Surf photography
on autopilot.

51 Photos is built for serious photographers. Whether you already own the gear or you're ready to invest, you need a DSLR (or mirrorless) with a proper zoom lens — or a watercase setup for in the water. We keep the photo quality bar high — that's what makes surfers actually buy.

Four pieces working together: the backpack captures leads, the app on your phone links them to each session, our AI surfaces every buyer's own photos out of hundreds — sometimes thousands — and payouts land in your bank automatically. An income stream you can run from anywhere in the world.

All of them — kite, wind, wave, SUP, wing, foil, and more. The platform automatically recognises which sport you're shooting and adjusts the sorting. Wingfoilers and kitesurfers filter on wing/kite colour; surfers and SUPpers filter on board colour.

51 Photos is built by Lars van der Veen — founder of Surfana and Time 2 Wing. He lives in Portugal and has spent years inside the surf industry. The idea took shape in Nazaré when he was shooting some big wave surfers and realized how much they wanted to pay him for those shots. As he started picturing a real career around it — and the freedom it would offer — one thing became clear: the shooting was great. Everything around it, not so much.

Imagine shooting surfers at sunrise, a marathon in the afternoon, a party at night — and making a month's income in a single day.

That's the vision. Surf is where we start. Bike, run, ski, skate, events and more come next. That's why your account lives on 51.photos, not 51.surf — same login, same workflow, whatever you shoot.

Signing up means we take you seriously. If you're willing to try the platform, you get our founder's WhatsApp and can ask anything, anytime. That'll get harder once we cross a certain number of photographers — but in summer 2026 we're just getting started, so you can be part of the "First 20 Club".

Absolutely. You can use 51 Photos for free — no backpack required to get started.

Surf schools have two things going for them: volume, and the names + phone numbers of every student. Drop those into a session and each student gets a personalised link with their own shots on top. Conversion goes up dramatically — it's a lucrative side business.

Two ways to monetise:

1. The account is in your name — you receive the money and hire the photographer.
2. The account is in the photographer's name — you negotiate a deal with the photographer.

Fair point — a backpack won't work for underwater shoots. We're launching silicone bracelets soon: hand one to a surfer in the water, and they can later visit the site to find their shots.

Here's the flow:

1. Bulk-upload your photos.
2. Our AI scans and sorts them based on the sport (gender, gear, clothing, hair).
3. Once you publish, your subscribers — added via the phone app, manually, or signed up via the session page — get an SMS with a one-tap-to-buy link.