Introduction by Matt George
Photos and captions by Jenya Ivkov

Imagine being a stoked surfer but living 10,000 kilometres from your favorite waves. A one-time Moscow interior design photographer named Jenya Ivkov knows the feeling well. On assignment to Bali in 2009 to photograph the interior of tropical villas, he took a surf lesson on Kuta Beach. 

He was hooked for life. 

Ivkov knew then and there that the future of his photography would switch to the interior of Bali’s best waves. So back in freezing cold Moscow, 10,000 kilometres from Bali and the waves he loved, Ivkov worked five long years to get back. He had always dabbled in sports photography, BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding, but since his visit to Bali he always dreamed of fisheye images of the expansive “blue barrels” he had seen from the cliff at Padang Padang. 

In 2014, the challenge became a reality when he moved to the island to chase his dreams. His learning curve astonished everyone. With his intimate water work and his sublime land shots, he soon became one of the most sought after surf photographers in Bali. A master of the foreground, from shore Ivkov often manages to meld both Bali’s rich culture and Bali’s surf culture at once.

Preferring to keep his photos on the darker spectrum is something he admits to saying is “very Russian”. Yet the results are unique and fresh in photo saturated Bali. 

“I am not interested in postcards,” he says. “I am interested in the ambient drama of the moment and sometimes that takes manipulation of the image, like composing music with fanfare”. 

Now splitting his time between his commercial work and the sea, just as he had once dreamed, Ivkov has found a warm home in the blue barrels of Bali. 

In a cliff-side warung at Uluwatu, Jenya Ivkov and I had a chance to open his computer and discuss a few of his favorite shots from the incredible run of swell that has been bombarding the island.

Betet Merta: “For me shots like this are primarily about creativity. It quickly became not interesting to me to simply photograph surfers like a reporter. Now I first come up with pictures in my head and then I try to bring them to life. To the level of the surfer’s life in that moment”. 

Bukit Waves: “I really like landscapes with wave lines. It feels like the waves and I are both on a constant search for the best angle. Them from sea, me from land. The drone technology has helped, but I find you still need to be sensitive and not just a spy. This is an example of that dark palette I like. I send mine up on overcast days mostly to get that ghostly look. Plus, this is my favorite wave field in the world. Look at all that fizzing oxygen. It’s like white lace”

Garut Widiarta: “Yes, a couple of times I was invited to photograph the surfing competitions in Sochi, on the Black Sea in Russia. In autumn and winter there are sometimes waves. But in general I really wanted to visit Kamchatka. Now during the period of closed borders, many Russian surfers have left for Kamchatka and ride there now. Wilderness surfing. Rubber wetsuits. But when I look at this shot of Garut Widiarta at his home break, with all the drama and the focus of the surfer’s face surrounded by warm light and warm water…well…I forget about Kamchatka”.

Keramas: “I consider some of my works to be art. It makes the commercial side of things easier to swallow. Like most artists, I do my commercial jobs to earn money, and then do the art. That is great about surfing, you can always find the art in it”.

Kopral Sunata: “I like stylish surfers like Torren Martyn, Craig Anderson, Rob Machado, Mike February…but the Indonesian’s have a style all their own. They are so tuned into their waves it’s like a dance for them. Very graceful, very well positioned, poised, connected to the wave through their boards like the boards of a stage. And at the Padang Padang Photo Studio, sometimes they just bring a sense of fun to it all”. 

Made Adi Putra: “I met photographer Tim McKenna. He came to Moscow to teach a master class. I still admire his work. You can see a lot of his influence in this shot. He was always about timing”.

Mega Semadhi: “I shoot with a Canon 5d mark 4, 15mm fisheye, 16-35mm, 50mm 1.2, 70-200mm and 150-600mm. In the water it’s a Liquideye waterhousing. I think you owe it to great surfers to use great equipment. Just like they are. Then there is a trust between the both of you. And then you get shot like this with Mega Semadhi stalling and calm where most surfers would be screaming to just survive. In this shot, Mega reminds me of a hunter letting the lion get real close before raising his rifle. Taking that time to express your nerve”.  

Rizal Tandjung: “Sometimes you get that direct connection when a surfer knows you are there and he stares down the barrel of your camera and expresses himself. Like in a movie when the actor accidentally looks at the camera, it can take you out of the moment. But sometimes, it can take into into another world. This was the wave of the day. Just a giant barrel. And in this moment Rizal looked like he had been hit with lightning. This is like a battleground photo”. 

Rizal Tandjung: “I love swimming out to Padang Padang on a big day like this and just capturing the whole story from further back with a long lens. It flattens the image so that it looks like a billboard. And I don’t mind the photographers in the foreground. They are part of the story. Their outstretched hands like an offering, their bunched muscles adding that power and drama to the moment. The colour of their cameras. It makes you feel like you are swimming with them, just about to duck under a moving mountain”.  

Varun Tandjung: “Look at that horsetail lip! Beautiful. This is one of those last shots of the day. The sun just below the horizon, the wind abating, the clouds turning pink. Everybody, including the photographers, tired and stoked but just getting the last one in. That moment of a day when it becomes a memorable one. Like photographers, not all surfers become rich doing it, but we are both connected to each other by a rich life doing what we love”.