"And I kind of know where to sneak out of the way of the wave. There is an exit most of the time, but when I want to commit myself because the wave is really good and I want to get deeper to get a more dramatic view of the tube, I know sometimes I'm going to get toasted. There are times I get sucked over the falls, I get thrown on the beach. That's part of it.

"But I wouldn't be out there if I didn't love what I do."

The gear's going to get toasted, too.

"The camera takes a beating—I've had it rip out of my hands. I have it on a six-inch leash that's around my wrist, and the leash has been ripped in half. I've seen the camera getting thrown on the beach and pounded, and the housing is intact and the camera is still working. I'm putting that gear to the test in the most extreme shorebreaks in the world there on the north shore of Oahu."

Most of Clark's shorebreak photos are taken with a D300 and an AF DX Fisheye-NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8G ED encased in a custom White Water Hawaii underwater housing. His backups are a D3 and a D200 and an AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D.

"I'm usually going at 200 ISO and 1/1000 second, shutter priority, with the focus preset and the lens taped into position. There's a spot on that 10.5 where the depth of field is from two, three, four feet to infinity. With the 16mm, I usually let it autofocus." The motor drive is set to high burst—nine frames per second on the D3, eight on the D300. With the camera preset and the lens taped, they go into the housing; the only control on the housing is the shutter release. Clark doesn't look through the camera—there's just no time. It's level, aim, fire and duck. Clark doesn't wear a mask or a wetsuit; it's a bathing suit and swim fins—"and my fins are my lifeline."

Like most outdoor photographers, Clark takes advantage of the golden hours. "My favorite time is the morning—the light is powerful, it lights up the face of the waves. In the evening the wave is backlit, and I get those beautiful blues, greens and oranges."

His compositions—like a wave circling the sun or a landmark on the beach—are deliberate. "Do I get the sun in the curl? Guaranteed." There are some moments of luck, he admits, but most of it is experience, passion and dedication.

"It's always different," Clark says. "The light, the colors, the water, the sand and what happens to it—all of it changes. Mother Nature always has something different to deliver.

"And to be there to capture it—man, that's unreal."

There's an extensive collection of Clark's photographs at his website, along with information about his recently published book, The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little.