I’m ashamed to admit that I am a voracious consumer of reality television. Love Is Blind, Love Island, Love on the Spectrum, Too Hot to Handle, and most recently, Let’s Marry Harry, have all passed from my television into my rapidly rotting brain. I blame my wife, but in truth… well, it’s me.
So this morning, I eagerly turned on the Let’s Marry Harry reunion with my coffee and my wife. Amber Mozo, the woman who married Harry Jowsey after dating him along with a bunch of other women living in a house together, had some things to say. Lots of things. Among those things was a mention of her photography. She had a plumeria flower behind her ear and she’s from Hawaii, so I figured I’d have a look at her work. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she’s good. Very good. And her father is none other than the legendary surf photographer Jon Mozo.
Amber Mozo grew up in the Hawaiian Islands, so it makes sense that the ocean is a huge influence on her work. She inherited her love of surfing and photography from her father Jon, who was an accomplished surf photographer himself. Sadly, he died on February 9th, 2005, while he was shooting at Backdoor.
Amber was just nine years old at the time of his death, and his passing left an indelible mark on her. She picked up a camera shortly after her dad died and hasn’t put it down since.
Back in 2018, Amber decided she wanted to swim out to the place her father spent his last moments. “If it was worth dying for to capture that subject, it must be beautiful. It must mean everything to you,” Amber Mozo said at the time.
With the help of Zak Noyle, Mozo prepared to shoot one of the most challenging lineups in the world. But it wasn’t just any lineup. It was the place her father died. And it was also during the 2018 Volcom Pipe Pro.
“I know that the last few seconds of his life, he must have been really happy,” she said. “And knowing that he died a happy man makes me happy.”
Of course, going from the relatively quiet life of a water photographer living in Hawaii to screens around the world as one of the stars of one of the biggest reality shows going likely wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but now that it’s all over, she’s probably pretty happy to get back to what she loves: shooting the ocean.
You can see some of Amber Mozo’s incredible work on Instagram.
