Meet surf photographer Karl Lundholm

Karl Lundholm hails from Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden but has spent much of his recent time travelling and taking photos around the world. In addition to photography, he works as a photo retoucher and he brings these skills together in his surf photography.

Karl’s images exude a timeless mystery. They draw the viewer into what feels like freeze frames of a surf film, except in super high resolution, leaving you to decide what happens next.

We caught up with Karl to discuss surf, photography, equipment and more.

Table of Contents

1. Hey Karl! How’s your day going?

Hi, my day is going just nice and easy, soaking some sun on the balcony, watching my chilis grow and preparing for midsummer here in Sweden.

2. Your images have a real cinematic feel and a great sense of timing. How did you develop this style and do you consciously compose each image or does it all happen free-flow in the moment?

If we start with the timing, I never plan my photos. I only plan when to go out and shoot and that depends on the weather. Other than that all my photos are just random people in a beautiful environment doing what they love. In my case surfing waves and everything around that.

After shooting I add another level of my touch, the grading, this takes the photo from a raw shot to an image with a feel to it, I usually know how I want the feeling of the image to be when I shoot it and to get there I use Adobe Lightroom.

3. What’s the biggest challenge in being a surf photographer?

The biggest challenge would be the environment that I am in when shooting. The ocean is in constant moving so its impossible to foresee how the next moment will be. This is also why I love it so much, every moment is unique and you never know what’s next.