ORION OWENS | The People You Meet
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
A Conversation with Photographer and Director Orion Owens
Interview by Tommy Moore
Photos by Orion Owens and Cece Alana
Orion Owens by Cece Alana
Orion Owens is a director, editor and photographer. His unique approach to photography and filmmaking explore the limits of human creativity and physical accessibility. Orion’s film work focuses on the fascination of extreme sports, character, story and natural beauty. It’s through Orion’s experiences and travels that he is passionate about making subjects comfortable to share their authentic self.
@orionowens
Photo by Orion Owens
Tommy Moore: Did you originally grow up on Maui, or what was your connection to the islands?
Orion Owens: I grew up in San Diego, but I was home schooled, and in high school, our family went over there for six months. That’s when I started getting into photography and filmmaking, so I ended up meeting some friends surfing and I started shooting more and more. I started going back every winter, and now I live there full time. I just kind of extended and extended and extended, you know? It was my early 20s before I got hurt. I would stay every winter with the McGill family.
So that was my connection to Hawaii, shooting with them and spending every winter there.
Tommy Moore: Were you always more on the creative side, or were you also on the athlete side in those days?
Orion Owens: I always surfed for fun growing up but I found myself drawn into the creative photo and video side in high school.
Photo by Orion Owens
Tommy Moore: Between when you were in high school and now, how has what you're searching for changed in terms of what you're trying to capture, or what you’re trying to invoke with what you're capturing?
Orion Owens: Wow, I would say a lot of it's still the same—the spark of what it is. When I first started shooting, it was like, “I want to travel, I want to hang out with my friends, and I want to shoot.” That was the best way to go to these exotic locations, and it's still the backbone of what I do and why I do it. But now, being paralyzed changes how I shoot and what I shoot, so I'm not as much strike mission focused, chasing swells or the best surfing, per se. I would say I approach it now with a little more of an abstract perspective. Like say there's a Jaws swell. I could get epic surf shots, but if I get a sick, empty wave, I'm almost more psyched on that now. I’d say that's probably how it's changed as I've gotten older. It’s these other smaller moments.
Tommy Moore: I was just having a conversation with a couple other filmmakers the other day who just put on a ski film that they did in a very abstract way, and in a way that felt maybe more digestible to the lay person. There's so much out there that's based on these massive and aggressive strike missions doing the biggest, baddest thing ever. I think that so much of that, as cool as it is, goes over a lot of people's heads, just because it's not relatable.
"But now, being paralyzed changes how I shoot and what I shoot, so I'm not as much strike mission focused, chasing swells or the best surfing, per se."
Photo by Orion Owens
Orion Owens: I would say that’s definitely the progression of getting older, because when you're younger, you’re like, “Let’s shoot the sickest barrel and put gnarly music behind it,” psyching yourself up, and getting older, I’m like, “’I’m going to drink some tea and watch this.” It’s more digestible. Getting older through your work, you see things a little differently. I'm still that young frothy person, too, you know? There's always a little bit of that, I think, in all of us, but now you just want to digest stuff, too. I just want to make something slow and mellow and beautiful.
Tommy Moore: On my end, I didn't grow up in the action sports world. I was definitely somebody viewing from afar. It's a language that I've learned to speak, but it was something where I slipped into the culture right away, and that's something that’s very tangible to me and something I care about a lot, but a lot of the sport itself, as incredible as it is, isn’t necessarily the first thing in my mind. Even one of my favorite ski films isn't even a ski film. It's literally when Renan Ozturk and Alex Honnold were iced out at this climb, and they're just sitting in a tent in an ice field. The film’s just 10 minutes of them having a heart to heart in this tent. I think those intimate moments are just so special, and I think it takes a lot to get to the point to be able to get yourself in a position to tell those stories.
"You’ll always have the photos or the video piece you make at the end of it, but the conversations and the people you meet along the way are what matter— as cliché as that is."
Photo by Orion Owens
Orion Owens: Yeah, way more depth and it can be relatable to a lot more people, and you get to know who the person actually is and their perspective.
Tommy Moore: You’re actually pulling and peeling back the layers that make somebody tick, rather than seeing them on the most adrenaline heavy day of their life.
Orion Owens: You watch Honnold, or you watch someone surf at Pipe, and you're like, “How do they do that?” and then you see them have a conversation and it’s so chill.
Tommy Moore: Seeing them in tandem, I think that's the beauty of it.
As you’re falling more into like this very intentional way of capturing things, what new paths or approaches are you trying to delve into when it comes to photo and video? Where are you looking to push yourself?
"I think intention is a big one now with what I'm shooting and how I'm shooting it."
Photo by Orion Owens
Orion Owens: I think intention is a big one now with what I'm shooting and how I'm shooting it. I think you can get lost with shooting, shooting, shooting, all the time. But it's like, “All right, what do I really want to shoot?” and I’m valuing that time when I want to shoot this place or that wave.
I'm also expanding in a couple other realms, honestly. I've been playing around a lot with graphic design and some art, music, which is pretty wild, because I'm not normally like that person.
Then in photography and filmmaking, I have some bigger projects and some more slowed down narrative based work that I'm excited about, too. It’s a personal story that I think a lot of people will be able to digest. Connection with people is a huge reason of why I got into photography and filmmaking, and why I still do it. That's always pushing me and connecting me with people. Those conversations that you have with new people that you meet on that journey, on one of those trips is what’s important. You’ll always have the photos or the video piece you make at the end of it, but the conversations and the people you meet along the way are what matter— as cliche as that is.
Tommy Moore: The end product and a paycheck is great, but all those quiet moments that you’re tied together with somebody I think is just so special.
What else are you searching for and dreaming of right now? Creatively or just the route you want to go this year? Where’s your head at with all of that?
Photo by Orion Owens
Orion Owens: I really want to do a new photo book in the New Year. So I'm stacking a lot of images, and I have a couple more locations I want to shoot, some in Hawaii and some on the mainland. I shoot a mix of ocean related work, and then abstract desert work, too. I think that's kind of a unique aspect. I enjoy shooting in the desert just as much as I enjoy shooting in the ocean.
And then more collaborations with friends, with people I want to work with, and concepts I want to work on. I don’t always want to take the project with the best paycheck, and I want to take on a sick personal project with more creative control. There's a couple projects around that I want to push myself into. They’re more narrative driven pieces, and branching away from that hype. I think continuing to push myself in different places. In a wheelchair, it’s easy to be a little stagnant. So I need to go somewhere new, meet new people, and shoot new locations to gain perspective, and that always inspires me. That’s why I do it.
Orion Owens by Cece Alana
Orion Owens | The People You Meet
Interview by Tommy Moore
Photos by Orion Owens and Cece Alana
