Short Stories 2010: Dark Side of the Lens

"A glimpse into life lived in the shadow of...an obsessive pursuit."

Mickey Smith's Short Story

Our challenge to filmmakers around the world to explore, reveal, celebrate and define No Half Measures in film for our SHORT STORIES competition begins with ‘The Dark Side Of The Lens’, a short film from renowned surf photographer Mickey Smith.

Smith worked with Allan Wilson (director of photography) from the Astray Collective to present a side to surfing that few of us, as observers or surfers, will glimpse: the life of the photographer. What drives him to spend countless hours in cold and hostile waters in search of a single shot?

“I wanted to create that something that would give insight into what it takes to grind out a living as a water-based photographer in the surfing industry,” Smith explains, “to provide a short, experimental glimpse into life lived in the shadow of what is, for me, an obsessive pursuit.”

There is an interesting sub-text to the film, too. If your life is spent simply observing and documenting what you see, are you ever really present? It’s this willingness to go unnoticed, to hide in the shadows and sacrifice personal notoriety for the sake of one’s art, that remains a hallmark of the very best ‘watermen’. Mickey Smith is no exception.

Alastair Seeley

Speciality

Motorcycling

Quote that inspires me

“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog!”, Archie Griffin.                                            

“Losers quit when they're tired. Winners quit when they've won,” Unknown.

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