Jefferson W. Mathis aka @jeffshotthat, has established his name as one of the elite photographers in the industry in a very short time! Always around contests and events with a great attitude, time after time Jeff gets “the shot”. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!
Sometimes less is more, as was the case with this shot. Alex Graydon and I grew up together riding on Lake Martin, so obviously we go way back when it comes to wakeboarding. So when he got his first pro model, the Native from Slingshot, I was beyond stoked for him. For this shoot, I was up at my lake house for a bit last summer visiting my folks, but I knew I wanted to carve out some time to shoot some photos of him on his new board. We figured out a time and got out there. He had mentioned that he wanted to get something that showed off the flex tips of his board before we started shooting. We knocked out the session with plenty of awesome wake shots but as the light was getting close to being a bit too high to keep shooting, I suggested he cut out and lay back on the tail to get a cool spray shot before calling it quits. Well, he did and before I knew it, a rainbow started appearing behind him from all the spray. I framed him up, snapped off a few shots, and came up with something we were both really stoked about. Jeff Mathis
I’ve only been to West Rock once and it was right as things were slowing down up there for the end of the season. Luckily, I was with a crew that didn’t mind braving the cold a bit. We set out one morning to get a solid batch of shots on all the various hacks we had throughout the park but before we got going, I wanted to get some clean carving photos right down the center of the run because the water was so glassy. I wanted to shoot from an elevated spot so as I climbed up the motor tower, I told Brandon Harris just to do some S-turns right down the middle and the result was exactly what I had envisioned. I feel like it really conveys the pure stoke that is riding a board on water. Jeff Mathis
One of my favorite things to do while shooting wake is floating out in the middle of the lake while the boat does laps around me. It’s one of those situations where I’m completely calm yet totally worried the entire time. What if the rider sprays me on accident? Or runs over me? Anything can happen when you’re out there. Luckily, riders like Fynn Bullock know what’s up and when you combine his style with the right spot, magic can happen. I’ve always loved this shot because the water splashes in all the right places covers up almost the entire frame except the spot that Fynn is poking through. When things like that come together, you gotta love it. Jeff Mathis
Guenther Oka has always been one of my favorite riders to work with not only because he’s insanely talented, but also because he’s such a humble dude that I can easily bounce ideas off of. I got this shot one evening on Clear Lake while Guenther was working on a video project for Liquid Force. He had this insane rail set up and while he was going back and forth, I thought I’d play around with some slow shutter/pan style shots and ended up coming away with this one. I had never really messed around with that style of shooting before so I was stoked on the result. Jeff Mathis
Battle Falls is one of those special places in the sport that has seen a lot of NBD’s go down so when I got the call from Reed Hansen that he and Jake Ramsdell were going to go out for a session, I couldn’t turn them down. We arrived with plenty of light and with it being January at the time, we didn’t expect to be riding past sunset. But when the energy is up and the riders are knocking off tricks left and right, you don’t worry about the cold and you just keep shooting. This shot was one of the last we got that day and I really like it not only because of the moodiness of it being a night shot, but I love the way the flash on the water coupled with the silhouette of Jake and his board just play off each other. Jeff Mathis
Blue Lake is another one of those legendary locations in wakeboarding that if you get the invitation to shoot there, you just have to make it happen. This was also my first time really hanging out with JB. Everyone knows him for his YouTube channel and for being a “go big” guy. Well, that’s definitely true if you’ve ever watched any of his videos but you would also know that he has a ton of style as well. We were just wrapping up this sunset shoot when I asked JB to do a couple more of his overturned switch melan 180’s. That’s a pretty simple trick for him so once we were up to speed, he stretched one out and it just happened to be framed perfectly with the construction equipment on the beach and with the insane sunset we had, it turned out to be an absolute banger of a shot! Jeff Mathis
If there’s one thing everyone knows about John Dreiling, it’s that he LOVES wakeboarding. It doesn’t matter if it’s behind a boat, a ski, a winch, a cable, or anything else that could pull a rider, if it has to do with wakeboarding, John will be there. So when the pandemic hit and all the cables were shut down, John did what any rider would do and got out behind a jet ski and hit some good old fashioned rails and kickers with the help of the Stuckey family. This method came from one of those sessions on Lake Hiawassee. There’s just something about a method with a flash in the middle of the night. Ya love to see it! Jeff Mathis
Maxime Giry is one of the most stylish dudes on a wakeskate out there today. You can’t argue with me on that. He happened to be in town earlier this year for a bit and although I didn’t get to shoot with him as much as I would have liked, I was still able to get up with him and Jake Ramsdell for a fun little winch session. This ledge is not too far from Jake’s place on Lake Holden and is the perfect height to lock into some technical moves. Max messed around with some board slides while I was dialing in my strobes and by the time he was warmed up, I was ready to go. A few hits later, we had this proper noseslide in the bag. What I really dig about this photo is how you can really see the skate nubs digging into the concrete and how Max is fully on his nose. It doesn’t get more legit than that! Jeff Mathis
The Valdosta Wake Compound has always been like a second home to me and Quinn Silvernale has always been one the best dudes I’ve met in wakeboarding. I’ve watched VWC go from a dream to reality and it’s been awesome to see it happen. The 2.0 at VWC is infamous for being one of the best set ups at any wake park and it shows through the many videos and photos that come out of that place. For this shoot, we really had no plans of shooting at all. I was on my way back to Orlando from Lake Martin and I decided to break up my drive by stopping by the Compound. I pull in and after I say hi to everyone, Quinn tells me they just put a new tank over on the 2.0 that he’d been wanting to get a shot on. I immediately start pulling my gear out and get set up. It was about 3 pm so the sun was still pretty high and harsh so I knew I would need to light him up. We get the 2.0 running, pull a driver out of one of the campers, and get to it. A few hits later, we came away with this shot that has VWC vibes written all over it. Jeff Mathis
This is another shot from the Blue Lake trip that I just absolutely love. I’ve known Taylor McCullough for a while now and she rips. Period. She’s always had plenty of style which makes shooting with her enjoyable. This was such a dope shoot not only because we got an amazing sunset but because we had already been out on the boat all day riding, surfing, foiling, and just chilling with our crew. To top it off with an awesome sunset shoot was just the icing on the cake! It really doesn’t get much better than that in my opinion. Jeff Mathis
