In a time where the surf and skate scene is documented so often and with such ease through a smartphone, the work of Blake Myers' is a refreshing perspective. With an eye for gorgeous imagery and knack for capturing surfing's finest contemporary talent, it was great to chat to Blake about his start in the industry and living as a creative in 2018.
Hey Blake, thanks so much for chatting. Firstly, introduce yourself. Where are you from and what exactly do you do?
I am 25 years old cinematographer, from New Zealand, but now based in Paris, France.
It only takes one look at your portfolio to see that you’ve got an eye for visual flair, when did you first pick up a camera?
I start filming my friends surfing around age thirteen with the family Sony handy cam camera, I grew up in a small town called whangamata, it has really fun waves and I had a good crew I would always surf with.
A lot of us started getting sponsored etc and would create short videos getting exposure on YouTube/ Vimeo. I started filming with good friend Rangi Ormond - He had just signed with Insight to surf and we started making short films for them.
Where did things progress from there? Was filmmaking the goal from an early stage?
Yeah It has always been a passion of mine at an early age. I started doing Lego animations around 9 - 10 (They are on my Vimeo channel) and it just progressed from there. I ended up meeting people with the same interests.
How did you become involved with Kai Neville and the whole What Youth crew?
I entered in Stab Magazines Little Weeds contest and ended up flying to Australia for the final and meeting Kai Neville through that. I year later he asked if I wanted to work for him. I had just graduated high school and the day after graduating I moved out to Australia to work. I worked with Kai for 3 years on Lost Atlas, Dear Suburbia and Cluster.
During that time, I got really into documentary film, and What Youth had just started in California and I really wanted to move there. This was middle of 2014. We were living in Indonesia editing Cluster. My dad is American so I have been lucky enough to have dual citizenship within New Zealand and USA…. so it gave me the possibility to move there with no visa issues. Once we finished Cluster I decided to move over to California and start working for What Youth, I did that from 2015 - 2017 and now have moved to Paris, France
What influences outside of the surf industry do you pull from throughout your work?
Music video directors, documentarians, travel cinematographers. There are a bunch of people that helped.
What is your go-to setup? I can imagine it changes on account of the kind of project you’re shooting.
It depends on the job; I’ve been shooting a lot of Super 16mm this year. Also RED.
What is required of a creative to succeed in 2018?
Passion and persistence, and just to keep going and maintain that intimacy with your work, that relationship is vital to the quality of your vision. You can't worry about what people think.
What lies ahead for your creative work? Any plans and/or projects underway?
I’m heading back to New Zealand for a few months to see family and surf and keep progressing with different projects and clients.
Thanks so much for chatting Blake! You can keep up with his creative endeavours at -