photography subjects.  
(C) it’s a beautiful beach, 8km away from a major city, so you can still earn money and have great opportunities. (D) Bondi is a swell magnet and breaks most days. Being an avid surfer, this is crucial. I need waves to shoot, too.(E) I just like the overall vibe and energy of Bondi.

TELL US AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS LESSON
Gut feelings are everything – listen to them. When owning your own business you have to make so many decisions daily, and you have to do it fast. Other than that the old cliché rings loud to me: actions speak louder than words. I am a doer, not a talker. So many people come to me now with business ideas they want to bounce off me. Some mates have been talking to me about the same business idea for five years and the race has already run. They’re too slow: too much talk, too much planning. I believe in “just dooooo it!” You’ll know sooner than later whether it’s going to work or not. It’s just too easy to bang on talking about an idea, but much harder to just do it.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR CURRENT CHALLENGES?
Reinventing. New ideas are hard to come by and take a lot of headspace. Every three months, I try to change my gallery artworks – completely – with totally new ideas and themes. It’s tough to come up with new, clean, fresh ideas every three months. Like my aerial series, shot from helicopters over Bondi during peak summer crowds; what next, eh? Ah-ha.Time is another challenge. Damn time. I work six or seven days a week and am spread quite thin. My wife is having a baby, so work will have to be toned right back. Currently my day starts at 5.30am and I’m never home before 8pm. There is just so much to do! And rips. They always keep me on my toes when shooting in the water. Man, Bondi has full-on rips.

WHAT INSPIRES AND MOTIVATES YOU?
Photographers inspire me. However, I draw most of my inspiration from the changing moods of a beach like Bondi. How it can be sunny one minute, then howling the next? Flat like a lake then 15 feet (5m) and roaring? If I don’t see the beach or shoot it for one morning, I feel incomplete and worried that I might have missed something. Odd, I know, kind of fanatical, but I can’t help it. And I feel like I’ve let my audience down, all 40,000 of them.

Aquabumps Gallery, 151 Curlewis St, Bondi Beach, tel: + 61 (0)2 9130 7788, www.aquabumps.com

Sydney

Although he regularly travels for work, it’s the harbour city that Eugene calls home. Here are his inside tips

Best place to celebrate a deal
“I love Ching-a-Lings, but you might have a lot of trouble finding it as it has no sign, no phone number and no obvious entrance. It’s basically up some stairs next door to the Colombian on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst though, and well worth the effort it takes to find. A chilled out, no- fancy-cocktails zone.” Ching-a-Lings, 1/133 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, www.chingalings.com

Best spot for dinner
“Longrain. Hands down, the best in Sydney. It has been in Surry Hills for as long as I’ve been taking photos of Bondi and it hasn’t missed a beat. Martin Boetz’s love for Asian food is infused into every dish. And the place is jumping, too. Casual, yet classic. Cool yet unpretentious.”
Longrain, 85 Common- wealth St, Surry Hills, tel: +61 (0)2 9280 2888, www.longrain.com

Best beach
“Bondi, of course! After shooting it every day for 11 years, I would be expected to say that. But every morning is different: different wave heights, different winds, different temperatures and it’s always a surprise what happens in the early hours of the morning.” (There’s coffee and juice on the beach at The Bondi Pavilion.)
The Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Dr, Bondi Beach, tel: +61 (0)2 8362 3400

Best spot for breakfast
“If I’ve got time after a morning’s shoot, I like to go to Bills in Darlinghurst. Though there’s another branch in Surry Hills (Bills 2, Crown Street), I prefer Darlo, the original restaurant. Bill Grainger is a breakfast genius generally, but I reckon the creamy scrambled eggs and bacon at the Darlo restaurant are the best in the world.”
Bills, 33 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst, tel: +61 (0)2 9360 9631, www.bills.com.au