How Shutterstock Helped Diversify The World of Surfing

‘Surfing Through The Odds’ is a documentary film profiling the empowering work and story of SOMA surf, a nonprofit in São Tomé and Príncipe, off the coast of central Africa. SOMA helps raise confident young women through academic support, mentorship, and surf therapy in a place where girls are often burdened with house chores and are rarely empowered to think big about their futures. The nonprofit's mission centres specifically around the education and empowerment of Black girls, with a broader objective of facilitating their professional and personal development.

The efforts around the campaign and film creation came from a newly discovered content gap. It all began when Lisbon-based creative agency Coming Soon and betting platform Betclic approached Shutterstock after working with SOMA, with the goal of finding imagery of Black girls participating in surfing activities on Shutterstock’s platform. However, they found out there were virtually no photos available - and if there were, they were quite outdated. 

So, Coming Soon and Betclic embarked on a collaboration with Shutterstock on ways to fill this void. “At Shutterstock, we are constantly working towards making our library more diverse and inclusive, so this was an incredibly important project for us,” says Noelia Lage, executive producer at Shutterstock Studios. The answer was an immediate ‘yes’.

Soon enough, Shutterstock Studios came on board to produce ‘Surfing Through The Odds’, along with a new inclusive collection of visuals featuring Black girls reaching their goals in and out of the water. 

“Together with Coming Soon and Betclic, we met with SOMA to fully understand what they are doing, where they want to go and work out how Shutterstock could serve as a foundation within that - not just making content, but also creating content that could be repurposed and have longevity,” explains Adam Barnett, senior director of production EMEA and APAC at Shutterstock Studios. From the get go, it became clear that this project was more than just about making “a nice piece of film” - it was about how Shutterstock could tap into a bigger movement and better support SOMA as a business. 

“We all have a responsibility to change mindsets and ensure we live in a society that is inclusive and embraces its diversity,” says Adam. “Businesses and how they communicate play an important part when it comes to breaking stereotypes. At Shutterstock Studios, we’re constantly collaborating with brands in this space to make a difference.”

As a business, SOMA finds its beginning in October 2020, when Francisca Sequeira, founder of the NGO went door to door within the communities of Santana and Agua Ize, seeking parental permission to allow their young girls to go surfing. 

At the time, Francisca had visited the island of São Tomé multiple times and had fallen in love with its natural beauty and kindhearted locals. But despite the allure, she noticed one thing: “While boys played happy and carefree on the streets, young girls would either sit silently on the side or be out of sight, in the homes they shared with extended family.”

Having seen the impacts of surfing on her own mental health, Francisca decided to channel the power of surfing and create the first surf therapy programme in Africa, exclusively dedicated to women. “It was the first ever female surf class held on the island,” she says. “Persuading parents to let their daughters participate in recreational sports was not an easy task, but the hard efforts saw 26 girls, aged between six and 18, show up to turn a page in São Tomé’s history.”

Then, the mission was born - fostering personal development and empowering a generation of confident African young women through surfing. The activity wasn’t only beneficial in the way it affected the girls’ mental health, but also their mindset towards the boundaries of their social position and physical ability. A sport that they had never thought was accessible had suddenly become not only part of their daily activities, but a place where they can connect with the rest of the girls in the programme and bond over their shared experiences, creating a much-needed community.

Seeing the benefits of the programme, Francisca knew there is a lot to be done and boundless space for growth. She says: “Our objectives are to utilise surf therapy as means to promote social integration, address gender inequality, reduce instances of early pregnancy and school dropout, and implement entrepreneurship modules as alternatives to combat unemployment, providing pathways to self-sufficiency.”

Even when there are no SOMA classes and sessions in progress, the general impact and influence of the programme seeps in the way the community functions. SOMA embraces the concept that “It takes a village to raise a child”, so works with not only girls aged 10 to 18, but also with their families and the boys from the girls’ community. “A holistic approach is imperative,” says Francisca. 

The nonprofit’s core intervention runs daily from Monday to Friday in the morning and afternoon and consists of surfing classes, academic support, psychoeducation and female empowerment circles. But it doesn’t end there. To keep the approach holistic, SOMA has three supplementary programmes that work in conjunction with the core programme - a family programme focused on conscious and positive parenting, a professional programme aimed at employing girls who have completed secondary school and a SOMA club, open to both boys and girls, where children gather to study, seek help with homework and receive personal guidance.

During the core therapy sessions, each day at the beach for the girls begins with a mindfulness exercise, serving as an internal “cleansing process for the mind”. Following this, a surf mentor leads a guided meditation or reflection session, the theme of which varies depending on the group’s age and recent events. “Subsequently, everyone has the opportunity to share their feelings and open discussions are encouraged,” says Francisca. “As soon as they open their eyes and face the waves, their minds automatically connect with the ocean and they are ready to explore their inner selves by diving into it. After surfing, a ‘food for thought’ dynamic occurs as the girls enjoy the daily meal prepared by the SOMA team.”

For Francisca, the collaboration with Shutterstock Studios to create the promo film was a “remarkable” and highly significant experience. “It had a profound impact on the SOMA girls,” she shares, as the experience of producing the film has shown them that no matter where they are in the world, their voices can and will be heard and “their lives hold immense value.” For SOMA’s founder, the filming has benefitted not only the girls, but also Black girls around the world, because of one simple truth: “When we see more nuanced and authentic representations, that can help break down stereotypes and challenge the status quo.”

Together with Shutterstock, SOMA did just that - gave a piece of them towards creating a more inclusive and just society. “We hope this wave of representation will spread to other brands,” appeals Francisca. “It’s time for the industries to step up and make this a priority like Shutterstock did. Besides, through the use of images, we can secure a lasting source of funding to help support the sustainability of the project.”

When talking about the film itself, Noelia and Adam explain that pre-production took all in all about eight weeks, during which the team dived into comprehensive research and exploration of the possible logistical challenges and limitations the location lends itself to. Prior to their arrival on the island, Shutterstock Studios also conducted pre-interviews between the girls and their director and production teams, to establish a level of familiarity - the participants’ comfort was paramount for the project’s objective.

It became clear from the get-go that the story needs to be told through a female lens in order to paint the full picture of the inequality the girls of São Tomé and Príncipe experience. “We brought on both a female photographer from Brazil - Ana Catarina - and documentary director from Cape Town - Ana-Filipa Domingues - to ensure this felt authentic,” says Noelia. It was important for the crew members to speak Portuguese too, to be able to fully foster relationships within the community. “For us it was really important to demonstrate representation within our crew, and in particular for the girls to see other Black women in important roles,” she adds.

Following pre-production, the crew stayed filming on the island for another week. “São Tomé and Príincipe is the second smallest country in Africa and it has very little infrastructure, so we had to overcome quite a few challenges,” reminds us Adam. “Adjusting the filming schedule daily to accommodate the girls’ availability between school commitments and chores, working around the very wet weather and tropical storms and working around a fuel shortage in the country - two different units had to travel to different areas.” 

Regardless of the challenges, the crew quickly got to know the locals and the girls, while quiet at the start, became more themselves as the hours of the welcome party passed. 

“They were very brave, opening up to the team and embracing filming. My favourite part was seeing them have fun in the water. I think this was a very impactful experience for both the crew and the SOMA girls - we all learned from each other.”

Throughout the filming, Adam and Noelia say that some of the most emotional moments for the crew were hearing the SOMA girls’ stories and seeing the project come to life through their eyes. “We felt such a great sense of pride with the final product,” she says.

The film doesn’t only come to life through the girls’ individual stories, but is also given to the audiences through their eyes. Some of the most striking visuals in it are those of them getting to know the ocean and becoming comfortable with being in the water. 

“From a creative perspective, it was important for us to portray how the girls feel in the water,” Adam explains. “It is a moment for themselves, to reflect and disconnect, but also a moment to enjoy and share with others, and I think that both the documentary and photography teams managed to capture the essence beautifully.”

Underwater photography is masterfully merged with usage of drones in the film, which was a very deliberate creative choice for Shutterstock Studios. Noelia says: “São Tomé and Príncipe is a very unique place; there is a significant contrast between a natural paradise and poverty, and it was important from a narrative perspective to show the girls' world.” The use of drone footage allowed the team to give the audience a more clear context and the director, Ana-Filipa, imagined the film “swelling and shrinking,” similarly to the swells and tide, and the camera moves from wider contextual shots of the island to more intimate moments in the community.

Another parallel Ana-Filipa was keen on drawing was achieved through intercutting between group moments and individual interviews. Authentic conversations within the girl group allowed for the film to showcase their personalities and routines, while the personal interviews promoted comfortable sharing and were usually in the girls’ respective homes. Crew and equipment in these scenes was stripped to the bare minimum, and Ana-Filipa made sure that Francisca was the one to conduct the one-on-one interviews.

Music and sound design were also a big part of the emotional resonance of the film. According to Adam and Noelia, Ana-Filipa envisioned having a “mixture of silent moments, tranquil music as well as more upbeat tracks that would resemble the community’s personality.” The girls sing when they come together or on the truck on the way to the beach, so music had to be a big part of the production process. Tracks were picked carefully with the aim to convey varying emotion and African music was preferred and used as much as possible throughout. “But we didn’t forget to let the story breathe and left some space for the natural sounds of São Tomé too,” adds Noelia.

The main goal of ‘Surfing Through the Odds’ was to represent Black girls surfing as equals to all surfers in terms of style, conditions and technique. “We wanted to show what a soul surfer looks like, no matter the race,” Adam explains. At the same time, Shutterstock had to remain supportive of SOMA through the licensing of the stock images, therefore achieving a stylised aesthetic. “The girls are not professional surfers, and they’re not used to a film set and crews. But they were very excited to be part of this. Ana Catarina, an amazing sports photographer and human being, helped them be comfortable in and outside the water, and our amazing producer Nailah Blissett worked with the girls to choose the outfits that made them feel most relaxed. They got to be models for a few days and the most important part is they had fun doing it.”

Now, Shutterstock and SOMA are looking to continue to share the project on a global scale, with the hopes that audiences realise the importance of the collaboration. “People and brands can come together and join forces to tell stories worth telling and have an incredibly positive effect,” explains Adam. “This allows us all to achieve things that are bigger than ourselves.”

Purpose-driven content has been on the rise across the industry, however, for the team at Shutterstock, not enough of it is genuine. So, with this campaign, while the brand set out to create a great film coupled with high-quality images, the main purpose was to uplift the community, share its stories and create a legacy of content. The images created by Shutterstock of the girls surfing are now available to purchase via Shutterstock and the proceeds go directly back to SOMA, to support young Black girls’ journeys in and beyond their community.

Francisca encourages readers to actively participate as volunteers, both for short - and long-term commitments, to assist SOMA in various capacities, including providing surf lessons, psycho-education, academic support, and coordinating program activities in the field, among other responsibilities. Anybody can apply through SOMA’s website or become a donor through crowdfunding.