Blog

Sliding into 2011: Year in Pictures

Golden Reflections This link is to a new piece by Zuri Star called Keep Holding on. It fits the New Year quite well. It seems that all around us this past year there was friction. In fact, I found myself enmeshed in three massive battles, all at the same time. I did not author those. I simply said “no” to three entities I saw as abusive of my fellow man, community and Ocean Environment. friction |ˈfrik sh ən| noun the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another : a lubrication system that reduces friction. • the

Life Channel: Family Photo Album

It was not so long ago, that I shot everything on film. The reasons for that are mostly archive based. Film provides an analog image which can be scanned to whatever resolution and file size a client requires. But then the 5D Mark 2 came along and with a parallel arrival of imaging program technology, it became possible to equal and in some ways exceed the imaging potential of many films. Even in motion picture. I have an amazing amount of work sitting in image vis a files and huge binders. My sons have both worked scanning those into my

The Lineup

The image above is a tight shot of the crowd in the lineup at Pipeline one day a few seasons back. Pipe is located on the North Shore of the Island of Oahu. Generally, a lineup is a pretty near perfect example of a social and cultural hierarchy, and how those tend to stratify according to ability, dominance, and-or reputation. So surf breaks in a manner of speaking, are analogous to society at large in many ways. And just like in land based cultures, someone always seems to come along that no one gives credence to, who through persistence, talent

No Substitute

My sons are both adept musicians. Josh in fact, is especially gifted. He rang me up one day and asked for some help, possibly shooting a music video. I tentatively agreed, but the short of it was Josh meant, umm…. in three days. I had heard No Substitute before and was really impressed by the lyrics. I had not seen Josh perform more than a few times, as he is pretty much a songwriter-computer nerd-artist who happens to play a lot of instruments. I penned a script, rang Rob Dafoe, we assembled a plan, and three days later, with a

Coastal Classics Are No Accidents

A lot goes on in the creation of a commercial production shoot. This one developed over a relatively long period of time. Recently, almost by chance I had reconnected with an old colleague and friend, Glenn Gravett, who I had met when we both worked designing my own company apparel and surfboard art, decades ago. Glenn and I share much in common, having been raised on the same stretch of coastline, and share similar passions for the Ocean and Art. Over a period of months, I had been invited to sit in and contribute to a series of product development

Canon 5D Mark 2: Trial by Fire

My 5D Mark 2 system has been getting quite the workout of late. The other night Tyler Swain came by. Tyler is the talented director, writer, camera operator who, when I am lucky, I get to work with. He had dropped by after a long day working on an episode of Top Gear, to be briefed on the workings of the Canon 5DM2 which he would need to be shooting a show on in the morning. In explaining the workings of the system to him I realized how truly complex it is if one really wants to utilize the tremendous

Windows of Perception

Perspective is a unique line item for all of us. Our own Point Of View (POV for short) is one that, being our own, may not seem particularly special to us. I find myself overlooking the fact that I can be rather unique. You may tend to do that as well. As a photographer, writer, film maker, I am all about communicating a designated POV. I decide what perspective a subject ought to be examined from, in order to best embrace a particular viewer-audience. This was one heckuva busy week. I shot a music video, BMX, a performance music video

Cameraless

I was cameraless this week. It was great. Sort of. Okay, maybe not completely cameraless. I still had four 35mm stills film bodies, three mini DV cameras, and five high speed film motion cameras, all sitting on the shelf, along with the water housings for those. But I loaned my Canon 5DM2 system out and sold my Rebel T1i, in preparation for buying the new RebelT2i. (Wow, that Rebel was so new it had only seen 3000 frames before the new one was released.) Canon (along with Apple) has been blowing my mind the past few years. We spoke, they

The Mavericks Challenge: Ready, Aim, Stand

Modus An Operator’s perspective I am just in the door from Maverick’s. We had quite an adventure up there. This trip I was a part of the K38 Mavericks Water Rescue Team. I joined K38 long ago, on the heels of shooting the 2000 Tow Surfing Championships at Jaws. I realized in the course of my process, that I had a debt of responsibility to both my subjects, the sport, and myself, (being a sentient human being) to be prepared and accountable as a responsible participant in documenting and filming surfing. My motivation in seeking out K38 training, was

Rinse and Repeat

I have had to watch weather a bit more closely than I usually would this season, because Garrett MacNamara, K38 Rescue, and a few other pals of mine are involved in big wave events and have sort of sucked me into the preparation that goes into being in the right place on the right day. We are in the midst of an El Nino season. No doubt about that now. So when the murmers about a potential swell maker began to filter through, I forced myself to take a close look at available weather telemetry and began my process of

Blog

Categories