People, Surf culture, Surf Movies, Surf Photography, UncategorizedFrom Tea Tree to Tokyo 

Born on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, Woody Gooch is anything but the classic surf and sunshine photographer. He is the Scorsese of ISO; producing dark and emotional imagery from a passport bleeding with ink.

Woody appeared on the scene, well weathered with a full portfolio that only hard graft can produce. After an internship with Deus Ex Machina at their much admired ‘Temple of Enthusiasm’ compound in Bali, Indonesia, he gained notoriety with his butterfly on the finger picture – the image not only went viral, but became a conspiracy theory due the unlikely moment he captured.

Now living in Tokyo, Woody’s images have moved on from single fins in the rain to the documentation of activity and culture from the infamous Japanese city. In a recent interview with Red Bull, Woody said that “I personally wanted to experience something different, culture wise, and focus on other sides of my photography – street, fashion, etc – it’s not just surfing.”

Woody recently joined Dustin Humphries as photographer on the film release ‘South to Sian’, drip feeding Harrison Roach and Zye Norris’ Instagram accounts with enchanting shots from their 4000km road trip from West Nusa Tengerra to North Sumatra, Indonesia.

First visiting Japan during a ski holiday, Woody has had several exhibitions in Tokyo with Deus at their ‘Residence of Impermanence’ in the city, notably ‘Seven Atmospheres‘, and last year debuted a mature and imagined collection and workshop titled ‘One Blue is Enough’.

Although Woody claims he misses waking up with surfing on his doorstep, his focus is currently exploring Tokyo’s street and fashion culture. This 21 year old sapling has a lifetime of maturing ahead of him, so with this electric start we at Surf Simply await a bright future.

For more of Woody Gooch’s work, visit his website or Instagram.