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French photographer Jerome Brouillet knew he had a chance to capture something extraordinary when Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina rode one of the day’s biggest waves in Tahiti.
“The conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected,” said Brouillet.
Positioned on a boat by the side of the wave, Brouillet was ready as Medina prepared to ‘kick out’—the moment a surfer exits the wave. Medina emerged, pointing a finger in the air to celebrate his impressive 9.9 score. At that precise moment, Brouillet captured Medina suspended in mid-air, as if standing on solid ground, with his board mirroring his stance.
“So he [Medina] is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures and one of them was this one,” Brouillet explained. “It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”
Brouillet added, “I think that when he was in the tube he knew that he was in one of the biggest waves of the day. He is jumping out of the water like ‘man, I think this is a 10’.”
The photograph quickly resonated with people online, gaining significant traction. Brouillet was unaware of its popularity until he checked his social media accounts. “I was just checking my phone on the six-minute break after the shoot and I had lots of notifications on social media and I thought something is happening with this shot,” he said. “It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people.”
Medina posted the image on his own Instagram account, where it has already attracted more than 3.8 million likes.
