ABOUT MELE
I met Mele Saili during one of my trips to California a few years back. Until that time I had heard of her and how good she was at surfing only through the media and magazines.
Our first meeting was pure coincidence, I still remember the day that I entered in the Leucadia Bing shop to buy a fin for my longboard and she was there leafing through a Japanese magazine with her article inside. I asked her if she wanted to take some photos since the following day I would go and get a new waterhousing for my camera. She was super stoked about the idea and we spent some time together during that trip.
As a surf photographer based in Italy I don’t have the chance to shoot every day from the water and when I do that it’s just with few friends. Then I was pretty nervous to shoot a professional surfer for the very first time. When you get in the water with someone you don’t know it’s never easy because you actually don’t know anything about how he or she moves in the element or about what things are going to happen.
But with Mele was different. Since we got in the water I had this feeling that I knew her since a long time, I was comfortable with how she moved in the line up and I immediately got in tune with her surfing. Timing is everything when we talk about water photography. Every time she started to paddle I was in the right place with a good perspective. Wave after wave I observed her taking off and starting to walk toward the nose with elegant steps, grace and style. As she approached to me I held my breath and snapped some shots just an instant before I dive under water. We worked together for the first time that day but it felt like we were doing it since ever.
From that trip a beautiful friendship was born and we kept working together on project like Nausicaa movie, recently shot in Italy as well as shooting for Bing, Axxe and The Seea.
I believe that living miles away makes our sporadic encounters very creative because we both know that we have few opportunities to work together and when it happens, whether it's in Italy or California or any other beach in the world we always give the best in that moment.
I wish I could see you soon. Ciao Mele.
Photography & text by Filippo Maffei
Shot over consecutive mornings during the long, recent run of North Coast autumn swell, In the Family of Things is Dave Rastovich in his element, doing his thing.