Scott Carter - Photographer, Miniature Waves / Giclees on Canvas

Artist Biography

Scott Carter is known around the globe for his achievements as a filmmaker. Yet, as an artist and photographer, his eye conveys to the rest of us a world only Carter was once able to see. Born and raised in southern California, Carter's passion was discovered in the first wave he rode – opening his mind to infinite possibilities. In 1986, he purchased his first camera and water-housing unit, not knowing this would impact his life forever.

Carter became a cinematographer and traveled around the Pacific in pursuit of the perfect wave. In 1990, armed with years of footage, he moved to San Francisco and refined his skills as an editor. In 1992, Scott produced the classic bodyboarding movie, Enough Said. It tipped the bodyboarding world on its ear. He also produced The Inside in 1996. Both have become two of the greatest cult-videos in the genre. Carter has worked as director of photography for the first MTV Sports Show and as photographer/creative director for STOMP.

As the digital age advanced, Carter found the synergy between a camera lens and a computer screen. Honing his editing skills as a filmmaker, he enhanced his palette through conceptualization and imagination. Focusing on high-speed 16mm cinematography as well as digital imagery, he wanted to make a serious impact on the wave riding industry. The opportunity arose when Carter was tapped to direct Fire, a documentary about 11x World Champion bodyboarder Mike Stewart. Carter became the creative force behind the project and delivered a film unlike any other. Seven years in the making, Fire won the 2005 Cinema Paradise Art Film Festival Award in Honolulu. The success of Fire is a milestone to Carter's projects finding a mainstream audience.

Carter's unique perspective shines in Liquid Flux, a beautiful book that illustrates years of collecting images, thoughts and graphic depictions of the ocean's many moods. The book is a vision of another time and place through hypnotic miniature waves. Carter calls it Liquid Visual Art - the miniature waves captured through the lens of his camera offer a unique perspective, which showcases Carter's genius. Liquid Flux is a feast of water, light and energy. Scott Carter's photography has been published on the covers of Surfers Journal, Surfing Magazine, Riptide and North East Magazine. “Art is in the eye of the beholder,” Carter says, “sometimes you can make a masterpiece without knowing it, and many times you can make something out of nothing, and that's the magic.”