Smorgasboarder_23_winter_2014

PHOTO: PASSIONS
WATER GALLERY, WET STUDIO
The name of Wally Johnson's surf and homewares store says it all - Wally's Water Gallery. Every since day one, the walls of the
Marcoola shop have been adorned with Wally's surf photography, amazingly presented in recycled timber frames made by his dad,
Phil. We caught up with him for a quick chat between packing...
"Have you seen my new camera?" Wally
asks before carefully wrapping his new
digital SLR up to pack in with his Bali
luggage. Taking a couple of weeks off
from Wally's Water Gallery, he's off for a
bit of Indo R&R.
Although he's Bali-bound and hopes to
get some great shots while over there,
he's more inspired by shooting his local
neighbourhood. Home is where the heart
is, they say...
"It's awesome to be able to relive
moments just by looking at a photo."
Wally started taking an interest in
photography in 2009 and has steadily
upgraded his arsenal from the early
days of a waterproof happy-snapper.
Thesedays he uses a mix of his digital
SLR, shooting from the beach and a
GoPro for getting up close and personal
in the water, but Wally says its always
a struggle to decide to grab the board or
camera.
"When you're looking at the inside of
great barrells, you really just want to get
on them," he laughs. "I end up swapping
halfway and just surfi ng."
"It's awesome getting good photos of
sunrises or perfect barrells, and then
being able to show them off to your
friends, saying 'look, this is what you
missed.'"
Drop in to Wally's Water Gallery at
6 Lorraine Avenue, Marcoola on the
Sunshine Coast to see exactly what it
was you missed.
Wally Johnson
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SMORGASBOARDER | AUTUMN/WINTER 2014