How Chandler Borries Shot His Way Into the World’s Wildest Places

Years ago a friend introduced me to the work of outdoor photographer Chandler Borries and I felt instantly transported to the dramatic landscapes he seeks out on his global travels. Born and raised in a small beach town in Mississippi, his story is anything but ordinary. Guided by intuition, hard work and motivation, he jumped from a small beach town in Mississippi to Orlando, from there to LA, then to Sydney, and then to Sri Lanka and that's when things really began to take off.

It was a job with Burton Snowboards that led him from Orlando to Los Angeles and put him in greater proximity to the surf. He eventually landed a job with Hayden Shapes, managing their US operations which led him to working with Hayden in Australia. Shortly after arrival he was representing the brand while on the Australian leg of the WSL and starting to fall for photography. 

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Back in Sydney, things at Hayden Shapes went sour and he set off on his own, a decision that seems to have served him incredibly well. What started out as an earnest desire to try something new, morphed into a career working with big names like Arc’teryx, Lufthansa, Expedia, and National Geographic–the holy grail of photo credit.

Although his love for surfing only continued to grow since leaving home, he says that he never wanted to fully mix photography and surfing, “I love the feeling surfing gives me so much that I avoided trying to become a ‘surf photographer’. I certainly take surf shots when I travel, or when the moment is right, but I didn’t want to make it my focus.” 

In our conversation he told me how it was a mix of intuition, synchronicity, and chance meetings that helped motivate him to shoot professionally. That, and his fascination with astral photography which he started experimenting with in the Australian countryside where light pollution was minimal. 

He credits a trip to Sri Lanka, where he stayed at a surf and yoga lodge called Sunshine Stories, with being a pivotal moment in his path to becoming a photographer. It was there that he met several creators working with Red Bull, none of whom had actually studied photography or filmmaking. Their advice to him was simple and poignant, “just get started and learn as you go.” He took them at their word and never looked back.

Since then his camera has led him far afield from his small town roots in Mississippi. Some of his favorite places he’s been include the cloud forests of Ecuador, Pichilemu in Chile, Patagonia, South Africa, Greenland, Italian Dolomites and Sri Lanka.

Talking to Chandler was a refreshing reminder that there are so many beautiful places on Earth worth discovering with an open heart and open mind. His images speak to his eye for composition and his intuition to be in the right place at the right time. 

His next stop is Taiwan and I was damn near pulling the trigger to go myself but the timing simply didn’t line up for me. Keep an eye on his Instagram and you may just see a dreamy Taiwanese lineup shot that will make you want to go for yourself too.

Related: Visual Vacation: The World Through The Lens of Gal Danon