CJ Smith is a Professional Photographer from San Clemente, California. With a design background at O’Neill and experience within the action sports industry, helps me capture exceptional visual stories about you, your brand, and your personality.


I was born and raised in San Clemente, California, I’ve been surfing since the day I could walk practically. My earliest memories on a surfboard we’re with my teenage hippie surfer parents when they would skateboard down the trail to Lower Trestles for a surf. My mom would put me in her backpack while skateboarding down the trail to Trestles with my Dad right next to her holding my sister in his left arm and his surfboard in the other arm as they both bombed down the gravely gravel road to go surf trestles.

Working for the original surf brand O’Neill (Est. in 1952) has helped me perfect my Surfing photo editing skills. We work with many different Professional Photographers with many different styles of shooting giving me years of editing practice of large batches of photographs from various surf trips around the world. After each surf trip it’s my job to edit each photograph, usually it’s around 1,000-3,000 images to near perfection for use in both social, web, and large format printing. Surfing is my life’s passion, and not just a sport but a way of life, this love for Surfing translates directly to my photographs and videos.

If you’re interested in working together on some filming projects for you or your brand, you can call or text me directly at (949) 449-4093 anytime of day or night. I’m available for creating content that makes an impact, whether it’s for online or print use. In addition to Photography, I also make Instagram Reels for Surfing professionals, brands, businesses and anyone looking to make an impact online through their social media presence. If you’re a Surfing brand looking to hire a professional Surfing photographer, I can help you get those seasonal action and lifestyle images that make your Surfing brand stand out from the rest.

I prefer to shoot with Canon because of the colors, there’s something special about Canon colors that just look more appealing and eye catching. I’ve edited thousands of photographs professionally for O’Neill, and the Canon images shot in RAW always turn out the best for print and digital.

See you on the beach and in the water,

Erika & CJ Smith at β€œBorn Free” in Santiago Canyon.

In addition to my photography work, you can find me documenting a Surfing film in San Clemente, California about local Professional Surfers and what it takes to stay on top.