Gavin Rea (pronounced Ray) was born in Coonabarabran, a small rural town in country NSW, Australia, but moved to Sydney's southern beaches in his formative years, where he took an interest in the surfing and skateboarding subcultures. After completing school, he made adventures in pursuit of the perfect wave by travelling to Europe, Mexico and North America. There, he first began using an old film SLR camera to document his surf travels, and his interest in photography flourished. Upon returning to Australia, he continued his studies in Fine Art photography. During this time, he began serving his industry apprenticeship, working under some of Sydney’s best photographers including Michelle Aboud, Richard Bailey, Emma Summerton and Anson Smart. He eventually began to take on his own jobs and shooting for acclaimed large-format magazines, Oyster, Harpers Bazaar and ELLE. Today, he reside between New York City and L.A. but continues to document his surfing adventures whenever he can, in between jobs for clients including TESLA Motors, SONY, NFL and REVLON Cosmetics.