Tracks has head hunted five filmmakers around the country to see their spoils from behind the lens for the series, Home Video. A filmmaker has their own distinct style and we thought why not let them piece together a clip on their own terms? In the third instalment we meet Byron Bay’s Ishka Folkwell. The clip shot on location in Indonesia, Mexico and Byron Bay is goingto make you want to quit your job and and embark on a sojourn adventure. Here’s what Ishka had to say of his clip and about carving out a career as a filmmaker.
Q. What’s in store for the future? Do you want to keep making surf-films?
Surf films will definitely be the bulk of my work over the next few years. I am currently working on a short movie with Afends that will be released later this year. I would also love to get into documentaries at some stage. I originally got into photography through travelling, drawing inspiration from cultures that contrast the western lifestyle. I have always been around the ocean so being equipped with a camera naturally lead me to surf photography and film. For me the combination of surfing, travel and filming is pretty much as good as it gets and will definitely be my focus over the next few years.
Q. Tell us about this clip you’ve put together?
This clip is made up of 3 locations, including Mexico, Indonesia (Nias) and Byron Bay.
The Mexico portion of the clip was shot over about 3 weeks in which we were lucky enough to experience one of the biggest swells in years.
It was actually by chance that Torren Martyn and Matt Donohoe (friends from home) were in Mexico at the same time as me. I had done a fair bit of filming with Torren at home and we were both keen to get some big barrels on film while in Mexico. As it happened Jamie O’Brien and Bruce Irons were both there for the biggest days of the swell and i managed to get a few waves on film while eating breakfast on our balcony.
Nias was a little more organised. We saw there was a big swell on its way to Indo so Afends flew Torren Martyn, Duncan McNicol and I over for a quick stint and we were lucky enough to get 2-3 days of PUMPING Nias.
The rest of the footage is from around Byron, including local surfers Garrett Parkes, Torren Martyn, Nick Colbey, Johnny Abegg and a bunch of others. Most of it was shot over Christmas and Boxing day a couple of years back when we got a big cyclone swell.
There is also a few snippets from my time in Cuba, I was there by myself and didn’t seek out any surf but Cuba is the most photogenic country I have ever been to so i had to throw a couple of scenes in.
– Ishka Folkwell
See more of Ishka’s work at www.ishkaimagery.com