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Bluebirds

Bluebirds are moments in time when the magical intersects with the mortal, and in process, one’s grasp of one’s ability, is re-defined. A Bluebird moment is about education, preparation, trial and conquest. I have had a few of these in my lifetime. Here is  an account of one of them. I began my pilgrimages to the North Shore of Oahu late in my Surfing life. As a young Pro, it was basically part of the ritual of a Surfing Education, that you go there and test your ability. Though I always sort of sucked at tests in school, I seem

A Father’s Note

It occurred to me some time ago that each one of us is a note to the future via our relationship and connection to our Fathers. Mine died this past year. Though we were not ostensibly involved in each others daily lives, I felt it the moment he left earth. I had been on the phone with a friend and had commented on it, at what turned out to be that instant. Family  connections are like that. He was a complex mix of Hawaiian mess some times. But under all of the issues associated with being the son of a

What is Surfing: Fifty Views

Each day lately, begins with me wading though the e mail file. Today I opened a newsletter from an organization which I support, by lending them usage of some of my images. The subject header was “International Surfing Day”.  A “Cool, we have our own day”  impulse when I pressed the “read” icon, rapidly transitioned to less than kind  post read thoughts. The newsletter yielded the cyber floor to a new surf magazine editor from Orange County who I had never heard of, and who communicated his chronologically and geologically biased adolescent view of what Surfing is. But it occurred

World Oceans Day

I awoke late this Sunny Sunday, having spent the night wrapping a job on the computer and getting to sleep at 6:30 AM. I pulled myself away from my girlfriend Donna who was doing her best imitation of a dead woman at 9:15 am. I had some coffee and rolled down the valley into downtown Ventura for a haircut appointment at 10:00 am with my Samoan pal Danny Moa. By twelve, after we had rapped out and talked  a lot of story and I stood squinting in the broad light of high noon, I felt different. It wasn’t the haircut.

Garrett MacNamara

I just got off the phone with Garrett MacNamara. Garrett, or Gmac as he is known, has a reputation for being the most extreme of the extreme in surfing. The first time I met him was at Jaws at the  first World Tow In Championships which he won, surfing with Ikaika Kalama I believe. Garrett had needed a shot for an advertisement for a new line of standup paddleboards he is endorsing. I had to go looking for the image and reprocess the Raw file. What I saw in the data  sort of surprised me. The day of this shot

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Bluebirds

Bluebirds are moments in time when the magical intersects with the mortal, and in process, one’s grasp of one’s ability, is re-defined. A Bluebird moment is about education, preparation, trial and conquest. I have had a few of these in

A Father’s Note

It occurred to me some time ago that each one of us is a note to the future via our relationship and connection to our Fathers. Mine died this past year. Though we were not ostensibly involved in each others

What is Surfing: Fifty Views

Each day lately, begins with me wading though the e mail file. Today I opened a newsletter from an organization which I support, by lending them usage of some of my images. The subject header was “International Surfing Day”.  A

World Oceans Day

I awoke late this Sunny Sunday, having spent the night wrapping a job on the computer and getting to sleep at 6:30 AM. I pulled myself away from my girlfriend Donna who was doing her best imitation of a dead

Garrett MacNamara

I just got off the phone with Garrett MacNamara. Garrett, or Gmac as he is known, has a reputation for being the most extreme of the extreme in surfing. The first time I met him was at Jaws at the