What a Surfer Reminded Me About Creativity
“Pathway Up the Mountain” (Wave Study #405), Atlantic Ocean, May 2023
Hello Friend,
Growing up, I loved the ocean. And the best family vacations were going to the Jersey Shore for a week each summer. After graduating college and finishing my internship, I move to San Diego for a few months to live with my girlfriend at the time. Since I didn’t have a job, I went to the beach every day to play on the waves with my boogie board. I thought for sure I would find a way to live near the water. But a few months later I got my first job in Utah, and haven’t lived near the ocean since.
Because I only had this small connection to the waves, I never got into “surf culture” or knew much about the world of surfing. So, recently, when I was looking for an episode of the Rick Roll Podcast to listen to, I saw he had this surfing dude on who I had no clue about, and I was going to blow right by it. I’ve been listening to Rich’s podcast for years, and I know he doesn’t have just random people on. I then thought, since he had a good reason invite this guy on, it might be of interest to me. And it turned out this surfer, John John Florence, had a really neat life story and throughout the episode he brought up many ideas that I realized overlapped with things I’ve been thinking about in the creative world.
John John has been surfing since very young, and started dominating the sport right away. In his early 20’s he won back-to-back world titles. We so often see with a young person who has this type of early success in anything they become arrogant and intitled. What’s so striking about him is how well he is handling riding the turbulent waves of his life. Because from this height he took a quick drop. For the next seven years he struggled with injuries and wasn’t even close to the top. I was expecting his story to then shift into a typical substance abuse and recovery story – this is the Rich Roll Podcast and that is a common theme. Instead, it was a story about a young man on his journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. And what sustains him throughout his life is his unshaking love and enjoyment of his craft.
“The Peak” (Wave Study #499), Atlantic Ocean, May 2023
He’s stayed committed to being the best he can be at something that he finds gives him so much fulfillment. Because of this he was able to crest the wave once again, and in 2024 he was world number 1. Then, he did what many think was the craziest thing, he stepped away from the competitive life, because of the pressure and lack of enjoyment he said. He didn’t stop surfing; he just didn’t want to compete. He took that time to go on a few trips to surf for surfing’s sake to remind himself how much fun it could be.
I think this is one of the same factors that comes into play when anyone takes their creativity and also makes it their career. The struggle of keeping it fresh and interesting, and also economically viable. Two of the things I think are notible about John John, and something for all of us to learn, are that he looks at both the enjoyment of doing his thing and the business side as a journey of self discovery, as well as his commitment to letting the process of his life unfold as it will. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not being passive in shaping his life; he’s very committed to being the best he can be. It’s that I think he is learning to not hold on so tight to whatever outcomes happen and to not let them shape and define his self-worth. He said, sometimes he loses a heat, but comes in feeling good because he had a fun time doing it.
This seems to be an area we could all work on, especially when it comes to competitions and comparisons. Surfing is scored somewhat technically as well as subjectively – like gymnastics, figure skating and of course art. We check out the winning images from a competition we entered – or are thinking of entering. We see what’s on our social media feed getting all the likes. Or we see something we think is cool, and we let that get into our heads. We think that’s what we need to do too, if we want to be successful. But again, these things are all subjective.
“Storm at the Summit” (Wave Study #371), Atlantic Ocean, May 2023
I heard John John talk about this same thing when he sees another surfer do a great move or get a high score just before he’s about to make his run. He said it’s not easy to keep from getting distracted by it and throwing him off his plan. Though, he tries to put that aside and not care what the other guys have done. He focuses to get his head back to surfing the best he can. He works on controlling the controllables, which is not what the other people did or scored or what their waves looked like.
I see what’s out there getting the likes, winning the contests and selling in the galleries. I start to wonder if I’m missing something and need to change the way I’m doing things. When I catch myself focusing on these outside validations, I, too, try to remind myself about having fun and controlling only the controllables in my life. Once I create something the way I want to, edit it the way I see fit and put it out there, that’s it. After that I can’t tell people what to say or think or to even care about my work. I just try to accept that I’ve done the best I can, and hopefully had a good time doing it. I’m working on not letting those external distractions get in the way of me doing what it I want to do, the best way I can do it at that moment. I try to trust that my own vision and voice will come through over time in its own way.
Often, we use the idea of finding our vision and voice, but we get bogged down and confused by what that means to us personally. Or even how to start finding it. What I say about that, is to just get started. I’m not talking about your whole life; it doesn’t need to be that big. It’s as simple as thinking and doing something that matters to you in a way that matters to you.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the possibilities in front of us, sometimes we become paralyzed and forget how to do what we want to do. Let’s make it simple and take one little step at a time. When something like this comes up for John John he asks, “What’s the easiest thing I can do to get started?” Once he starts, the rest happens.
This sounds like what I recently heard photographer Ruth Lauer Manenti does as well. Without a clear idea of what to start on, she, like John John, would just begin with something simple and see where it would lead. Within no time, Ruth said she would decide what to do next, and then the next thing until she would start seeing something come together. For the rest of us, trust that you and your body and gear know what to do. The muscle memory will kick in. It will send you in a direction that seems right for you.
“Man O' War” (Wave Study #642) Atlantic Ocean, May 2023
I also do something like this when I first get to a location, and I have no idea which direction to go and what to focus on. I start doing what I call “warm up” sets of photos. Or maybe like a musician doing scales on their instrument to get going. I pick the first thing that gets my attention, pull out my camera and just start. This does a few things for me. Most importantly, it gets me into the here and now of where I am; that I am at this place and time, and there are neat things to discover all around me if I take the effort to focus on what’s in front of me at that moment. It also helps me get the feel of my camera in my hands, and that things with it and me are working as they should. I then know when I find something I really want to spend time on, I won’t pull a mental muscle because I forgot something or I am distracted by other thoughts. I can explore what my vision might be on that scene at that time.
Rich brought up something that I think a lot of artists that work out in nature struggle with. To some extent, we are contending with whatever nature has decides to deliver to us, and we have to figure out in the moment how to work with it and not against it. We push ourselves to create something, but also at the same time surrender to nature, and be symbiotic with it at the moment. If things aren’t coming together how we originally thought they should, we become tense, frustrated and maybe even angry at the situation. Then, our body and mind aren’t able to let go and create what’s possible. We are forcing it, and working too hard to make nature do our bidding. When, we really know that will never happen. Rich said, “Nothing is made better by nerves and anxiety. You’re going to make your best decisions when you are present and you are calm.”
This gets me thinking about how often people will previsualize something in their life. There is something powerfully creative about this. Some people, artists and athletes alike, can then push themselves that much farther, because they thought something might be possible, and then made it happen. But, as I just noted, nature will not follow our dictates. So, might there be a slightly different way to use visualization to push ourselves into new creative areas, without locking us into a single, set outcome? One that is beyond good and bad, pass or fail?
Thank you and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
May 2026
“Blue Hour Wake” (Wave Study #1472) Atlantic Ocean, May 2023
John John started using visualization in the way most people think of it. He would visualize himself on a wave making certain turns and maneuvers. Though, when he would be told to “see himself on a wave”, he would start questioning the whole process. Because there are a million different possible waves, and he would begin wondering: was it big or small, was it flat or more peaked, where was the wind coming from and how hard? The exercise would just fall apart, and not work for him like that. There were just too many variables to account for. This is similar to photography. We can try and visualize a scene we want to create in our head, but the light and the weather can always be different than what we thought it would be like. This could then throw us off our plan. And suddenly, if things are not as we visualize, the plan is not coming together, we get frustrated and decide it wasn’t worth it. Thus, leaving disappointed and unfulfilled by the experience.
Instead, John John worked on visualizing the emotions he wanted to feel out on the water. The ones he works on most are how he wants to feel relaxed, and how he wants to have fun. Then he says he surfs his best. Maybe all of us could befit from this as well. How do we want to feel when we are creating something? When we are getting something accomplished? Don’t we want to be relaxed and enjoy the experience? Maybe we can try visualizing how we want to feel in the moment, and not worry so much about a specific outcome.
John John had some cool words that I think help sum up his experience and what I hope each of us can put into practice in our lives. “Don’t fight it. Just enjoy it. Let go to the process, because what’s going to happen will happen. Go down your own path, and feel those mistakes yourself and learn things yourself. Your own path will make you your best.”
As John John said at one point, “I’m going to take off, and just start surfing.” And I hope you all just take off and just start creating something.