"When I started in July, 2008 – I wasn't sure how many people would be interested in a daily e-mail, I decided to trial it for a month, sending it to 20 mates, they loved it and I loved doing it so I kept going, now I'm up to almost 2,500 subscribers" said Matt.
Matt Johnson has been surfing at Cronulla for more than ten years. "I've always loved the ocean right from an early age but started really getting into it in early high school. Surfing is such an amazing experience which isn't just a sport, it's a whole lifestyle," he said.
"In my last two years at Port Hacking High School, I took up photography and loved it. It seems to run in the family with my Dad and two older brothers all working in visual media. I then spent four years at Ultimo TAFE and completed my Diploma of Photography in 2006," said Matt.
On graduating, Matt established his own business, Matt Johnson Photography. "I was instantly drawn to shooting photos at the beach but mainly the landscape side of photography but given my love of surfing I looked for ways to combine both my interests and so The Sea Life was born," he said.
Matt is up every (weekday) morning before sunrise and has become a familiar figure to local surfers from Greenhills to Sand Shoes. "I usually shoot between 200 and 400 photos each morning, often shooting the same guys each day, but the conditions are always different. The hard part is then to edit these down to the best ten shots, caption them, write the e-mail and then get it out to my list of subscribers by 11am," Matt said. Matt is also a member of Christian Surfers and often shoots their surf comps up and down the coast.
The recently re-published Surfer's Bible, which includes stories about Christian surfers and their faith, also features some of Matt's surf photos.
When asked about the early mornings, Matt said he got some great advice from landscape photographer, Ken Duncan. "Ken told me that the hardest part about photography was getting out of bed. He's right – but so far, so good," Matt said.
Although Matt took a week off to get married in January, he got some Shire based photographers to fill in for him. "I can say that we haven't missed an issue of The Sea Life since I started, just over a year ago," said Matt.
Subscribers to The Sea Life live all over the world. "Whilst about half live in the Shire, the rest are scattered around Australia and the world," said Matt. "I have a couple of guys who live in South America and Europe and although they've never been to Australia, they're keen surfers and seem to love the images in each day's e- mail. A lot of my subscribers aren't even surfers but they love the photos just the same. Many of them are members of their local Christian Surfers group," he said.
Matt is about to launch The Sea Life web site which will mean more photos will be available from his early morning shoots. "The web site will have a search function so that surfers looking for images I have taken of them surfing will be able to search by date," said Matt. "And of course all the photos are for sale," Matt added.
On the web: www.thesealife.com.au