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When i ventured a hundred or so miles north of santa barbara last week to score that empty beach break, i was not only inspired by the surf i scored, but by the beach i was on.  During my first wave riding break, i wandered around in my wetsuit taking photos, ate some chewy bars, and looked for driftwood and feathers.  As i was looking for the driftwood, i started to come across all these super flat rocks, like really super flat dude!  I got super stoked, and started to collect as many as i could without making my bag more ridiculously heavy than it already was on the walk down (4 cameras, food, suit, etc.) plus having a wet wetsuit on the hike back.  I found some driftwood and feathers like i had hoped as well, but was way more excited about the rocks.  Yesterday, i spent all day creating these little photo pieces, here are a few of my favorites.  I ripped out all the photos for a better look (and shit was that hard, i went through about 3-4 photos before id get a good one…no joke), then glazed them onto the rocks.  Once they had dried, i used beeline and driftwood for the mounting process, and two photo mounts for the smaller guys.  Each one is a 1/1, signed, and dated by yours truly, super pumped on my results, to say the least.  Theostyle and i will be having a nature show before the new year; all prints on wood, rocks, and other materials.  I’ll be sure and keep ya posted, thanks for all the love and support via email recently- it means more than you could ever imagine :)
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I shot this back in 2003, when i had first moved up to santa barbara for school.  I remember turning it in for an assignment and getting a “C” on it because i had used cropping tape on my slide when presenting it in class, and my teacher was fully anti-post production (mind you, this was before the digital revolution had even shown face- we were all still shooting film and only film).  It’s really nice coming around full circle again and shooting film; that anticipation of surprise has been totally lost and forgotten, and boy is it nice to have it back :)
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between business on my end, and scholastics on lindsays end…getting out for some fresh air and beautiful santa barbara sights has been a little tough.  we managed to squeeze a quick sunset in together, while she made some hemp jewelry and i wandered the beach taking photos like a photoboiii.  santa barbara is seriously amazing, i love it here.
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dude, who seriously needs towels when you’ve got mexi-vibes?! :)

i was trying to shoot rincon on a drive-by, but was in macro setting- GO KYLE L!

we drove by hobson, and the smog from the fires was pretty thick…

she’s working on jewelry, and i’m working on learning how to talk.

it’s sad it takes such devistating fires to create such beauty.

do i seriously even need to say anything about this?  well, i’m not going to.

the night train, headed to the southland.
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i’ve really been struggling mentally lately.  not like im going crazy, mentally struggling… just like, having a hard time creatively and staying positive.  I woke up yesterday around 730 and NEEDED to get out of the house, and alone.  i really felt like logging, so i grabbed the grifFin and headed to C st.  on my drive, i noticed it was pretty flat, and decided, “if c st sucks ass, im going home, dropping off the log, grabbing the black mamba and jesus, and boning out up north to catch the 1130 high tide”  well, that is exactly what i ended up doing.  i arrived around 10a, to a perfect peeling beach break, with not one person out, offshore, blue water thats 58 degrees in Nov (?!), and i’m all by myself- this is exactly what i needed.  i rode waves from 10a until 2p, where i could hardly make the hike back to my truck… i shot a bunch of film, so until i get it back…here’s a shitty digital shot and vid i’m not too amped on- but gets the point across.
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also, i framed up my Santos piece today.



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(thought it’s a red sky at night)
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another typical tale of november santa ana’s burning southern california, and providing epic surf conditions.
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the walrus shot a few of me, i couldn’t help myself…

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i was looking through my hard drives to see if i could find old work from earlier this year i did at Fox.  I was specifically looking for these shots i did back in january in yonkers, new york.  i couldn’t find them anywhere on my computer, hard drives, or archives…until i remembered- i was forced to remove the best shots from the trip off my blog previously because they weren’t released to the public (thank god that wordpress stores all pictures ever uploaded…one of the only perks).  now, its almost a year later and these shots have all been used in publication - click here to view, be sure to scroll down, they’re all at the bottom.

oh yeah, and i shot these two slides this week.
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i’ve been wanting to shoot this dude for a while.. pumped on how it turned out.
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yet, another drive-by shooting..
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bored & inspired.  pen & paper > illustrator.
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this is the 16×20 i submitted for this years Santos Surf Art Festival, entitled “Film of 2008”
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call this one whatever you want..
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Jair Bortoleto, made it happen.  Holy wow dude am i excited :)
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i rescanned these files with the full slide rebate edges, and i dig em wayyy more..
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every single photographer in the entire world (or anyone that considers themselves one, whether they are or not..) has one of these shots in their portfolio- ‘the infamous plane wing photograph’, and this here is mine.  i snapped this just as we landed in El Salvador on May 22nd, 2008, it was pouring rain, 88° out, and the beginning of a lifelong memory..

this shot is pretty self-explanatory: the boats that take you out to the line-up in El Salvador are called “La Lanchas (the boats)” so, i naturally named this shot “flags de la lanchas” considering these were the flags at the head of the boats.. clever huh?

this shot is still to this day one of my very favorites of all time.  i was shooting a roll of Velvia 50 that i planned on cross-processing, so i was shooting random shit that i thought would look better with the green cast (just like the two above, ..imagine that?!).  i nailed this one on the way back to the airport to head back to the states, via drive-by.  i swear, some of my best shots are done via drive-by.. makes me wonder if i shoulda been a sniper, or a gang member.. luckily, i’ve only shot people with cameras.

like i previously said, i was attempting to shoot shit i thought would look better with the cross process ambiance.  this one here is the perfect tale of just that, it’s of chad, mike, and seahorse just as we arrived waiting for our ride to camp. They all go un-noticed compared to the sky glow and the board bag in the foreground.  to me, this photo screams surf travel; that’s why i love it.

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mr. mckeever & myself ventured to ventura yesterday afternoon to pick up product for the muncheez venture, here’s a few sights..
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i did this via drive-by..
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my how you’ve seen such better days.  I.G.D. R.I.P.
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digital..

analog..

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this early morning here in santa barbara, we had some intense lightning showers.  thank God it’s not like OC up here with all the river run-off, making an afternoon session (after the storm winds die) quite possible.  i logged some uber fun 3ft lines at faria, with only one SUP out (and yes, i burned the living shit out of him.  several times.)  i shot a few shots with diana, so i should be getting those back within a day or two.. till then, here is a self portrait i did out the back of bobby baja, post sesh.. ‘buckle up!’
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