OLYMPICS

[BullNBear52]

Brazil's Gabriel Medina reacts after getting a large wave in the fifth heat of the men's surfing round 3 on Monday.
Jerome Brouillet/AFP via Getty Images


The photographer who took that pic was on a media boat.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/30/paris-olympics-2024-surfer-gabriel-medina-floating-photo-jerome-brouillet-how-it-was-taken

The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard.

The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI.

“So he [Medina] is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures and one of them was this one,” said Brouillet.

“It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”