Cover shots, by their very nature, tend to be a singularity. They stand out (or more accurately stand above) so they get sifted from the rest of their ilk and propped up, alone. This is especially true here at TSJ since our only edict for selecting a cover image is that it needs to be arresting. We rarely feel the need for Page One to relate to a specific piece of editorial—other than that it should somehow convey a sense of the surf experience—so the shots become even more isolated. But every photo usually comes from a batch, and that batch usually has a story, a trip, or an entire process of work behind it. We’re lucky enough to get to see those sister photos in our editing bay. In this case we decided to let you have a peak too.
All captions and images by Morgan Maassen
![[All captions by the photographer] Joel Parkinson, Cloudbreak. You see a surfer’s style in everything they do in the water—even in the way they kick out. Even though he’s a world champion, he probably would have won even more heats had he not made things look so easy.](https://surfersjournal.ipdev.cloud/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/servais14_33385.jpg)
