THERE are tough jobs - firefighter, soldier, fielding calls for radio shock jock Alan Jones - and then there's Bondi surf photographer Eugene Tan's.

media_camera Dream job: surf, sand, sunrise = heaven. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Just to be clear, Mr Tan worked bloody hard to get to where he is today, widely recognised as Australia's most successful surf photographer, with 40,000 subscribers to his daily Aquabumps email.

After quitting his day job at 30 to concentrate on making his daily surf email a successful business, Tan happily admits that he was living beneath the poverty line, drawing a $30,000 annual salary and struggling with the costs of Sydney's eastern suburbs.

media_camera Perfect moment:first picture Eugene Tan took the morning we met him. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Soon to take delivery of a brand new sponsored Land Rover, it's obvious that 13 years of hard graft have well and truly paid off.

Exemplifying the adage that the early bird gets the worm, the lensman rolls out of bed shortly before dawn, and, depending on which direction the wind is blowing, heads down to Bondi, Bronte, or Tamarama to watch the sun rise out of the Pacific Ocean.

media_camera Bondi by Uge: one helluva way to start the day. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Yes, that's right. Tan gets to watch the sunrise. Every. Single. Day.

media_camera Superb surf: at 06:30 in the morning, Bondi Beach is already bustling. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

For the next few golden hours he snaps the surfers of Sydney as they pit their wits against breakers rolling in from the Tasman Sea.

media_camera Watch and learn: the young guns showing the old fellas (Robin) how to do it. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Eventually, pictures in the can, he heads back to his office just off Bondi's Campbell Parade, loads his morning's work onto his Mac, and selects seven or eight choice pictures.

See our gallery here.

Sometime before midday, a tantalising email with a dreamy subject line such as Dolphin Stampede, Bras N Things or The Zara Left drops into tens of thousands of inboxes around Australia: giving surfers and ocean lovers a few minutes of joyous escapism before work calls again.

media_camera Nice'n'hollow: surfer at Bondi Beach, captured by Uge Tan. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Eugene Tan's daily Aquabumps email is a beautifully brilliant 21st century concept, executed magnificently, and it has been his all consuming passion since 1999.

media_camera Awkward moment: with Bondi copping some serious swell, getting out to the waves safely is a tricky mission. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Born and raised in Perth, he learned to surf, windsurf and water ski and surf at Cottesloe beach and down the coast at Margaret River.

Always interested in art, the budding photographer wagged classes to commandeer the school darkroom, documenting playground fights and organising his mates into pyramids to ensure he had images impressive enough to blow-up as 12 x 8 prints.

media_camera Look, there are waves: Bondi Beach, captured by Uge Tan. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Touching down in Sydney at 22 to set up his employer's east coast creative team, he took a taxi straight to the beach and never looked back.

Originally living right on the beach at Tamarama, the east coast surf immediately blew him away.

"You can pretty much surf here every day," says Tan. "The sun comes-up, you get brilliant light in the morning, it is such amazing surfing."

media_camera Hot stuff: must be feeling it in a bikini at 9 degrees (less with wind chill). Image: Aquabumps.com.au

"I couldn't believe that no one was documenting these beaches," he recalls, "even though the eastern suburbs are a hugely popular, densely populated area."

"I decided to make capturing the coast my mission: shooting in the water, on the beaches and above from the helicopter."

media_camera Bondi from the air: in the water, beside the water, above the water, Eugene Tan is on a one-mission to capture life at Australia's most famous beach. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

Originally launched as a way for Tan to share his love of the ocean with friends, Aquabumps was born at a time - pre-blogging and Facebook - when email was still an exciting medium.

"I remember the day when you used to get five emails," says Tan.

"And you used to read all five. Now, it's out of control."

media_camera Catching a wave: Eugene Tan was one of the first photogaphers to get in the water to capture the action. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

The original emails were an immediate hit. "No one had seen anything like it" Tan recalls.

"My mates were like, 'wait, this is TODAY!?'"

media_camera Surf-snapper extraordinare: Eugene Tan on duty near Bondi's Icebergs. Picture: Simon Crerar

From the start, the talented graphic designer's email stood out for its beautiful photography and escapist insights into a beach-bum lifestyle most Aussie's dream of but few can enjoy.

For two years the then untitled email grew in popularity.

Eventually Tan realised that it needed a name and a brand identity.

media_camera Under the bump: the Sydney-based photographic tour de force sends out a daily email to 40,000 followers. Image: Aquabumps.com.au

"You need something catchy online," he says. "I used to call waves aquabumps."

"I didn't want anything dorky, like Bondi Waves. So Aquabumps was born."

So popular did the daily email eventually become, it inspired Tan to quit his day job.

media_camera Camel train, Broome: Eugene Tan's photography has taken him around Australia. Image: Aquabumps.com.u

Today he makes a comfortable living in part through sponsorship from high commercial partners as Canon cameras, Peroni beer and Telstra.

Aquabumps has more than 40,000 subscribers around Australia and the world - including a worker on an oil rig off the African coast and a great grandmother in Oregon.

media_camera Gnarly NZ: Aquabumps on location at Tairua Point, New Zealand. Image: Aquabumps.com.u

He has 60,000 Likes on Facebook and recently began sharing his photographs on Instagram.

Tan spends a month a year in Indonesia and Hawaii and enjoys regular trips to Bali and Fiji. His commercial partnerships have taken him to shoot videos in Italy and New Zealand.

media_camera Incredible Indo: once a year, for an entire month, Aquabumps goes on location. Here, surfing the Mentawi Islands. Image: Aquabumps.com.u

On the back of the newsletter's enormous success, the photographer set up the Aquabumps Gallery in Bondi selling prints of his work.

10km away from the centre of Australia's biggest city, the nation's most famous beach is known worldwide, and no one knows it better than Tan.

media_camera Aquabump: in 2011, Eugene Tan published a stunning coffee table book that captures the iconic Bondi beach in all its glory, from sunrise to sunset. Image: Aquabumps.com.au.

"Bondi is an interesting place," he says. "There are so many different types of people, it's an old Bronxy type of suburb, but now it’s getting glamorous."



"There's an apartment up there that just went for $9m, that’s serious cash."

"There are lots of wonderful people. I've been sitting here for 13 years, I know everyone. Really positive people come down in the morning.

media_camera Australia's best surf photographer: Eugene Tan on duty at Bondi Beach. Picture: Simon Crerar

Subscribe to Tan's daily newsletter and buy the photos on this page at aquabumps.com

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar

Gallery: see more Aquabumps pictures here

Originally published as Meet Mr Aquabumps, surf paparazzi