Mikala Jones, a surfer from Hawaii famed for capturing breathtaking images and films from inside of enormous, curving waves, passed away following a surfing accident in Indonesia. He was 44.
Jones went out into the ocean on a vacation to the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra on Sunday morning when his surfboard fin severed his femoral artery, according to his father, dentist Dr. John Jones. A sizable blood vessel in the thigh that carries blood to the lower limbs is called the femoral artery.
“He was a humble artist. His pictures were incredible,” his father said in a phone interview from his Honolulu office on Monday.
Jones’ Instagram page features breathtaking pictures of waves encircling him from above while he stands on his board. In some photos, the curved wave opening in front of him allows viewers to see a sunset or sunrise.
Cuts from surfboard fins are common, according to surf photographer Woody Woodworth, who believed Jones took the best overall surf photo he had ever seen. Some surfers feel that keeping their fins sharp will help them ride waves more precisely, but when combined with a wave’s force, a fin may be like an axe or a cleaver, he said.
“All the fins that I see are certainly sharp enough with the force of a wave, and pointy enough with the force of the wave, that slicing into somebody’s leg would be very easy,” Woodworth said.
Beginning in the 1970s, the elder Jones began to take pictures for surfing magazines, but he mainly photographed from the beach or took pictures of other people in the sea. not his child.
“He was interested in taking pictures while he’s surfing of himself and the wave,” he said.
Jones, who was raised in Kailua, Hawaii, learned to surf when he was around seven or eight years old and started participating in the “menehune” age division for children under 12 a few years later. As an amateur, he won two national championships.
Later, he traveled with sponsors to surf locations like Tahiti, Fiji, South Africa, and the Galapagos Islands. On the waves, photographers would take pictures of him and other surfers, which appeared in photo spreads in surf magazines. They were portrayed in advertising for surf attire and equipment.
Jones started experimenting with first-person photography while out on the ocean in the 1990s. While lying on his stomach and paddling out to the waves, Jones fastened a camera to a cloth fastener on his board and held the camera under his chin. As soon as he stood, he would grab the camera and hold it behind him while taking shots.
He began using a GoPro after the lightweight cameras were introduced and was eventually sponsored by the firm. For 360-degree views, he stitched together images from many GoPro cameras using software.
Jones had an out-of-body experience after nearly drowning, so he was aware of the risks associated with surfing.
“He was flying in the sky, and he looked down and his body was floating in the ocean,” his father said. “And then he heard his daughters calling to him ‘Daddy come home.’ And then he went back down into his body.”
