Paddle power is back!
I 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.
Big ups to Shane
Who is one of the best all around surfers in the world today? Kelly? Well, ofcourse. Mick after his second world title? Yes. Joel’s surgical cuts even after his world title collapse? Sure, the argument could be made…and there are many others. But I’m all about looking a little deeper and beyond the ASP tour. Just on the other side of the hype you will find Shane Dorian. Same as he ever was.
While on my recent trip to Hawaii, I couldn’t help but notice him. If you were there you couldn’t either. He was dropping in on the best waves of the day at Waimea the week it was breaking (not just during the Eddie). Then you could find him getting one of the best waves during the Pipe Masters a few days later. And let’s not forget the waves he has been charging in Teahupoo the past few years! Freaking brilliant. Is he just a big wave guy? No way. Check out September Sessions and remind yourself that he has been ripping perfect Indonesian waves back when Kelly had hair!
Is he the best all around surfer of his time? You be the judge, but I will tell you it is hard to argue with his performances over the years and most recently on the North Shore. I wanted to use this space to give Shane his props and show you this cool photo of him hiding out in the frame, away from the limelight, doing his thing. Well done Shane.
You should have been here (Pipeline) yesterday!
I saw that the North Shore was pumping this weekend, so much so that Surfline put the Pipe cam on the front page! It gets me thinking, ‘Hey there’s gotta be a wave from that swell on our beaches somewhere!’. So, I go and check the forecast- 2 to 3 feet. I know what that means; waist high at best. ”What the hell,” I thought. Get wet.
I arrive with my new ‘Anderson fun board’ stuffed between the baby seat and the front headrest of my Toyota hybrid. I didn’t stop at Starbucks on the way, but I am still a stereotype. I put on my wetsuit, feed the parking meter, and tuck the board under my arm. It feels good. It’s been sitting in the shed with the black widows for awhile waiting for this moment. I am excited to ride the ankle snappers breaking on the high tide sandbar. It is miserably small, but I am stoked.
The water is crisp, but not cold and I paddle just a few short yards into the lineup and catch a wave right away. It’s a ’straight bowl’ closeout and I ride it just a little way into the beach and kind of kook it on the sand and hear a distinct CRACK! Damn- My fin! I know it without looking. My first wave and I destroy my board. The right fin is missing and the board looks like some toothless hillybilly missing a front chicklet! What the hell. I kept surfing my ‘twin fin’ for the rest of the session. Aquatech can deal with it later.
Jim was on the beach shooting the session and caught this photo of me (below) with his Nikon setup (D700- 500mm lens). He did a great job because I am convinced it was much smaller than this photo shows and didn’t look this fun. You can see more of his shots from this morning’s El Porto Session and others from his site here. I would like to thank Jim for the photo and for keeping my key for me while I surfed!
The only thing that’s bothering me is that Dave Wassell above at Pipe has a much better wave than Dave Collyer below at El Porto! It’s not fair! Look what Hawaii gets! Oh well, I’ll be buying that ticket soon enough…
Merry Christmas
Wishing you season’s greetings and Happy Holidays to all. Here is an image I really like from my recent Hawaii trip. It is Pipeline on a really good day. That is actually Jamie O’brien in the tube. I remember he was just owning it. Everyone else was getting scraps and he would score the perfect set waves every time. It was pretty unbelievable. He really knows that break.
The main reason I like this shot is because it is a surf check. The guy on the bike just rode down the path and saw this wave. That feeling of excitement when he left his house is confirmed – It’s on! I hope the same holds true for your Holiday.
Thanks for checking the site and your support over the years. Peace on earth.
Valentine’s Waimea is back
There have been several requests for last season’s Waimea Bay session on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2008). I have reposted this gallery and made your photos available one last time. If you want your photos, please order them as soon as you can or they may be gone forever. The gallery is huge- over 1300 photos! Which means it takes a lot of room on the server. As soon as new sessions come in old sessions like this one will disappear. Every week I get someone saying ‘oh man, I forgot to order my photos…do you still have them?’ Most of the time I have to say, “Sorry, bro..they are gone…” Don’t let this happen to you! Ok, enough said.
This photo I took on that day at Waimea. It was shot from over on the rocks on the west side of the bay towards Alligators. I love the way the sun is lighting up the wave. It may not look like it, but that wave is HUGE. It was so perfect I was actually thinking- ‘if I could just get into the wave I could make it!’ I mind surfed it while shooting the bay in the other direction. This is another photo that may make my print section of the site, which is coming someday – I promise!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Kelly floods competition
I didn’t know if I was on the North Shore or the Jersey shore when I arrived at Pipe today. Chocolate barrels were churning frothy brown soup that looked like day of the decade on the east coast – Double overhead with bigger sets. I would say it was ‘clean’, but that is not the best description. Probably dirty, but ‘glassy’ works better. Brown water just looked out of place on a beach that is known for blue barrels. This is a shot of the Quarter final where Jamie O’brien already out of his heat went behind Slater when Kelly had priority. Kind of a cool moment and, not unlike, the famous shot of Shawn Tompson and Mark Richards at Off the Wall some 25 years ago.
If you haven’t heard we had rain. Lots of rain. Build an ark type of rain. The flooding was so bad over in Wailua that I couldn’t leave my house. The road in and out became a river for the kids to play in. Some guy was paddling his SUP down the middle of the street where I usually drive 35 in a 25 zone. Cars were stranded and the rain just kept coming. Local rivers broke and spewed tons of debris and there were tires and oil drums crowding the lineups from Haleiwa to Mokoleia. None of this could stop Kelly from, well, going Kelly.
Like it or not, It is Kelly’s world and the rest of us are living in it. Kelly stormed through heat after heat until he met Timmy Reyes in the semifinals. Reyes had him comboed. Kelly needed something like a 16 to go ahead and with less than 9 minutes left. It looked like it was over for the 9 time champion. Slater haters were cheering loudly from some of the houses overlooking the break. But everyone knows how this story ends. Kelly finds a Pipe left and disappears and exits cleanly. Gets a 9+ score. Paddling back out he finds a perfect, and I mean perfect, backdoor peeler. Kelly pulls in. Kelly is gone. Nothing. No way he is coming out. Wave shuts down and Kelly pops out the end. The score is a 10 and it seems appropriate. I have seen it all before. Everyone has seen it all before. Some hate it. Some say he is lucky. I become a bigger fan. In less than 2 minutes Slater flips the situation on its head. Reyes is scrambling and runs out of time. That was a great semi final I mutter to myself.
Unfortunately, the final was a dud. Chris Ward surfed well throughout the event. A win meant two championships – Pipe and the Triple Crown. Slater’s momentum was too much and a lackluster final went to Kelly and Wardo had to settle for second prize and the Triple Crown went to Parko.
It has started to rain again as I write. It is time to go to bed anyway. Good night Hawaii. I’ll miss you when I leave. Thanks for the waves, the friends, the performances, and your beauty. Aloha
Surfline review
Surfline just reviewed the last week of swell here in Hawaii with a cool portfolio. Some of my pics make an appearance. I was surprised when they didn’t use a few that I originally submitted because I thought they were pretty good, but they magically appeared in this article. One of my favorites is ‘Outside’ which is a view of Pipeline with sets approaching from third reef. I know from being in the water what the feeling is when you see that coming- part stoke; part poop yer pants! This surfline surf report for last week (shown here) is now famous. I have seen it around and it is the first time I have ever seen ‘Good to Epic’ called for a whole entire week. I gotta say it was pretty damn good. More to come…get ready to go surfing…
The Sandbar
Every year I like to get out on the Sandbar and shoot some wave shots. It always looks so good because of the way the light reflects off the bottom and turns the water the deepest blue/green. Here is a sample. This site will eventually have a really cool area for fine art prints where I will be offering my best wave and surf shots from around the world. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, but just haven’t had a way to handle the business- Now I do. Can’t wait to open the gallery and invite you in.
If surfing came my way, I shot that too. I will upload some galleries at some point, so please check back. There are a lot of sessions I haven’t posted yet including some insane speed blurred Pipeline and some Backdoor madness. Hope you all have been enjoying these fun kine waves. I know I sure have. Looks like tomorrow is going to be small and then back into surf again with a North swell around mid week. Stoked.
Waimea Bay
Does this Waimea charger make his air drop? You will have to wait and see when the galleries load. This might take awhile because there are 1,200 photos! Ridiculous? Yes. Way too many photos, but I just couldn’t help myself. Waimea was good. Not great or epic, but just really good (BTW, I think people use ‘epic’ way too much, if it is always epic then, what, do I have to say ‘Really Epic’ or exclaim ‘nah bro, you don’t understand it was REALLY EPIC’- I’m not good at that stuff). Waimea was good and I took a lot of shots. If you were out between noon and dark I have a shot of you. Dig it.
I started the day at Pipe just waiting for the swell to build- and it did. There were some huge outside reef sets at Pipe, but it was a bit out of control in the late morning with the occasional perfect tube. Shane Dorian got the best one I have seen in awhile and I got a great sequence of it.
I chatted up fellow photographer Vince Cavataio who I always see around when the waves are good. Dude, was taking photos of the North Shore before most of the guys shooting Pipe today were even born. I could see a lot of people looking at the guy and thinking he is some tourist with this little camera and writing him off, but you gotta check out his website for some of his incredible wave shots or just perve some of the beautiful models he shoots. Unreal.
At 11:30 I crusied by Sunset and saw a few sets wash through and decided to make my way to my favorite wave- Waimea. Sunset would have been great late in the day, I am sure of it, but I really like Waimea. You may even find me there later in the week. I hear it is going to be EPIC!
New Galleries posted!
We got your Galleries – Pipe, Sunset, and even Waimea right here! Let’s start with the epic day at Pipe which was on ‘Black Friday’ shopping day. I couldn’t think of a better place to be than at Pipe going off while the rest of the US is in WalMart! ha ha…This gallery includes the Aamion Goodwin wipeout, but if you don’t want to wade through all the photos and just see the sequence of Aamion Goodwin and his wipeout click here.
You will notice that these photos have been slightly processed where as the main Pipe gallery has not. If you buy prints, we always process them before sending them out for final print. We can also process your downloads upon request, but some of you like to do this yourself so we give you the choice. We can also do different types of process and examples are coming soon, but for now here is the ‘Nostalgic’ look to give you an idea.
The following day (Saturday- November 29) was pretty blown out and not as big as expected, but I did manage to click a few pros and regular guys ripping up Sunset Beach before the contest. It started raining and I usually would have packed it in, but as I drove by Waimea there were a few small sets. I am obsessed with Waimea and will shoot it whenever it breaks so I decided to go uphill to try to make it look bigger. It didn’t really work..as the rain settled in and I got wet and muddy shooting Waimea from the Heiau.
When I woke up today I thought it had finally cleaned up, but it is still all mixed up and stormy looking although the conditions are glassy and the wind light. What we really need is some trade to clean it up and I am waiting for that to happen as I type…I may just make one more run up to the North Shore to see if it turns on…I hope so!
Secret Spot? Nope.
What? Where is this wave? Is this some secret island peeler? Yep. Sure is…about 40 years ago! That my readers is Pipe taken with a 50mm lens from the beach. It looks like some perfect fun point/beach surf, but it is the real deal. Pipe on a big west. Growing by the hour…The swell came up fast in the afternoon as predicted and as I drive home from Pipe I noticed a few sets at Waimea. Hmmm. I hope to shoot the Bay tomorrow, but the wind is predicted to be bad, so we will have to wait and see. I will post some of the epic waves from this session soon, which includes a sequence of Aamion Goodwin getting taken out by a ‘drop in’ and later being helped out by the lifeguards with an injured knee. It doesn’t look good for the Hurley charger and he seemed to be in some pain. Let’s hope for his speedy recovery as he provides some incredible entertainment for those spectators on the beach whether from Texas or the Volcom house. Everyone loves a charger…Get well soon.
Swell gossip…
It was flat today and it has been small lately. Everyone is playing the waiting game. Seems like a great time to gossip about upcoming swells. At the moment we have good reason. Looks like a nice couple of storms are brewing and this weekend could be epic, but it is still just a forecast. A lot can change in the next 24 hours. I actually heard the word ‘Waimea’ more than once the last few days and have been giddy ever since. I love shooting the place. I think it is one of the most incredible big wave arenas in the world.
Just in time for all of this is my new ‘Surf Links’ section on the homepage (down there in the lower right). The chart above was taken from the link ‘North Pacific Surf WAVE MODEL’. It comes from the Storm Surf website which is a great resource, but a bit of a work to navigate. Anyway, I like the colors and the way the chart plays out these scenarios. I gotta admit I get pretty excited watching the whole thing spin out the swell.
You will notice the very first link is Pat Caldwell’s Oahu forecast. I consider these words surf forecast gospel. Check out what he says about this weekend. “Outlook through Sunday Nov 30: a large northwest swell is expected to push surf heights to the advisory level when it arrives Friday. It will likely exceed the warning level of 25 feet for north facing shores, and possibly the warning level of 20 feet along exposed west facing shores for the weekend.” Wow, that sounds good to me!
There are other cool links there as well. Got a favorite of your own? Send it to me and I will post it if it is better than some of the others. I want to have a complete collection while here in Hawaii, so I can be informed and get as much info as possible. That is not to say I won’t gossip a little.
Michel Bourez wins Reef Pro
After exiting another perfect barrel, Michel Bourez enjoys the view of an empty Haleiwa set wave during the final seconds of the contest. With none of his competitors riding, the feeling is probably just starting to sink in- Oh my god I WON! Stoked!
I couldn’t believe it. I was watching the Reef Hawaiian Pro contest online and the conditions just kept getting better. The semi-finals were some of the best ’small wave’ surf I had ever seen in a contest. Everyone was getting these incredible tube rides and just ripping it apart. It made me want to surf! The day had started with a trip to Starbucks only to find the electricity had been knocked out from all the rain the night before. The ocean was stormy, but small. ”Those poor guys in the contest..”, I thought. About midday the wind started to turn and by the time I was into hour two of watching my son while my wife got some writing done (she is working on a trashy novel), I started to freak out. “Honey, is there anyway..well the waves are flawless and guys are getting these perfect little tubes and…”, I didn’t need to finish. My wife is cool like that. She took over I jumped in the car and headed down to Haleiwa and caught the finals live. It was pretty epic. Just what it looked like on the website- hard offshore, small, perfect shape. I am not going to say I got any epic photos, but it looks pretty good to me. I’ll be posting some of my favorites soon, so stay tuned…
My modeling career…
I showed up at Sunset this morning and found super clean conditions at the peak and all adjacent breaks. A gallery is coming soon. It will be listed as ‘Sunset’ although I was pointing the camera in every direction! Same goes for ‘Ehukai’, which will include Pupukea, Turkey Bay and on up into Rocky Rights. Hell, I shot every thing that moved until about 1pm and there were some great waves!
As I was leaving the beach a japanese production crew rolls up on me and asks if I could model for them. I kindly declined as I was running a little late getting home and then dude offered up cash money! ”Uh sure”, I said. Then I met the photographer and started talking to him about his cool 70’s Canon cameras (an F1 to be exact and, yes, that would be film and completely manual including focus!). He was a cool guy and he had me put on the lame floral button up shirt and ‘be a surf photographer’ with my lens and pretend to shoot interesting things. The photos are to appear in a Catalog of a Japanese department store.
So, I am doing this gig the whole time thinking that I had not shaved in roughly a week (my beard grows super fast) and I left the house right out of bed without so much as brushing my chicklets- no shower, nada. My hair is 1970’s long with sandy, crusty feathering effect – probably the going ‘do’ when dudes camera was released, and here I am making my modeling debut in Japan! Epic. Funny, because some of my bros back in San Diego had recently been making Geico caveman jokes about my appearance!
So the photographer just kills it. I mean 4 lens changes, 5 different angles, two film changes in about 7 minutes- all in manual mode mind you. I was impressed. I just hope he caught my blue steel! Next thing I know I am driving with a pocket full of cash to Ted’s Bakery thinking about some Shoyo Chicken and a piece of pie. I could take some of that money and get myself a haircut, but I wouldn’t want to ruin my modeling career, cause, you know, I’m pretty big in Japan now and this gig is so easy a caveman could do it…
Reef does it again…
No, I’m not talking about ‘Reef’ the company, but Reef Macintosh the charger. Dude always seems to get the biggest waves. Look at this monster from yesterday at Pipe! Very impressive my brother. A few years ago I shot this insane drop he had at Waimea and didn’t know who he was. Now I see him all the time in the mags taking the biggest drops and charging the hugest of swells. Stoked when I see him out because I know he will go!
Meanwhile, I went to the Reef contest today and watched a few heats. Although the surf dropped a lot from yesterday the waves were still really good. That has to be one of my favorite waves to surf here especially in the overhead zone that it was in today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll post some of those shots…all for now…aloha
Pipeline – The Danger is real…
At Pipeline this morning I witnessed an accident that may be serious. We just don’t know yet. A surfer and bodyboarder, each having position but going at each other, collided on a steep Pipe drop and the bodyboarder hit bottom. Myself and Sean Davey were right there and Pipe charger and local lifeguard Dave Wassel was there soon after. The bodyboarded was assisted to the beach by the surfer he collided with and was held in position while a board was brought in to stabilize the victims neck. It was a scary moment and something I hate to see, but it seems every year the most dangerous surf break in the world claims another injury. Before paddling out, please check your resume to see that you qualify. Pipe is no joke and it is made worse by the tight crowd. The sign doesn’t say it for nothing- “if in doubt, don’t go out!’. If this is your game and you do qualify – by all means charge it hard and have fun!! Let’s all pray for the speedy recovery of this unknown wave rider
A different perspective…
So I shot a few at Haleiwa this afternoon as the swell started to fill in with my friend and talented North Shore photographer Allen Mozo. We were both kind of itching to surf the whole time! I love Haleiwa and the light crowd was making it look fun. The rights were pumping with a few good tubes. This shot I took as I was walking away (it’s Avalanche) and it started to rain. The first shot of the season I really like. I was inspired by Daniel Milnor’s blog post from November 5 (Nothing matters). Very cool. I dig his style. Check out his blog smogranch.com. So I shot this and looked at it later and thought- ‘most people in this world only see a picnic bench. How lucky we are. Truly, how lucky we are. Be kind to someone today and share the gift.
This is ’small’ Sunset
The swell stayed on for the second day as predicted and ’small’ Sunset was where I shot some great photos of some of you enjoying the trade groomed conditions this morning. Looks like more swell setting up for the end of the weekend into early next week. I love this time of year on the North Shore! Still relatively uncrowded and lots of consistent swell that is in the ridable zone for us mere mortals. ha ha.
Speaking of SUNSET…I deleted galleries from the Sunset Beach in California so there was no mistaking the two spots during a search. Sorry, but you had plenty of time to buy those shots and now they are gone into hiding for now. If there is a huge demand I may repost them, but it is doubtful. Please don’t put off buying your photos if you want them. I don’t say this to increase my own sales, but to save you from sending me that email…”I meant to buy my photo, but I got busy with other things and now it’s gone!” I have been getting these a lot lately.
Ok, then, have a great day out there and check back for more SickShots as the Hawaiian winter progresses.
New swell tomorrow
This is what I have been waiting for! A nice medium sized swell to get warmed up and ready to go. The buoy has already started to show (5ft. 17 seconds) at 2:00pm, so we should see a significant increase in the morning (it couldn’t be any smaller)! Stoked!
What I forgot to write was my Halloween experience. Still tired from Jet lag, I ventured into Waikiki on Halloween night and some of the craziest costumes and mayhem was going down. I took some cool photos, but for some reason I like this shot of the old guy partying with the masses. Epic!
Finally, I want to congratulate Barrack Obama. I couldn’t be happier right now with our new president. Yes, there is hope out there today. I feel it!
Congratulations Lori and Tony!
Yesterday I shot a wedding (Yes, SickShots is branching out! My new website for this is coming soon to www.davecollyer.net). The wedding was in one of the oldest and definitely most sacred churches here in Hawaii- Kawaiahao Church. Kings and Queens of yesteryear have marched down the aisle to be wed in this old stone church known as the Westminster Abbey of Hawaii. Really beautiful place for an amazing couple. I had so much fun at their wedding I felt like family and stayed late into the reception and had some incredible Hawaiian food. By the way, gotta thank my Hawaiian bruddah Brady Oshiro for having me in on his wedding gig for the day. Dude, is about as cool as it gets and has serious game in the wedding photography game, so check him out if you are getting hitched in Hawaii.
Now we are off to the North Shore to get ready for the next big swell! Pray for surf! By the way, SickShots has been working on a few cosmetic things on the site and a newer, faster, easier design is coming soon- we are going SickShots 2.0 for the North Shore season. Check back soon!
Packing for Hawaii- Think Tank!
Ok, so I spent the day (yes, the entire day) packing for our trip to Hawaii. The incredible part is that the most difficult packing was up to my wife (she packed for our 1 year old son). My time was putting together all my camera gear and packing as much as I can without making it look like a lot! Hawaiian airlines is now charging for EVERY bag. Fifteen bucks for the first bag, $25 for the second, and $100 for the third and every bag after that! C’mon man, what is going on in this world? No wonder we got such a ‘deal’ on the tickets ($550 each).
I am now carrying on as much as possible, but I don’t want to break my back or look like I’m overloaded. That’s where the Think Tank comes in handy (I have the ‘Airport International’ model). Check out this bag! I have a 400 f2.8 and 5 other lenses and 2 canon camera bodies in this baby! When it is zipped up it looks like I am some high end professional business guy with a geeky roller. Little do they know this thing weighs a ton (and there’s tens of thousands of dollars riding in there)!
I am including the Gecko here for two reasons. 1. I totally ripped off my friend and top Aussie gone Hawaiian surf photographer Sean Davey on this shot (he did one like this year’s ago- Dude is a legend!) and I will see him next week. 2. My wife and I put in the hours on a new Gecko commercial for Geico coming to a TV screen near you. I will not tell you the storyline, but let’s say that little gecko gets himself into some mischief around the office with the boss…
Stoked to be returning to Hawaii and can’t wait to swim in that warm water. First, gonna shoot a wedding with my friend Brady Oshiro and then we are off to the North Shore where we will set up shop and surf and shoot! See you there!
Waimea Bay Classic Day
In my last post I talked about possibly bringing back some ‘old’ classic sessions and I decided to start with this one- Waimea Bay, February 2006. This is a huge gallery with over 900 photos of one of the best days I have seen at Waimea in a long time. There were closeout sets and some great performances. It is worth a look and especially appropriate as the North Shore season is sneaking up on us. This photo is of my friend Cole. Dude just charges. I have seen him take some serious beatings out there and make some incredible drops. He is definitely one of my favorite ‘unknown’ big wave riders on the North Shore. Check out the boil just in front of him on this wave. That is one massive wall.
This session was the one where Jamie Sterling caught one of the largest Waimea waves of his career that I shot from the cliff and the photo was used in his XXL bid for ‘best performace’. He deservedly won the award in 2006 and continues to be one of the world’s best big wave hellman and one heck of a nice guy.
Let’s hope we get some Waimea Bay action this year and maybe even an ‘Eddie’ – that would be epic!
Goodbye, old friend…
The old Sickshots site is going to be trashed starting tomorrow (it is so large it may take all weekend). There has been plenty of warning for you to get your SickShots, so please don’t come crying to me about “dude, I forgot to order my photo!” Sorry, it’s time to move on. You’ve only had 6 months!
Having said that, I have waited so long for all of you because I hate trashing your memories. Some people come back months or years later and ask about photos. There have been some epic moments over the years and I thank you for letting me be a part of them. Waimea, Padang Padang and the Mentawais come to mind right away. These are my favorite places to shoot and I have fond memories of every single session I have ever shot at these places. Maybe I will have to reload some of the better sessions on the new site? Hmm…that’s a good idea. Now if I just had time.
I was feeling kind of sentimental looking at the old site. I remember building it during a surf charter aboard the ‘Pelagic‘ in the Mentawais several years ago. After shooting all day, uploading heaps of photos and then showing the guests a slideshow, I would stay up until the wee hours of the night and listen to Gansta rap and bust it out. I finished the entire thing in 5 nights. The new version of Sickshots took 5 weeks with help from two programmers- and it is still not finished! The truth that no site is ever finished. There is always something you can do better or want to add. Completion of websites is an elusive goal for sure.
Some of you have criticized the new site because it lacks the simplicity of the old site. I get it. I guess I got bored with the old look and wanted to bring some new features. A good example is the automation of the buying process so you can now get your photos right away. It is also more of a signature site for my work. I decided not to become a free for all site with a lot of photographers contributing. I just wanted to do my thing and keep it simple. The old ‘SickShot of the day’ is now on the blog and I haven’t changed it lately because I haven’t shot much surf in the past few weeks. When I am in Hawaii starting in November, expect that to blow up everyday!
I like the new site and know it can improve, still looking at the old one I can’t help but feel some sort of passing..RIP my old friend. Here’s to all the epic sessions that you held on your server and here’s to you my loyal fans and supporters and special thanks to all of you that bought photos over the years from that site.
Hey, this is not the end of SickShots, but the start of a new era. Welcome aboard!
Cheers!
