lawrence furzey, Owen Wright 'Swell' (PEOPLE 2023)

OwenWright is a professional surfer, winning 4 x WSL Championship Events and the bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2015 Owen suffered a traumatic brain injury after a wipeout at the notorious Banzai Pipeline. Owen went from rank 5 in the world to learning how to talk and walk again. In 2017 after hard work and determination, Owen came back to not only surf again but win his come back event and then go on to take out the bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. This portrait shot in rough ocean sea captures Owen in his element. The fast moving bumpy water around him a depiction of the swelling of his brain and cloudiness of his mind. With the sun shining light a beacon of his fight to make it back to the top.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.