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The biggest Billabong XXL ever?

There is no doubt this has been one of the best surf seasons in decades, but in the short history of the Billabong XXL I would have to say this is THE best season for judging big waves.  I can’t wait to see some of the finalists!

Every year the Billbong XXL has a panel of surf industry folk, including sickshots, review the final shots and pick the winners.  I am stoked for the opportunity and always invite you, the sickshots audience to help me.  I will be receiving the ballots soon, so stay tuned and I will ask for your opinions.  While I know many of the contestants, I keep it as unbiased as possible and ask you to do the same.

This is one amazing shot of Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker at Mavericks last month and it was shot by Frank Quirarte who always seems to be scoring unbelievable Mavericks images.  Congrats guys.  Epic moment!

Sickshots in the Annenberg Space for Photography

JuliusShulman_JuergenNogai_ANNENBERG-9That’s right some of my favorite surf photos will be on display tomorrow night as part of a sports exhibit at the prestigious Annenberg Space for Photography.  I would like to invite all of you, but the event was full in less than a day!  If you already have a reservation, my wife and I will be attending, so we will see you there! Cheers!

Go Pro and Let it Snow!

Here’s a few shots from my first run today at Mammoth.  I’m using the new HD Go Pro helmet cam (set to shoot an image every two seconds).  I also shot some video which I will edit and post later. The conditions were good, but it will be even better as snow storms are predicted this entire week!

You can see it was snowing and some of it was sticking to the lens cover on the housing.  Overall, I’m impressed with these little cameras.  The quality is great for the size and their lightweight enough that I didn’t even notice it was on my head after I got going (even though I looked like a tool). Pretty cool. Can’t wait to try these on some surf trips I have scheduled this spring!

I’m up here for a TV commercial, but the weather is so bad we may have to cancel.  Either way, I hope to get some more sessions in and share the footage when I get it.

Paddle power is back!

120709waimea0131I got a call from a friend of mine today from the North Shore of Oahu.  He was standing on a 3-story beach house where he was doing construction. There were a few guys surfing a well known tow-in spot in front of him and he was giving me the play by play.  ”One of them just took off he’s higher than I am on this house!  Whoa, they are all paddling!  There’s no skis!” Whoa is right.  How cool is that.  Paddle power is coming back into vogue with all this swell around.  Seems the old school hellman were just waiting to come out of the wood work.  A big gun and your own power.  There’s something to be said for the whole waterman process of getting out into the ocean, stroking into a monster and making it back in on your own.

I received this press release from the Billabong XXL today (see below).  It describes what is being claimed as one of the biggest paddle-in waves ever at Waimea.  Unfortunately it doesn’t look like anyone got another angle than this side view.  I sure hope one turns up because  a front view of this would really put it in perspective.  Anyway, It is a monster and worth big congrats to Shane and Mark for an impressive display of bravado!

The photo here is of Kohl Christensen earlier that day (front view).  Kohl is one of the paddle guys.  He can usually be found in the gnarliest places when the surf is big.  I’ve seen him as a little spec on the horizon out at Himilayas as I drove by Lanis on many a large swell.  Sometimes he is by himself.  I was stoked to see him in the Eddie.  Now that I think about it, it was probably Kohl that was out paddling that tow-in spot my buddy was telling me about.  Cool.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — (January 8, 2010) — The promise of the El Nino winter appears to have delivered for big wave surfers, as many long-standing records are ready to fall in this year’s Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy.  And more than ever before, the Monster Paddle category (just for surfers who catch their waves without any jet ski assistance) has taken center stage as the elite of the sport refocus on this elemental man-against-the-sea tradition.  Visual evidence of these landmark performances can be viewed at the event website at www.BillabongXXL.com.

While huge swells have blasted nearly every coastline of the planet in recent months, it has been the Hawaiian Islands which have had the most mind-bending proof of the power of the current El Nino weather phenomenon.  December 7-8, 2009 saw one of the biggest swells in modern history batter the northern shores of the entire Hawaiian Chain, followed by another extraordinary day of outer reef waves on Christmas.  From these historic moments of oceanic grandeur have come images which show several top big wave surfers paddling into what may well be the biggest waves ever caught by human power in the long history of the sport.

Among these superlative rides is a massive dark wall caught by Shane Dorian and Mark Healey which closed out the legendary Waimea Bay on Oahu on December 7.  Also up for consideration is another mammoth peak at Waimea ridden by Chile’s Ramon Navarro which earned the South American hero a perfect score in the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event on December 8. And more recently, grainy, documentary photos have arrived depicting Garrett McNamara paddling into a distant peak at Outer Log Cabins, a rarely-seen outer reef far off the North Shore shoreline, previously only the domain of tow-in surfers with jet-powered watercraft.

All are likely to figure prominently as finalists for the Monster Paddle Award to be given out at the tenth annual Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards to be held in California in late April.  A panel of big wave surfing and photography experts will analyze the available images and by interpreting the known sizes of the surfers and their surfboards, calculate reliable height estimates for the face of each wave.  One will emerge as the Monster Paddle winner and will receive $15,000 out of the total event purse of $130,000.

The current world record for a paddle-in wave belongs to Taylor Knox of San Diego, California who rode a wave measured at 52 feet at Todos Santos Island off of Ensenada, Mexico during the last major El Nino episode in 1998.  Many experts are expecting an update to the Guinness Book of World Records once this winter’s measurements are complete.

Dorian and Healey are veterans of decades of big wave hunting and both concur that their shared ride at Waimea was easily the biggest either had ever caught.  “I’d been waiting 15 years for that wave,” said Dorian, of Kona, on the Big Island. “That wave, we could see it from when it was like two or three minutes away from breaking, we could see the wave coming in, everybody’s screaming on the beach and yelling and stuff… When the wave finally came in, it was SO big.  The thing was a MONSTER.  We both put our heads down and started paddling and somehow we both caught it.

“I was going no matter what,” Dorian added. “And I know Mark felt the same way. It was just fun. A party wave — a wave of that size, and it was for sure the biggest wave I’ve ever paddled into, and to do it with my real good friend, it was very….memorable.”

Mark Healey has lived down the road from Waimea all his life and has been one of its most dedicated practitioners.  But he’d never seen waves like this.

“That was the biggest day I’ve ever had at Waimea,” said Healey.  “And that wave in particular was definitely by far bigger than anything I’ve ever caught out there, for sure.”

The wave was so large it closed out all the way across the Bay, not allowing the surfers the opportunity to kick out over the top of the wave as usual, and forcing them to straighten out and take the endless tons of whitewater on their heads.  But for Healey, a renowned freediver with the ability to hold his breath for over five minutes, it was a fun experience.  The longtime friends surfaced unharmed right next to each other, hooting with excitement.

“We were pretty stoked,” said Healey. ”Big waves are different, there’s a lot of brotherhood involved, stuff like that.  I’d rather have had Shane catch that wave than ride it alone.  It was cool to share a wave like that with a friend, and someone I look up to.”

McNamara, another North Shore stalwart, likes his own chances in the Monster Paddle derby.  A past winner of the XXL Paddle crown in 2007 for a huge wave at Northern California’s Maverick’s, “GMac” reckons his Outer Logs Christmas present was several notches larger.  “I don’t know how big it was,” McNamara said.  “But I do know it felt at least ten feet bigger than anything I’ve ever paddled into.  The Mavs wave a few years back was small compared to it….”

Remarkably, there may be much, much more to come.  This week the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued an alert confirming that the current El Nino episode had intensified in the last 30 days from “moderate” to “strong,” adding that the condition would exert a “significant influence on the global weather and climate in the coming months.”  And for surfers in the North Pacific basin, that means more enormous waves.  According to Surfline.com, major new swell events are lining up in the coming days, impacting the Hawaiian Islands around Monday and the West Coast around Wednesday of next week.

BillabongXXLDorianHealeySM

5 reasons why your surf photography sucks!

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Don't be a tool like this guy!

Your surf photos are hideous.  It’s true.  I’ve seen what you call your ‘work’. You think you have keepers – HA HA!  ‘Shithouse’ Magazine is about to run your best wave photo on the cover.  Your mom wouldn’t put your photos on the refrigerator.  Your Surf Photography sucks.

For the sake of those poor little pixels that you keep punishing, I’m going to write down the 5 mistakes you are making.  So listen up, know it all.  Write this gospel on a sticky note and put it on your mirror.  It’s time to change- to suck less.  I know you have aspirations, so let’s see if we can get one of your photos up on facebook without anyone noticing how much it sucks. I’m gonna make it real simple for you. If you can’t get it, sell your Canon Rebel and take up macramé or something. Snap.

1. You put crap in the frame

Do you look through the viewfinder?  Really?  What the hell do you see?  Do you see the whole frame or are you just looking at the main subject?  Pay attention Dickweed.  There’s an entire scene there.  What’s in it? Look around and notice.  What’s really there?  What do you want in there and where do you want it? (Do you know the ‘rule of thirds’?  Well you’ve got google, you bungknocker, go look that shit up and come back when you are ready).

YOU are controlling the Damn camera- MOVE IT, STEER IT, and COMPOSE THE FRAME. Take out the distractions and leave the things that tell the story (while you are at it, go pick up that plastic bag sitting on the ground in your frame it’s good for the environment and saves time in Photoshop later).

Good composition is the biggest thing that separates your hack images from the big boys you aspire to be.  Look at some real photographers work (not just surf photographers) and see how they do it. And, lastly, PLEASE stop taking 10 frame bursts for a while.  You are killing us.  You can’t take one good photo why the hell do you think we want to see 10 of them when they all suck ass.

2. You stand in the same spot

Why do so many of you A-holes stand on the beach all day in the same spot and shoot the same shitty image in the same direction with the same bad result?  You piss me off with your laziness and your stupid photos.  Move around.  God gave you legs- use them (I’m not even going to discuss water shots this time because you can’t even take a land shot yet)! Get a different angle.  Climb up something.  Lay on the ground. Hide behind some trees and shoot through them.  Stand on your head.  I don’t give a damn what you do, just don’t stay THERE all day!

The light moves and so should you.  Think about where the best vantage point is for the light at that moment and anticipate where you will go as the light changes.  Contrary to popular believe there is no ‘bad light’, just bad positioning and exposure (that comes next). And remember what we learned in our last lesson.  Put cool shit in your frame.  Quit flaming out on this already. This is the biggest reason your photos suck.  Are you shooting straight out to sea when you could move just a little and put something cool in the background like a boat or a pier or a palm lined beach?  Maybe you don’t want any of that in your picture, that’s fine, then move again.  Keep adjusting until you like what you see and then move some more.

This is good time to talk about lens choice because it affects your image as much as moving around. Try different lenses (or, even better, using two cameras with different lenses) to get a different perspective in your new position and see how it looks. Good lens choice can be the difference between a great shot and the photos you currently have in your portfolio. Some of you shoot too close and don’t let the photo breathe- Back off, you’re cramping the scene. Let some negative space liven up your image.  Others can’t get up into the action and stand back while the real photographer is capturing the moment, and the action, up close.  The trick is to know where to be and which lens to use.  This comes from experience, which comes from Practice.  It can be learned.  Photographers that keep practicing don’t suck. Photographers that suck don’t practice. Giddy up.

3. Your Exposure sucks (program mode is for pussies)

No, this is not about linking your crappy website to your facebook and twitter accounts to get ‘exposure’ for your so-called ‘work’.  Why in the world would anybody want to see your blown out pictures.  No, this is about that overlooked little dial on the top of your camera that selects how you expose your photos to light. You know, that knob on your camera that is permanently stuck on ‘P’.  You think that means ‘Professional’?  You’re the knob.

Again, Google is your friend.  If you don’t know how aperture and shutter speed work together with ISO it is time to go do some learning.  Don’t be a dickhead- educate yourself.  We’ll be here waiting for you…Meanwhile, if you are the person that thinks they understand it, and don’t, and continue to read this diatribe, shame on you.  Your photos will never change and you will continue to suck.

Now you aren’t expected to be an expert right away. Take baby steps.  Play with Aperture Priority (AV) and Shutter Priority (TV) for a little while and understand how they affect your images. Adjust your ISO for different lighting situations. Learn more about exposure metering.  Set up your camera to indicate where your images are ‘blown out’ (I wouldn’t want to encourage more chimping than you are already doing, but it is not a bad idea for your novice ass to see the flashing of your burned out highlights to tell you how much you are sucking with your current exposure- see your manual to learn how to do this, or better yet, put it in your bathroom next to the throne and study it).

The most common rookie mistake in surf photography is overexposed white water with no detail. This will improve how your photos are exposed by 50%.  You will start to become a real photographer and not just some pussy wannabe.   However, Let’s be clear here- the grown-ups use manual exposure (hell, they use manual everything, but you can’t get your head around that yet).  The more you can take control of your camera the better your intended results will be.  You can do it by practicing  (there’s that word again) and making MISTAKES…over and over…again and again. Mistakes do not suck.  Gimps that don’t test their boundaries do.

Practice using manual exposure in changing light by taking your camera out for a date (you can’t get one anyway, so you may as well become a better photographer).  Shoot at different times of the day and try to make good exposures.  You will improve.  You will suck less.

4.You lack Creativity

Dude? What? Are you going to go down to Rocky Point with your 600mm lens?  Let me guess your shutter is set at 1/800 or 1/1000 and your aperture is 5.0?  Wow, well aren’t you the big man with your original photo. Never seen that one before.  Did you shoot an Air?  Do you want a medal or a chest to pin it on? Your creativity sucks!  Please.  Even surf mags have moved on from that shit.

How about taking a 50mm lens and see what you can come up with? How about a remote camera angle? How about bringing a ladder down to the beach for a different view? How about slowing the shutter down or shooting everything purposely out of focus?  What have you got to lose? Your images are already the same as everyone else’s- Worthless Kack.

Try something different.  Get out of your routine and comfort zone.  Would you rather have 100 yawners or one ‘WOW’?  Yes, you will blow shots when you experiment, but you got to gamble once in awhile to win big.I know you are scared, but you can do it.  The real scary fact is this: If you keep doing what you are doing, you are going to keep getting what you are getting.

5. You’re technologically challenged

Yes, we are going to talk about your piece of shit camera now.  The thing you think is causing all the problems. Two words- operator error! Did you notice that this is LAST on the list?  Did you notice that this list has been building on itself with each lesson being LESS important than the one before? Can you get that it’s not about the camera?  You could go out and buy a $10,000 racing bike and Lance Armstrong is still going to kick your ass on a pink schwinn beach cruiser.  The same goes for your equipment. It’s not about the camera.

Don’t be a douche and drop 7G’s on a Lecia M9 and think you are going to be Henri Cartier Bresson. In fact, you don’t deserve a good camera yet.  The same goes for lenses. Get good stuff in your frames (see #1) and then slowly buy the goods (i.e. Canon L series lenses). Just keep this in mind- you will always be one lens away from the perfect set up.

The technology I really want to talk about is your workflow. God, do you waste time-  Sucking the very life from your computer sitting in front of it for so long.  Will you just learn a method of image processing that incorporates consistency whilst protecting your images with backups? Read that again dimwit.  Two words- consistency and backup!

I know you are whining, ‘Mr. mean SickShots man, what are you talking about?’  Well, Consistency, in this instance, means constructing a workflow that follows a set of logical steps to process your images.

Your workflow should look something like this:  1. Ingest photos  to computer while saving the images on the card 2. select keepers (feel free to delete anything that sucks- even if it is the entire shoot) 3. rename images (incorporate dates and/or location) 4. backup images  (mix in an external hard drive – the Pros ‘triple backup’) 5. format card (do this on your camera) 6. process and keyword images (Hey Lightweight- use Lightroom).

People with good workflow have more time to shoot and, hence, Practice more, and don’t suck. This leads to better images that need less processing (you can get exponentially better). Be one of them.  Create good habits and think ahead.  Have enough hard drive space for your backups.  Keep posted on new workflow software and techniques by checking out online forums (Surf Photographers United, SportsShooter, Photo.net, Fred Miranda, etc.).  Do it now!

There you have it fool.  Get busy.  You can do it.  Even the top pros sucked at some point in their careers.  Get out there! Don’t suck- SHOOT!