One of the photographers who consistently provides us with great coverage of East Coast swells is South-Florida based Ben Hicks. Hicks has journeyed across the Americas and ventured to exotic locales to compose his profoundly diverse collection of fine-art photography to captures the majestic beauty of the natural world, especially those that involve the cerulean blue. His portfolio includes work in "Surfing magazine," "Alliance Wakeboard," "Eastern Surf Mag," "Boating Life," "Singletrack magazine," "Standup Journal," and "Wake Journal."

On Friday, January 4, the surf community of Deerfield Beach, Florida, gathered to enjoy the worldly works of one of their own. For the third year in a row, the self-proclaimed "Adventure Boy" presented his favorite works at his annual slideshow at Island Water Sports.

"I not only strive to portray the familiar in extraordinarily original ways, but also take risks to capture the most complex, often dangerous situations," he explains. Those range from water shots in heavy stuff to precarious animal encounters, all to share his admiration for nature's creation: South Pacific beachscapes, vast sandstone buttes in the Southwest, or the first few open water strides of a leatherback sea turtle hatchling. His vision and approach result in detailed images with a distinctive vision.

And there's no lack of color.