I don't know if this was her idea to stand in front of the wave, but I can tell you that it's a bad idea. People don't give water enough credit. A huge wave like that weighs about as much as a pallet of concrete. Would you really want that hitting you? If I were her I'd start running now. Then again this could have been a situation where the photographer said, "um, honey"- / "Shut up and take the photo." / "No, there's a wave." Then she turned around and was like, "uh oh."
Nature is not something to mess with. As soon as you think you can mess with nature, nature comes back and bites you in the butt. The ocean can just pull you in and never burp you out. The wind could send you sailing off a clif.