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Why

Everyone has reasons for the things they engage, which by their actions define that person. The sage old adage of “It must work for them” really does not cover the reasons why people do things that well. I thought about why I do some of the things which I engage as an Artist, this week. It was brought into high focus for me by conversations with editors who I greatly respect in publishing and commercial ventures. It made me think about why I shoot what I do, especially the Ocean stuff. I mean, the world does not need another perfect

Imaging Accountability and Authenticity

In the pretense of living in the now, it is not that uncommon for both people and business to overlook the manner in which they are able to affect things on the global stage. The connection culture of today, brings with it, an ever greater demand for accountability. Accountability is one of “those things”. It is a tenet which is (hopefully) acquired at some stage in a person’s life, and (again,hopefully) as they grow, and the scope of the world in which they live enlarges, it scales. If it does not, you really could see some larger scale problems arise.

Awards and Praise

The above image was shot a short while ago. For me it is sort of the peak of what is possible with modern DSLR imaging. The detail and various aspects which make an incredibly complex subject rendered to perfection are all there. This is why I am not posting the two images which are being discussed below, in a pasted in conversation with one of my editors at Corbis. My work evolves. It is far better than ever before. If that process was not building in such a way, I would stop. But many who die, who have reached bottom

Sea-Space Summit DC 2013

I head to DC on Monday with Dr. Andrea Neal to participate in the Sea-Space Initiative Summit, which is headed up by Guillermo Söhnlein of Opus Novum. Our intention is to get a look at the ongoing crisis in Japan, and examine some of the socio-political architecture which led to the catastrophic failure event at the six reactor Fukushima-Daichi Power Plant. It is a disaster of massive scale. However, in that lies a great opportunity to create some fantastic change. http://seaspaceinitiative.org/participants-dc13/ The last Summit was at Google, and this was what we did (among other things). I was in Dr. Lu’s

Labor(ing) Day

I posted this blogpost early this morning, on Ocean Lovers Collective’s website. It is a look at the Alchemy of Change. It has been a darned busy weekend. Work in the office on Art, Writing, Photography. Designing a new optical system for my 5DM2 water housing. In process I also found myself doing a bit of image collection work out along Coast Hwy 1 south of where I live. The assets of our Coastline and local waters get a lot of pressure placed upon them as the hordes descend,

The Percolative Effect of Mike de Gruy

“Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Oft times I will awake with my soul in what could be described as a jumble. Ever use one of those old percolating coffee pots? The type which, when the water boils, it spews forth, on to fresh dark ground coffee, and the rich aroma of it will fill an abode with such a heady fragrance, that it pulls you from sleep? Well of course you have. That is where the social axiom arose from: “Wake up, and smell the coffee.” Well my position, is that our soul

Why

I watched as the big white gull hopped frantically around in the sandy beige rocks of the beachside jetty that runs along Coast Highway 1. Slowly I approached the obviously injured bird, not wanting to create any additional panic for it. As I peered at the damage, it tried to sequester itself deeper into the jetty shadows which grew blacker as the sun rapidly disappeared. Both it’s wings hung askew, broken at the shoulder hinge. Having raised birds, I knew what this meant. The animal was in shock. Maybe a car hit it. Not sure. But it was looking at

Elements: Blood to Bone

Water and air. Air and water. Blood to bone. Flesh of one’s own. The uninitiate fascinate over the sea and the creatures in it. But for a surfer, the relationship is one of kindred spirit. “Oh yes, that is”: insert marvelously made marine entity, referred to casually by those in the water tribe, in similar manner to someone whose house you wake up in each day, HERE. Dolphins live a life immersed. Yet linked to air, they have little issue being up and around in it. I see them fly a lot. No doubt exists, in spite of a lack

Wonder

It has been a very busy year. So busy in fact, that I have needed to learn how to recharge my creative battery while on the fly. Fashion, Video projects, TV projects, motion pictures, my penchant for documenting beautiful things, travel, new tech, literary projects, commercial imaging, social projects, community, and hopefully some of me for my wonderful girlfriend and family. All of these things have beat a tempo never experienced in the realm of my career as an image maker. It comes at a time when the economy is without a doubt at one if its worst places in

Drawing the Line

Tyler Warren, Walking the Line Learning to say “no” was one of Life’s hardest lessons for me. It came at great expense to those I love most in the world. No is not simply the absence of yes. It is the proverbial line in the sand of our life’s path. For a photographer and artist it is quite possibly the single most important thing that one can ever learn, because it is the no’s that will give you the space for the yeses that determine your subjects and future. I have had several “aha moments” in a career association with

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