Catching Up with Bing Rider: James Parry

May 31, 2016

Photography: Cole Beal

B: You recently traveled up to Tofino, BC for the Duct Tape Invitational, how’d it go? 
JP: Yeah I was very lucky to be put on the trip shooting for Surfer Magazine, we drove all the way up the coast starting in LA at the Vans headquarters. First we drove straight up to San Fransisco, woke up the next morning and headed down to Santa Cruz before heading north up. We got some fun waves, nothing classic but we had a really great crew. If we weren’t surfing we were on the hunt for Skateparks, I’m sure we skated nearly every stop we took.

Where are you travelling to next?
I am heading back to the UK for a couple weeks, see family and friends before heading down to Europe. Theres a few events happening through Europe in June so I should be keeping very active. My first stop will be south of France. I hear that they have been getting really fun waves so I am pretty excited to drive down and live in my van for a month surfing, heading to the mountains and taking photos.

What is your favorite Bing Shortboard at the moment?
At the moment Matt has made a 5’6 fish thats a little more pulled in than the Bing Sun Fish Model, the bottom concave is single to double, I haven’t had a board that comes off the top and bottom with such speed and flow, you can push the board and it holds in amazing, you don’t have to keep it as flat as you would a usual fish. I have taken it everywhere with me, Surfed beach breaks, points and slabs and I cant stop riding it, it just goes in everything. Everyone should have one in their quiver. 

What fins do you think work best with the James Parry Model?
I have been working with a company that is based in the Basque country called Deflow. We have developed my own model fin that was based off of a 1960’s Bilbo that I have sitting at home, it has a nice wide base that gives you drive and the tip has a good amount of flex so it really pings you out of turns but also keeps you locked in on the nose. I want to develop a pivot style fin also, I feel that suits my surfing a little better. The good thing about this board is that its very diverse so you can have a big fin and just nose ride or you can have a more flex fin and have it as an all-round board.

What do you like to shoot most? Water or Land? Why?
I love shooting everything but I definitely prefer shooting from the water, it looks way better and it creates an image thats way more personal for myself and the person who is going to be looking at it. I really enjoy shooting shortboarding, I have been extremely lucky to have guys around me like Rob Machado and Taylor Knox who I have looked up to since I first started surfing. I never in a million years thought I would be shooting guys like that. They have been super helpful and really made shooting them a pleasure. I am still pretty young in the photography world but I have had amazing support and help from some of the best in the business like JP Van Swae, Grant Ellis and Todd Glaser. Its my third year now, I hope that everyone enjoys seeing my images.

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