Mood - A short film

Proud to unveil the short surf film Mood which explores our changing moods showcased by three of the world's most talented up and coming female longboarders Roisin Carolan, Ivy Thomas and Hallie Rohr. This short film was produced for the Coastalwatch/Surfing World film competition Reelers. Hope you all enjoy! And of course, feel free to share.

Check out the film here

Still Stoked Interview

"I don’t like rules and I don’t like boring. Simply, I take photos I want to see. The photos I take, I want to be excited and interested by."

Very honoured to be interviewed by Still Stoked who has been at the forefront of promoting women in action sports since before it was cool. Have a read below of my unfiltered thoughts on close to, well, everything! Thanks again Still Stoked!

Click here to read the full interview

 

19 Beautiful Images of Ladies Logging All Over the World - The Inertia

Why by cold when you can be warm? That’s my favorite motto. With the impending winter greeting me on the Gold Coast of Australia, it seemed only fitting to make my way to warmer waters. California, New York, Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico…a whirlwind trip photographing the world’s finest loggers. Trim is in.

Check out the photos on The Inertia

Coast to Coast with Blank GC

in ,

"For Fran Miller, the ocean is everything. Her reputation in the surfing community is growing because of her dedication in the water. Without fail, she’ll be floating around Snapper Rocks with wet hair and a dry camera. Maybe you’ve seen her?"

To read the full article click here or get your hands on a copy of the September issue of Blank GC!

Thank you Aaron Chapman and Blank GC!

Nouvelle Vague: Photographer of the Week Interview

in ,

"If I capture an image of a muse surfing late into the night, I am asking what drives a passion so deep that a person will surround themselves in this vast body of water at an hour when most people are sitting at home watching TV..." 

Thanks to Roxanne and Nouvelle Vague for a fun interview!

To read more click here

Escape the Fake....letting my mind do the talking on Moreton Island!

‘Escape the fake’ was the bold headline that greeted me as I boarded the ferry on a gloomy, overcast midweek morning. I had departed my home in Coolangatta well before any light had made the false promise of a beautiful Gold Coast morning, with the hopes of finding my own paradise on the ‘least tourist friendly’ island in Queensland, Moreton Island. Having just spent the previous weekend partying until the sun rose, I knew I needed something, even though I wasn’t sure what.

I had received a call the day before from Ivy (Thomas), as she was already on the island. Her eager voice was barely tempered by the fact that she had to 4x4 to one spot on the island to even make any phone contact. “It’s perfect, it’s perfect” she exulted. That was enough for me. I passed out across five seats on the ferry, and woke to a loudspeaker announcement that we had in fact, arrived in paradise.

Moreton Island is not your typical tourist destination. For starters, there are no fully defined roads, and all access across the island is either by foot or four wheeler. Having spent a good month last year driving off road across Mexico, the excitement of paving our own trail wherever the tide would allow was clearly on my mind. As we made our way towards our beach house at Bulwer, the first reality check hit when the car in front of ours became bogged and was unable to proceed. A shovel and tow later, Barbara the Toyota Landcruiser had saved our poor acquaintance. We proceeded to Bulwer, off loaded some gear, and then packed our boards in search of perfection.

The island is the perfect place to let your mind wander. As you drive past mountainous sand dunes that resemble the Sahara, and fly across vast sand plains with millions of crabs soldiering in unison, it is impossible not to reflect on life. Where I’ve been. Where I’m at. Where I’m going. I can not help but wonder how I came to live this life, so abundant from the natural world around me, but connected to the society of which I am an active member. I am a questioning type of human. I always think and ask how and why. I strongly suspect that being aware of why we do what we do, it is more feasible to live a happy life as we take control over our being and to be conscientious in our process and that of others. As we trekked across another unmarked trail into a small protected cove that revealed a beautiful peeling wave in turquoise water, I couldn’t help but think, no one really deserves anything, both good and bad. Life just is, and you either embrace it, appreciate it, accept it, or you don’t.

Nobody else surfed in the cove that day except for a pod of dolphins and two small sharks. What lead us to this place in time? Each choice you make leads you to the place you are at. You are not a tree, you are free to move, free to choose. I contribute to society, but will not be defined or ordered by its expectations. I am a content human, and I still wonder how I got here. But I am certainly appreciative that for a period in time this week, I passed my days in a place that encouraged me to think and explore my own mind, whilst revelling in the wildness of nature.  

 

IMG_0726.jpg
IMG_0608.jpg
IMG_0627.jpg

 

 

 

 

The world is greater than I....

Surfer's know the sunrise. We affectionately call our morning missions the 'dawn patrol' as we eagerly make our way to see what mother nature has brought for us today. I don't usually focus on landscapes, although I do see many that impact me greatly.

Yesterday was a phenomenal sunrise. I don't know what it was, but when I woke up yesterday, my soul directed me to go seek it out. There is no logical explanation. The night before, I had no intention of shooting it, but in the darkness of the morning, I simply could not resist this unspoken pull that took me out the door. 

When I arrived at the top of Kirra Hill, there was nobody there. During Cyclone Winston, I joined more than thirty people holding cameras at the top of the same hill, all looking for a vantage point of the thundering Snapper to Kirra surf lineup. But the hill was lifeless this morning. The light was dull early, but flickers of red and orange started emanating in the distance. By this time, a cyclist had joined me at the top, as well as a lady on her morning walk.

Then in happened. One minute of fire. We watched in awe. It was magnificent. And then it was over. As we moved to part ways, the cyclist looked at me with a faint, sheepish smile. I returned his gaze, an acknowledgement of what we had shared, a gift of nature that without rhyme or reason, had drawn us to the hill that morning. "Have a good day," said he. 

24 hours later, I made my way to Greenmount Hill for the sunrise. Would it be the same? Would fire erupt again? Like the previous morning, there was nobody at the top of the hill. A glimmer of red started showing in the distance. The most subtle line of fire lined the horizon, caressed by the darkness of sea and sky. It did not explode. It stayed controlled and orderly. It was divine. 

Two magnificent sunrises in 24 hours. One overt. One subtle. For startling impact, the first stuns. But for my own sentiments, the second was my favourite. It was not the star of the show, but it spoke with a soft yet intense purpose that captivated me and all my being. 

IMG_9727 Photo by Fran Miller.jpg
IMG_9779 Photo by Fran Miller.jpg

Shark bait sessions with Ellie Brooks and Codie Klein…team building and getting it done…

So I had spent the previous day photo shooting with the lovely Ellie Brooks for Reef which had involved not a whole lot of surfing with the swell being flat. Ellie is a fantastic surfer who travels around the globe competing on the World Surf League qualifying tour, and I really wanted to show off her surfing skills because as many surfer girls will state, they are surfers, not models! So when I got word that we would be heading to South Stradbroke Island the next day, I was excited to go. Firstly, because I had never been there and had heard the surf is amazing and secondly, because everyone talks about how beautiful a spot it is!

The night before I asked Ellie what I needed to be aware of for shooting at this location to get prepped, and I felt pretty confident it was going to be an awesome day. Drive to the ferry, catch a water taxi over, shoot for the morning, water taxi home, voila! We also called up another fantastic surfer Codie Klein to join the squad.  We were set! After gathering early in the morning, coffees in hand, we made the drive north and arrived to the ferry terminal, excited for an incredible day of surfing.

Perhaps I should have been more concerned when I saw the confused look on the girls’ faces when we arrived and started to unpack at the ferry terminal. I could see Ellie scanning for the water taxi, but it was nowhere in sight. “Nah girls, he’s on holidays this week!” echoed a local who had just made the paddle back from the island. Our faces dropped. The Gold Coast seaway is a renowned hangout for schools of bull sharks, also known as the 'bull shark superhighway', and the paddle across is a death defying experience at the best of times. Only the week before a close friend of mine had stitches in her face from the entry to the water over the oyster encrusted rocks, let alone avoiding a pack of sharp toothed flesh chompers.  

“What are we going to do?” whispered Ellie hesitantly. She was in no way keen to paddle across. I looked over at Codie, and could see her concern too. “I will swim across,” I said half-jokingly, only then recalling the story from a commercial scuba diving friend who at one time saw numerous bull sharks tracking the surfers paddling above as he fixed a pipe in the seaway. “Let’s do it,” said Codie with a hint of falsified confidence. What the heck. Seriously? Ok. Crap.

Water housing in hand, two surfboards, three humans, we trekked up the groyne of the seaway. And yes, it was a trek. When your head is saying, “What the hell are we doing!!!!” and your heart is pumping so fast that you think it’s going to explode onto the other side of the seaway, I could feel myself start to raise some logical concerns. Quick, snapchat that I love my mum and dad and sister and friends and OMG. What are we doing!!!! Nah. This is completely messed up, but it’s going to be ok. I calmed down. We lowered ourselves down the groyne, and jumped into the Gold Coast seaway.

We started vigorously. I put my housing on Codie’s back, grabbed the side of the board and started swimming. The current was reasonable that morning, and swept us down the seaway. I couldn’t help myself half way across. The girls were looking forward. I put my head down into the water and opened my eyes. It was black. I raised my head back up faster than I could kick. I didn’t say anything. I just kept swimming. Faster. We passed a fishing boat. The crew looked at us perplexed. Three ladies of leisure enjoying a day out on the water, swimming across the seaway. LOL. And then we were there. After the most intense ten minutes, we scaled up the groyne on the other side and were in paradise. Welcome to South Stradbroke Island.

Thankyou to the squad, Ellie and Codie for the epic day. And a big shout out to Chris Brown, who kindly gave me a lift back across the seaway from the island on his jet ski. Legend…

And probably, never again. 

Early morning sleep ins...

I was up early for a photoshoot with talented young logger Jordan Spee from the Sunshine Coast but he had been sick as of late and we decided to postpone the shoot. 

When I did my first surf check, there were 25 people in the water before sunrise and it was one foot...it can only mean one thing...Sunday! 

Without my board with me and with camera in hand, I snapped a couple of photos of some happy crew that were enjoying the Sunday Sliders....Happy Weekend Everyone!

IMG_5332 fran-miller-photography-snapper-rocks-gold-coast-australia.jpg
IMG_5372 fran-miller-photography-snapper-rocks-gold-coast-australia.jpg
IMG_5406 fran-miller-photography-snapper-rocks-gold-coast-australia.jpg
IMG_5448 fran-miller-photography-snapper-rocks-gold-coast-australia.jpg
IMG_5473 fran-miller-photography-snapper-rocks-gold-coast-australia.jpg

 

 

Photoshoots and Evenings at Snapper 12 May 2016

I wasn't meant to be at Snapper yesterday afternoon. After an afternoon text requesting my presence for a portrait photo of myself for an interview with Aaron Chapman, I gathered myself and arrived to a classic golden Rainbow Bay sunset.

After having my portrait taken, I couldn't help but swim out into the lineup to snap a few photos of the local crew (and Aaron ran to the car, grabbed his board and got some slides in himself!) Depending on the direction you looked, it was either stunning yellows or lucid pinks. This is our Southern Gold Coast...

Brenton De Rooy and George George

Brenton De Rooy and George George

...

...

Brenton De Rooy

Brenton De Rooy

Aaron Chapman

Aaron Chapman

April Williams

April Williams

George George and friends

George George and friends

April Williams

April Williams

Aaron Chapman

Aaron Chapman

Brenton De Rooy

Brenton De Rooy

...

...

...

...

Tyson

Tyson

Aaron Chapman

Aaron Chapman

Jason

Jason

Lore of the Sea

in ,

A throwback to summer time in Byron Bay, shooting with the lovely Laure Myr and Roisin Carolan for Lore of the Sea.

"Before releasing each new style we make sure it's surf-proof. Last February we went on a girls session with local shredder Roisin Carolan and outstanding aqua photographer Fran Miller to action test the potential of our new suits.
We're not sure what makes those pictures look so dreamy... is it the waves? the place? the colour of the water? the suits? or simply Fran's talented eye behind the lens?"

This blog post originally featured on Lore of the Sea. Thank you Laure for such positive words.

For more photos and to see swimwear by Lore of the Sea, visit their website and check out their blog.

I'm going to...NYC Women's Surf Film Festival 2016

in ,

Well I am beyond excited to have been invited to exhibit my photographs in a solo exhibition on the schedule of the NYC Women's Surf Film Festival 2016!

So excited I haven't really processed it all yet. I have never been to New York, even though I lived in the USA for a couple years as a teenager. Hope the water is going to be warm... :D

For more information on the event check out the official webpage here.