Corey Favino | Photographer, Surfer, & Adventurer

Corey Favino is an amazing photographer based in Rhode Island. We spotted him on Instagram and fell in love with his photography. Corey is an adventurer and a visual poet who captures the beauty of nature day and night. A surfer himself, you can find Corey on a surfboard enjoying the waves or behind the camera on the beaches of Rhode Island.

How did you start photography?

I got into photography my sophomore year of college. I was between majors trying to figure out what to do and a close friend told me since I was already taking photos all the time, I should try that. I got really into astrophotography at the beginning and spent all my time shooting at night trying to capture photos of the Milky Way, and then I just kept falling in love with all types of photography. 

What are your current inspirations?
Now my photography has shifted to more surf content and I'd say what really inspires and motivates me to shoot all the time is that Rhode Island gets pretty overlooked in the surf world and so I'm constantly trying to capture waves here not necessarily to blow up Rhode Island surfing, but just to show that the smallest state on a good day can have some world class waves. 

Aleur ISUP Orcha Black

The person that influences my work the most is hands down Chris Burkard. In my eyes and a lot others, he's the cold water surfing guy, and our good surf season here is between October-April where our water hovers around 38-45 degrees and air temps well into the single digits and so I look up to him and his determination of capturing surf in some of the most brutal conditions possible but still making it look beautiful. 

The most beautiful place I've been fortunate to visit is Exmouth, Western Australia. It's around north west corner of Australia and I spent a week there with a friend a few years back and there was something so magical about how untouched by civilization it felt. It felt exactly how it would've been 200 years ago and seeing all the wildlife and the most unreal reef I've ever swam in was magical. We got to swim with whale sharks and manta rays and it was such a life changing experience that I think about almost everyday. 

I shoot primarily with a Sony a7iii. I've always been a Sony shooter, primarily for its size for traveling but also it's low light capability. I use a sea frogs underwater housing for all my surf photography and my go-to lens in the water has to be my 85mm 1.8 prime lens. It's a bit tricky to be in the right spot as you're so punched in, especially in beach breaks, but when you nail the shot, it's beautiful!

Surfing is easily my favorite subject to shoot. I'm a surfer as well, but I personally love the ocean more than I love shooting and so getting into surf photography allows me to be in the water no matter the conditions, and it's always a different experience and I love that. 

Photography for me has always been a way capture what I see in any given scenario. I could watch a sunset with someone sitting right next to me but we both would experience different sunsets and photography allows me to show that. Wether it's in the perspective and composition of how I shoot or in the editing and certain colors I choose to emphasize. I get to show the rest of the world how I perceive and view a certain scene and I love that. Especially in surfing. I could sit there with 10 other people and watch someone ride a wave but with photography I get to freeze one particular moment when the light hits just right and every drop of water is perfectly in place and then I get to relive that one moment time and time again.