Big Waves Don’t Scare Clark Little, The World’s Top Shorebreak Shutterbug [Video]

Clark Little takes extraordinarily beautiful pictures — but it’s how he gets the shots that makes this photographer’s work mesmerizing, and unbelievable. Little is known as the world’s top shorebreak photographer and his breathtaking images of 30-40 foot tall waves crashing spectacularly onto the shore have been exhibited around the world, in museums and galleries, as well in dozens of magazines.

But to get the incredible shots, Little doesn’t just stand on the beach with telephoto lens, he leaps straight into the waves themselves. And the waves on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, are some of the biggest and most dangerous in the world.

Check out this short video interview with Clark Little, above. You’ll not only hear him explain why he spends six hours every day getting smashed around by the fearsome forces of nature, but you’ll see some of his eye-popping photos ad even more amazing, you’ll watch him plunge into the waves with his camera.

“In 2007, Clark discovered his ability and passion to capture the extraordinary beauty of the shorebreak when his wife wanted a picture of the ocean to decorate the bedroom wall. With the confidence of an experienced surfer, Clark went out and bought a waterproof camera setup, jumped in the ocean, and started snapping away, recording the beauty and power of Hawaiian waves,” says his official biography. “‘Clark’s view’ is a unique and often dangerous perspective of waves from the inside out, captured in photos for all to enjoy from the safety of dry land.”

The video you’ll see here is far from Little’s first interview. He’s been a sought-after guest on Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, The Today Show, ABC World News and pretty much every other major news and interview program.

He published the first collection of his photos in 2009, the 182-page art book The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little. Two years later he opened The Clark Little Gallery in his hometown of Haleiwa, Hawaii. Born in Napa, California, the 46-year-old Little’s family relocated to Hawaii when he was just two years old.

Even as thousands of tons of angry ocean water pound him left and right, Little says he loves every minute of his job.

“The shorebreak is my comfort zone. I absolutely love it,” Clark Little says on his online site. “It’s always different. The light, the colors, the water, the sand and what happens to it. And to be there to capture it and share it with the world… what a dream.”