Ana Catarina has been a god send since the day we met. She came to the Hawai’i Adaptive Surfing Championships in 2016 to film adaptive surfing and created a beautiful film called Adapt Your Mind. We were blown away by her work but also her passion and dedication and were STOKED to have her at last years HASC. She absolutely killed it, creating beautiful reels for our social media and content for the contest. We cant wait to partner with her again for our contest this year!
Her talent and skills accompany her incredible personality and we are so thankful to have her as a part of our ‘ohana. Here is more from Ana herself:
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Ana Catarina, I was born and raised in Brazil and I’m a photographer. I would say I’m a surf photographer who loves to be in the ocean, shooting and sharing. I often surf but being in the water shooting fulfill my soul. It’s my purpose of life. Being able to combine photography, surf and ocean don’t make me feel like I’m working. I love this! So, I’m always look for stories to tell and messages to spread through my job. I also love traveling and knowing different cultures. Luckily, my work takes me to this!
How did you hear about Accessurf?
My relationship with Adaptive Surfing started in 2015, when I first met Davi, a 10 year old Brazilian boy in Rio de Janeiro. It was during a Carnival parada for disabled people and I was volunteering as a photographer. His costume was of a surfer. I shot him surfing for the first time (crying, of course), wrote a text which was spread in the whole country. He started getting sponsors, traveling, when he first went to Hawaii in 2016. The family invited me to follow them, being thankful for this. It was my first time in Hawaii too. I started writing emails for Cara, asking if it would be possible to shoot in the water during the heats. When I arrived in Accessurf! A Brazilian photographer friend decided to go with us and when we saw how huge the community was, we felt like home! So many smiles, so much love, what a good energy to be in! I met so many special people at that time, Cara, volunteers, athletes, from all around the world. I would say friends for the whole life! Our heart was full of love and contributing with all of this through photography is what I call purpose. That’s what I think about my job: spread messages we experience around and let other people learn through my photography.
We got back to Brazil with a short film called “Adapt Your Mind”, which was our first time filming, Thiago and me. Until today we shoe this short film full of technical mistakes but full of love at the same time.
What does AccesSurf mean to you?
Accessurf means inspiration. It means the sense of a community, united, growing together, sharing the ocean, sharing their passion. Everytime I’m in an Accesurf event, I go back home like a new person, thinking about my choices, learning new possibilities to life.
What is your favorite AccesSurf or Hawaii Adaptive Surfing Championship memory:
I have a few! He first time I shot in the water, during the Accessurf in 2016, I started crying. So many thoughts and learnings at the same time. It was a contest (at that time Accessurf was linked to Duke’s Festival) but the energy, everybody helping each other, claiming with their waves, oh god, it was magical! I was with a photographer friend also and when I came back to the shore, I told him: “Thiago, you MUST go and shoot in the water. You have no idea of what’s going on!!!” My first Accessurf changed my life. I spent 2 weeks trying to get back to my life in Rio, processing what I’ve experienced.
Also watching after the event, a father taking his son to surf who could only smile and he smiled while dropping a wave, it was about humanity, compassion, serving.
The volunteers helping everybody, spending the whole day on and on helping the athletes, smiling, with so much love, it makes me do more and more, even better!
Anything you want to share with our AccesSurf community?
Everybody should experience being in Accessurf, volunteering as they can! Everybody has something to add and to serve other people. Everybody need to adapt while in the sea. Thanks for being so amazing and inspiring so many people! I feel blessed of being part of this!
