PORTFOLIO: CORY SCOTT

When pros land in the wave-rich isles of New Zealand, there's one local number most of them have in their phones -- the digits that summon the world's most underrated photographer. If Cory Scott lived in San Clemente people would have built a bronzed statue to the man, surrounded by wreaths of purple agapanthus and red gerberas.

The workaholic Kiwi also has a rep for criss-crossing from the pointbreaks of the far north to the huge waves of the far south, sometimes in the same day, to nail the best waves, backdrops and light.

It's no mistake people gravitate toward their strengths when choosing complementing careers and pastimes. Thus, with Cozza being a crazed fly-fisherman, he takes this same attitude with his photography; the mind of a hunter, narrowing down the odds meticulously, seeing the window, then cobra-striking with a flourish of creativity.

Like many surf photographers, his path has had plenty of interesting twists. He picked up his first camera at 4 and his first surfboard at 12, but these took a temporary backseat when another vocation stepped in for a decade or so. Cory became an Olympic class gymnast, travelling around the world and training in China until he ripped apart his AC joint. He next took a job as a stuntman for a Gatorade commercial in the US where he had to take a running jump off a giant wharf. As soon as the hefty pay cheque arrived he spent it immediately on a Canon rig and his talent percolated wildly like a drum full of Diet Coke and Mentos.

Nowadays, he's the boss-hog and chief shooter of New Zealand Surfing Magazine, has been recognised and awarded as the best sports photographer in his country, and spends just as much time pinwheeling through Nusa Tenggara, Hawaii and parts of the South Pacific you couldn't find with a satellite.

"I think everyone's got their own eye, and I love everyone's perspective but I've been pretty fortunate to learn from Aaron Chang, Sean Davey and Ted Grambeau years ago, they saw how keen I was and they helped me out a bit, these days I bounce ideas really well with Australian photographer Andrew Shield as well."