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The High Value in Story

All of us as creatives, are storytellers. That is worth something. So the integrity, skill and life experience of a creator, matters very much. We function within a socio-economic system that is quite leery of the increasingly open source access to “their market”. In a conversation with two sage colleagues in Photography today, I had to point out something. Basically it was this. Just because surf publishing has deigned to not let you play, does not mean your voice is not valid. In fact, it is the opposite. Established fiscal entities do not necessarily WANT the broad market to know

A California Opus

Chapter 5 in the California Series. I have not always lived in California. My Dad was going to college on the GI Bill in Milwaukee Wisconsin, at Marquette University. I had never asked him why, being from Hawaii, he chose the Mid West. He met my Mother there. That was where my two Brothers and I were born. We were sick a lot as infants. The family pediatrician had told my parents that our Hawaiian genetics may have been to blame, as we did not tolerate the cold of hard, Midwestern Winter very well. In fact, I ended up in

Robb Havassy: All Access Pass

The spacious meeting hall is filled with the hustle and bustle of the curious, the sage, and the uninitiate, there on invitations from various cognescenti in the Chinese marketing and fashion world, to view a first of it’s kind offering by a new American designer, and Surfing cultural icon, Artist Robb Havassy. The show is the unveiling of the Artist’s Lifestyle and Art based apparel line: Havassy! The seating which wraps around the reflective stage fills, the lights go to spot, the music pumps up, and this video begins to show on the facade at the back of the runway.

Fore

This is number five in the series on Loves. It is actually entitled Four. (Really.) If you understand the play on words with the copy title “Fore”, well then, you “get” Art and Artists. That is a good thing. We like it when people get us. It is why artists do what they do. ART is our love. Robb Havassy just left, after a 30 hour visit. When he had arrived, I was working through a series of images where I had been subtly taken by surprise at how the ocean had sculpted rather unique looking gems my Canon 5DM2

Savantism

I know who I am. So I recognize those traits that resemble mine, in my colleagues and friends. This creates a deep affinity with those people who I repeatedly refer to as Savants. Check the definition below. savant |saˈvänt; sə-| noun a learned person, esp. a distinguished scientist. See also idiot savant . ORIGIN early 18th cent.: French, literally ‘knowing (person),’ present participle (used as a noun) of savoir. I was pleased and honored when one of those, a certain Sean Davey, showed up at my door in Ventura, California. Sean is a Tasmanian born, Hawaii ensconsed photographer whose work

Gaviota Muse

Robb Havassy is up visiting right now. Yesterday, I got to introduce the publisher of the culturally iconic book Surf Story, to Joe Cardella, who among a long list of artistic accomplishments, was also the creator and publisher of Art Life, a leading collectible monthly publication. Joe’s stint at the helm was twenty five years long. I smiled on the inside, as both of these amazing men, were people that Mary Osborne insisted that I meet. Mary rarely does that: insists. So, when she calls me, and then follows up, I know I had better pay attention. For over twenty

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

Sacred Craft 2010: A Cultural Backmarker

This morning I woke up from a nightmare-dream at 3:30 am. In the dream I was glossing boards, and had lost the hot batch of finishing resin. I found it in the nick of time, and was just completing the last board as it went off. I even had the acrid smell of an over catalyzed hot batch in my nostrils as I hopped out of bed and felt my feet hit cool wood floor in the blackness. Yeesh, surfboard subliminals. I built surfboards for about 20 years. They have been on my mind a lot lately, obviously. What makes

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