Steve Wall talks about the behind the scenes work and planning that goes into nailing a shot like today's Wave of the Day.

This shot was taken on one of those classic east coast mornings with a strong groundswell and a light offshore coming over the hills. I’d been out of Sydney for about 2 weeks at this point, both enjoying a leisurely escape from the city and also putting a new photographic project together.

This morning we knew a bombie nearby would be good as the tide dropped, but rather than amble out there we decided to get out in the dark and try and make the most of the swell.

The said project, is one that involves some high powered, waterproof lighting that synchronises with my Aquatech camera housing so that every time I press the trigger, the light goes off - essentially just a glorified camera flash, on a big and dangerous scale.

This morning I got a few of the guys that frequent this spot, Scott ‘Whip’ Dennis, Jase Finlay (bodyboarder, surfer, soft-top extraordinaire) & another local fella called Jason Sheldrake. We needed a three man team in addition to myself, as this spot is tow only at this size, and in order to get the lights and camera where we wanted I needed to be on a ski with a driver, outrunning the wave before it closed out up the rock shelf.

Whip & Jase took turns whipping into bombs, coming off second best on pretty much every wave with the bombing swell and dropping tide. With our lighting gear, it gives a nighttime like effect throughout the early morning, then once the sun comes up the natural light begins to take over.

We had a few shots, and the boys offered Jason the rope for one last wave before we headed to the next spot for the morning. Despite the sun coming up, we followed him in as the wave drew out off the reef - and watched the best wave of the whole morning unfold in front of us, with a clean exit into the channel.

I believe this shot now sits on the wall of Jasons home, it’s only right that he got the wave of the morning after spending an hour towing the other guys into wave after wave!

Check out more of Steve's work here.