About

Grant is a South African born, self-taught photographer, who has taken his passion for the ocean, the mountains and the natural world and turned it into a career.

Growing up near Jefferey’s Bay in the 70’s and 80’s he got to surf the famed break as a kid. After college in Durban, he travelled the world with his wife, Michal, spending years living on the beach in Mexico and central America, chasing down point breaks in El Salvador that rivalled J-Bay in perfection. It was during his travels that he became familiar with a 35mm camera, documenting the interesting new world around him. Learning to shoot became a new adventure, like the travels, or like learning to surf.

Back in the US 8 years later, back at work….the travel itch and the memory of being outdoors all day became too much to keep him in a desk job. The dream of becoming a photographer, working out in nature and maybe making a living at it was born.

Surfing was his biggest passion so he immersed himself in surf photography, spending 10 winters in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu. Taking his camera into the water and swimming through the huge Hawaiian waves, seeing all this beauty, and trying to capture the moments of power, chaos and color had him hooked. The journey into a life of photography was underway.

Initially his focus was the surf magazine world, and his work was published around the world in many of the big surfing publications. Soon his creative approach and artistic eye led him into the art world and he began showing his more abstract water wind and wave material in galleries. A lucky break led to a show in a Soho gallery in New York City and a new aspect of his journey developed. He has since had shows from New York to LA,Tokyo and Sao Paulo.

Now living in Bend, Oregon, the Cascade mountain range and snow,ice and wind have become his prime subjects. Its still moving water, and the textures and patterns created by the windblown snow often mimic waves. The crossover is evident in his new work in snow, always referencing these shapes and forms that refer back to the ocean.

In addition to this new direction for his artwork, Grant runs a successful photo business at Mt Hood meadows ski resort. Now in the fourth year of operation, he offers private powder shoots, photography workshops on the mountain and action photos of all skiers and boarders at the resort. He has a team of photographers who get to the best locations on the mountain depending on snow, wind and sun conditions and are posted up as the first riders shred down the hill in untracked powder. Other days are spent shooting big-air jumps, ski-racing, halpipe or banked slalom.

Grant in the Media

His fine art photos have been exhibited in New York City, San Fransisco, Los Angeles,  Newport, Rhode Island and in Sydney, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. He is represented by the Belenky and Montanaro galleries and by waveridersgallery.net. His adventure sports images have been published worldwide in magazines including Outside, Mens Journal, Surfer, Surfing, The Surfers Path, ESM, Waves and Zigzag.

“…he may be crazy for swimming and working in such conditions, but the photographic work he yields is delicately composed, abstracted and possesses a painterly nuance of form with a wonderful vibrancy of color”

Mike Machemer, curator offshore/onboard art show

“…he carves a contemplative image out of a high intensity situation”

Sam Abell, senior photographer, National Geographic Magazine

“…the photos are meditations on hawaiian surfscapes and range from pure Zen to gut wrenching”

Mike Fish,  Eastern Surf Magazine

“this exhibit includes an array of intense colors, with works of nature taken to the abstract, suggesting a fresh look at what surrounds us everyday”

  Alexander Oppenheimer, curator Nexus Gallery