Surf Photography Prints: Dave "Nelly" Nelson on Film, Print, and Fifty Years

Dave "Nelly" Nelson has spent decades in the water with a camera, and for most of that time, Bay Photo has been on the other end of his process. As Bay Photo marks fifty years in business, we sat down with Nelly to talk about the path that took him from Albums on surf trips to magazine covers, the print finishes he reaches for now, and a Santa Cruz photography community that has grown up alongside the lab.

Nelly's name carries weight in surf photography circles. He has spent years shooting the lineup for elite athletes and major surf brands, and his archive of heavy-water images and coastal scenes recently became the basis for his new book, Dual Perspective. But before that, he was a surfer with a camera and a habit of documenting his own trips.

What follows is Nelly's story in his own words.

From Photo Albums to His First Surfer Magazine Cover

Nelly started out the way a lot of surf photographers do: shooting for himself. "When I was young, I always shot pictures, and I'd bring a camera on surf trips and make photo albums and stuff," he says. As he kept surfing and skating, he crossed paths with Tony Roberts, a photographer he calls the king of Santa Cruz surf photography. "He taught me a lot," Nelly says of Roberts.

That mentorship pushed him toward water photography specifically. He bought his first water housing and started shooting daily. "I loved it so much I shot every day," he says. The turning point came when Roberts told him he was relocating to Costa Rica and passed along a handful of contacts inside the surf industry. "That lit the fire," Nelly says. A few months later, he landed his first Surfer Magazine cover. "My life changed overnight," he says. "All of a sudden every company was hitting me up to go on trips with all the best surfers in the world."

Why the Scenics Started Outselling the Surf Photography

Nelly's albums pair powerful water photography with quieter coastal scenes, and that balance grew out of what he noticed once he started selling prints. "At one point I started selling prints, and it was immediately apparent that the scenics sold way better than the surf pictures," he says. He had always shot coastal and scenic frames alongside his water work, but the print sales gave him a reason to shoot more of them.

Surf photography rarely allows for a second attempt at the same wave, and Nelly credits his personality for turning that pressure to his advantage. "I've always been a super early riser and a Type A personality, so this part worked to my advantage," he says. "It was always easy to get up early and try to get something special."

Some of his most memorable sessions came from shooting flash photography at dawn, both at Pipeline in Hawaii and closer to home in Santa Cruz. He eventually brought an assistant into the water to hold a second flash and a slave trigger, a setup that produced a lighting look he hadn't seen elsewhere. "The unique lighting it gave off was the first of its kind in my field, and landed us a lot of international cover shots," he says.

What a Fisheye Lens Taught Him About Getting Close

Before he built a reputation in the water, Nelly shot a lot of skate photography with a fisheye lens, which meant working in tight against a moving subject without getting hit. That skill carried directly into his surf work. "I learned quickly how to get super close, but not get hit," he says. "That was very helpful when I started shooting a ton of water shots."

He credits most of his technical foundation to trial and error, along with persistence in asking other photographers for their approach. "I also was always asking other photographers questions about settings and angles and just about everything else at the magazine I worked for in Oceanside," he says. "Some of them shared info willingly, and some kept it close to the cuff."

Advice for Photographers Building a Career in a Niche

Nelly gets asked often, in podcasts and interviews, how a photographer stays relevant and inspired in a niche like surf and skate. His answer is direct rather than motivational. "I guess the best advice I'd give someone is only shoot surfing if you love surfing," he says. "It's very hard to sell shots right now in the surf industry, unfortunately."

Nelly has lived in Santa Cruz for close to as long as Bay Photo has been in business, and his memories of the lab go back to the film era. The magazine he shot for used to send him forty to fifty rolls of slide film a month, and he'd head straight to Bay Photo Lab after every shoot to get them processed.

"All the pro surfers would congregate in the front room, and we'd rip those boxes of slides open and put the best ones in slide pages and label them to send off to the mags," he remembers. "It was like a party in there." He still speaks fondly of the staff from that era. "Clint and Chris and all the employees would always laugh and cruise in to see the best shots. Bay Photo Lab rules."

From Screen to Print: What He Wishes He'd Known Sooner

For photographers building their own print workflow, Nelly's guidance centers on restraint rather than volume. "Only do what you think you can sell," he says. That discipline, he adds, protects the budget for what comes next. "You'll need that extra money down the line for more camera gear, or more prints, travel, and so on."

Decades into his career, Nelly has settled into a rotation of print types depending on the subject. "Lately I've been loving the satin finish on the MetalPrints," he says. "Less glare, but it still pops." For quieter coastal work, he turns to Canvas Prints, and he has been framing a growing share of his output with Bay Photo Framed Prints. "I also love the array of frames that Bay Photo offers, and I've been framing a ton of prints lately," he says. "The Canvas Prints are also one of my faves."

Bay Photo has processed Nelly's film, sorted his slides, and now prints his MetalPrints and Canvas work, a relationship that has run alongside his career for most Bay Photo's five decades in business. As part of Bay Photo's 50th Anniversary, Bay Photo provided Dave with a set of MetalPrints for his gallery show, continuing a partnership that started in that same Bay Photo front room he still remembers.

For photographers weighing print finishes on their own action and landscape work, Nelly's rotation of MetalPrints, Canvas Prints, and Framed Prints offers a working photographer's answer, built from decades of shooting, selling, and printing his own images.

Meet Dave "Nelly" Nelson

Dave “Nelly” Nelson is a globally published veteran surf and skate photographer with countless magazine covers and spreads to his name. After spending years as a senior photographer at TransWorld Surf Magazine, Dave now shoots freelance for domestic and international publications.

Major action sports brands such as Vans, O’Neill, Fox, and Reef commonly contract Dave to shoot on location for trips locally and abroad.

As one of the best action water photographers in the world, he is usually in the right place at the right time to produce “the goods”. Dave’s personal relationships and mutual respect with some of the most elite athletes in the world gives him access to the best action at the best spots.

Dave’s dedication to the sports of surfing and skateboarding is matched by his values as a person. A true family man, Dave cares about his daughter and wife as much as he cares for his community of Santa Cruz. A consummate role model for young athletes coming out of his home town, Dave has helped pave the way for some of the best young talent in Nor Cal.

Learn more about his work at https://davenelson-photography.com/

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