Trent Parke and Narelle Autio (@chillioctopus) were drawn to document Australian Beach life in early 1999, during one of the country’s worst summers for drownings. In a project that spanned two years, and beaches from Bondi in Sydney to Freshwater and Manly beaches, north to Newcastle’s Bogie Hole, to Port Macquarie and Byron Bay, the pair’s underwater shots built a portrait of an Australian past-time that captured something of the national identity, as well as something broader and universal about humanity’s relationship to wild nature.⁠ ⁠ “We shot it all on a breath of air and in a way – it was the ultimate candid photography. No one even knew we were there as they battled to swim, surf and survive the waves. We had no idea exactly what we were getting either as it was almost impossible to frame anything up. We would thrust the camera at arms length out in front and shoot a single frame, maybe two if we could stay down long enough, before being tossed head over heels by the power of the ocean,” Parke recalls. ⁠ ⁠ This first image from 'The Seventh Wave' is available in our Summertide collection. Shop the collection at the link in bio. ⁠ ⁠ PHOTOS: From 'The Seventh Wave' New South Wales, Australia. 2000 ⁠ ⁠ © Trent Parke (@chillioctopus) / Magnum Photos