How Joe Connor caught Gregory Alan Isakov’s wave length

South African-born, raised in Philadelphia, now based in Boulder, Colorado, the indie-folk musician Gregory Alan Isakov and his work might seem a long way from the icy North Atlantic waters off Donegal in North West Ireland. 

But what links them in this beautiful music video is the sensibilities of director Joe Connor. On listening to the melancholy strains and lyrics of Isakov’s song Mistakes – “I caught a golden wave, it left me lost at sea… turning in the undertow” – Connor came up with the concept of a man battling both the elements and his own torment.

Here he talks to shots about his recollections of watching surfers while road tripping around Ireland, facing challenges with a small crew and his desire to "plunge the viewer into the mouth of the wave."

What was it about this idea that appealed to you, and worked for the artist?

Greg and I have known each other for some time, and we have always discussed doing something together. When he finished his new album, he sent it to me and asked which track resonated with me – I instantly replied, Mistakes.

I wanted to craft a simple yet powerful narrative about the man and the elements – the wind, the rain, the water.

I was immediately transported back to a road trip across Ireland from a few years ago, watching the surfers in Donegal plunge into the icy waters. It felt like the perfect backdrop for this song. 

Greg's music truly penetrates your very being, so I wanted to craft a simple yet powerful narrative about the man and the elements – the wind, the rain, the water. I collaborated with Clem McInerney, one of the world's finest big wave cinematographers based on the west coast of Ireland.”

It resonated beautifully. Greg and his manager granted me incredible freedom to venture off and return with something magical, which I hope I did, it felt magic.

Where did you shoot and what was your window of opportunity for getting everything you needed?

I shot at the end of October in Donegal, which is in the North West of Ireland. There’s a wave there called Mullaghmore Head, which is one of the big five waves in the world. Except, unlike the waves in Hawaii, this is the icy, wild ocean of the North Atlantic. 

It was a genuinely small family affair, shot over two days. 

I collaborated with Clem McInerney, one of the world's finest big wave cinematographers based on the west coast of Ireland. He was incredibly kind and generous, truly helping me to pull this project together – I stayed at his home, and we filmed his mate, Ryan Watts, an Aussie surfer residing in Ireland. 

It was a genuinely small family affair over two days. Shooting this project was a real jigsaw of ensuring the story came through – it's one thing to have stunning footage of the waves, but another to make it resonate, to tell a compelling story, to impact people as beautifully as the music does.

The film was shot at Mullaghmore, Ireland, which has on of the world's top ten big waves, surfed only by the most elite, cold tolerant big-wave surfers on the planet.

Had you ever shot in water before, and how was that experience?

I have a fair amount of experience shooting underwater. A lot of commercial work last year involved shooting scuba and water-based projects in Oman, which gave me a solid grounding in the process. I've also shot music videos in water tanks before. I had a general idea of what to expect and how to approach it so that we could tell the story effectively in such a challenging environment. 

I wanted it to be photographically assured, not scrappy or rough and ready.

A significant part of working under these conditions is good communication, thorough briefings, and trusting the team to execute. I deliberately kept the crew small; it was just me and the DP, as I realised that miscommunication would hinder our ability to create great work in this setting. Therefore, we both needed to stay aligned, pulling in the same direction and pursuing the same vision.

You had a tiny crew; how did you undertake the shoot with so few people?

I don't necessarily advocate for small crews all the time; my work oscillates between crew sizes, sometimes you need lots of people. I believe it’s essential to look holistically at what needs to be achieved, what the resources are, and what gives the greatest aperture for success. In this film, I had an incredibly trusting client who is also a friend, and I wanted to deliver something spectacular. 

Big wave specialist DP Clem McInerney helped Connor find his surfer, Ryan Watts (above and below), an Aussie based in Ireland. 

I wanted to plunge the viewer into the mouth of the wave, and i wanted it to be photographically assured, not scrappy or rough and ready. That meant finding the right collaborator in Clem and working in his manner. Clem is out there every day chasing waves, drenched in seawater. If you have the right character in the right position, you can create magic. 

A lot of the job was finding safe places to work to get the bits between the big waves.

A larger crew would have meant we were less nimble in chasing the waves and weather, less nimble in changing our location if the sea wasn't cooperating. As we were trying to tell a story, a lot of the job was finding safe places to work to get the bits between the big waves. 

The freedom of a small unit on a project like this allows you to influence the day in harmony with what’s going on around you, the weather, the light etc.

What was the most challenging part of the project?

That's a multilayered question. I wanted to venture out on my own and immerse myself in creating something, to get my hands on the clay. That is always a personal challenge: to shake off the relative comfort of commercials and return to the raw wilderness to bring back something you care about. It's a beautiful process, and you discover a lot of magic and renewal in doing it. 

Standing on the cliffs in the driving rain was savage. Nature provided awe-inspiring images, but telling an emotive story through that was a challenge.

Having said that, standing on the cliffs in the driving rain was savage. Nature provided awe-inspiring images, but I think telling an emotive story through that was a challenge – it hangs together as a story rather than being just a collection of images. You feel something alchemical when you watch it, hopefully.