Local Knowledge
Martin Daly showing his experience with a fair sized wall in the Mentawai Islands. On this particular day he picked the right spot, picked the line up and ultimately picked the right wave. Good on ya, mate!
Artist rendition
I met Eric Abel in the far reaches of Indonesia surfing perfect right hand tubes. He was a cool guy that always seemed to be pulling in. At the time I didn’t know what a talented artist he was. Damn, I dig this guys work. You got to Check out his site! and, No, I [...]
Covered
It’s an old school tube shot. It’s not taken from behind the rider, or under the rider, or connected to the rider, but it still makes me want to pull in. See more of my shots (I’m not that stoked on the selection actually) on Surfline’s Mentawai feature. See shots I do like at this [...]
Goodbye Winter
While we are all excited about summer swells and warm weather, let’s take a moment and enjoy the beauty of winter Blacks.
Upside your head with karma!
I believe in Karma. This photo is a good example. Dude cut in line at the top of the point and this little wave in the Maldives is giving him some retribution. Huey is watching. Good prevails. Bad deeds eventually come back to haunt you. Leave the wood pile a little higher; it pays in [...]
Subtlety
When you see a movie or a TV show with a beach scene, do you scan the screen for a wave? Then you wouldn’t have had any trouble finding the little gem in this image. I shot this on a Mentawai trip…see the photos here.
Good Morning!
The sun glints through the window of your surf charter and you stumble from your bunk to find this view. Is it a dream? If you are in the Mentawai Islands, probably not. I shot this on a Mentawai trip… see the photos here.
Lonely Fish
It can be scary to be alone by yourself away from the safety of the pack. Sometimes it’s a good thing.
Indonesian Swell
I like the look of this chart. You see that big ball of swell activity developing in the Indian Ocean under Africa? Yep, that sends waves to Indonesia. If it continues to develop this could be an epic swell. I’ll be on a flight tomorrow headed to the Mentawai Islands. The last trip I was [...]
Latest Mentawai trip
I’ve been back from the Mentawais for more than a week and still haven’t posted any photos on SickShots! Here’s a shot taken by one of the guests. That’s Martin Daly with his arms up (“Hey, why didn’t you guys get that one!”) and that’s me taking photos of the wave. This was a pretty [...]
Father and son surf time
When I was a kid, my Dad and I used to go on camping adventures with ‘Indian Guides’. You would hang out with pops and the other fathers and sons and have adventures. It was pretty cool, in fact, I loved it. I don’t know if Indian Guides is still around, but nowadays I am [...]
Surfer’s Path Feature
I don’t contribute to the surf mags much any more. This is mostly due to the low editorial rates they are paying these days. In fact, I don’t know how some of these magazine surf photographers live from the checks they get. I just saw the new Canon Mark 4 camera is going to be [...]
Winter Season kicks off with a bang!
Words and Photo by assistant, Jobi Manson It’s a regular thursday in mid-October. Dave had told me the night before that there maybe was surf on the horizon… I shrugged my head and said, “Ha, yeah I’ll believe that S@#$ when I see it.” The night before the first big swell of the season is [...]
Mentawai Surf Trip
My lastest Mentawai surf trip can be found over at Mentawai Surf Photos with a write up about the trip and a slideshow. Be sure to check out the Photographer’s Light Table (here). It is hosted at our new stock site SaltyCamera.com. This has been a long work in progress and will soon have some [...]
Layover in Singapore
We left Padang, Sumatra this morning after a great trip to the Mentawais. I have to thank the guests that had me on their trip and Martin Daly who guided us from one epic set up to the next on the Indies Trader 3. This photo is of Martin slicing off a bottom turn on [...]
Grandpa update – week 5
I got this email a few days ago. For those of you following the ‘Grandpa’ story (original post here) or know our friend Chris, he is having a tough go of things after his motorcycle accident. I was going to write this email into a story, but it speaks for itself. This shot is Chris [...]
Return to the Mentawai Islands
I was in the Mentawai’s back in May on the Indies Trader 3 and will be returning again in less than 2 weeks. We had a few small days on the last trip like this one, but anytime you can rip a turn like Australian Eddie here, it’s a fun day! I am looking forward [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Storm Surf
A few days ago I took a clip from the weather chart at storm surf that shows this massive storm getting ready to pound the Indonesian coast. The Mentawais should be epic right about now. This chart is from a new link I loaded onto the Mentawai Surf Photos website. You can see the Mentawai [...]
Windy surf conditions in Bali
The surf is still in the head high to overhead range, but there is a strong trade-like wind that reminds me of Hawaii. Difficult to surf in, but it sure looks pretty from the beach! Bali always seems to be having some kind of ceremony (i think that is why it is so special) [...]
New Swell is Here!
Yes, finally! We have a couple of decent looking waves coming our way this week and I hope to capture your best moment whether you are in the tube or ripping a turn. We are also working hard on the back end of SickShots to bring this here blog and the new galleries a fresh [...]
