just got back from a trip to costa rica. lots of swimming, surfing, adventures, monkeys, sloths, butterflies, remote beaches and best of all visiting some of our best friends who now live there. above is a picture of my little fish swimming with her eyes wide open. more pics to follow….

i hope you have a wonderful holiday season and merry christmas! we’re heading off for the next few weeks – first up to northern california and then down to mainland mexico! it’s bound to be a wonderful mix of family, friends, celebration and adventure. i won’t be posting for a while but will be back in action mid-jan. see you then! a big thanks to one of my former students matt chenot for taking the family photos above (matt took the photos for a homework assignment in one of his portrait classes). to see more of his work click here.

happy holidays!

up in northern california visiting family and yesterday we walked to a park at dusk. there is something about fall that makes me reflect, reminisce and appreciate the gift of time. annika (my oldest daughter) climbed up the play structure and at the top i captured the portrait shown above. she is now 5 years old, yet that picture makes me imagine her many years from now.

this portrait of my beautiful wife photo above was taken by my 3 year old daughter sophia in our backyard. i set up the camera, taught sophia how to use the shutter release and walked away. she told kelly where to look, waited for a few moments and pressed the button – what a wonderful moment and shot! it makes me so thankful for my family. i hope you get to spend time with yours, have a wonderful thanksgiving!

above is a photograph from last weekend of some family friends at the coast. it was made with a large format wood and brass camera and expired/discontinued film. in a time when perfect pixels have such high value, i find myself even more drawn to the subtleties and imperfections of certain types of traditional photographic techniques. and for me its not a question of “either or” or “new versus old”… rather i take a “both and” approach and enjoy many different types of photography. to view the other photos click here – enjoy.

just found these photos taken on thanksgiving last year
they make thankful for fall and for family
they remind me of seasons past
and make me wonder about the ones that are ahead

i just came across this photo of sophie from yosemite and couldn’t resist posting it.

i’m back from hawaii – it was a great trip. today my sister-in-law sent me these photos and i am ecstatic! as you can see, i had the chance to take my oldest daughter annika surfing – it was a dream come true. we even practiced a few stunts…  it was an absolute blast!!

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and here’s a couple more photos of some beach fun. if you look closely you can see that the kids had a lot of fun getting buried, and burying me, in the sand.

right now i’m in hawaii and we are staying at a beach shack right on pipeline on the north shore of ohau. it has been unreal! surfing, snorkeling, hiking and plenty of family fun. yesterday i walked into a local surf shop and saw that the Surfer big issue just came out. i was stoked to see the issue as i have a full page photo of slater in it – yeehooo! in a few days we head over to the south side of the island where i’ll be teaching a seminar at the university of hawaii.

each year we love going to the solstice parade in santa barbara. its a short bike ride from our house and the parade brings out all the characters in our town.

Last Father’s day my wife Kelly and our girls went to Channel Islands Surfboards and got me a gift card to purchase a brand new surfboard!  I ride it all the time and in between I hang it up on the wall (as you can see above). This year Kelly and the kids got even more creative – I absolutely loved the gifts. Here’s what my girls picked out: water balloons, a science experiment kit, a vegetable grill tray for the BBQ and a set of 10 mustaches. Of course we had to try on the mustaches to see how they looked.. it was so much fun! :) 

the above photos were taken by my youngest daughter sophia while we were on a date last weekend. first, we went to our favorite restaurant on the beach. then we went to visit the baby goats and chickens at a local hay/feed store. finally, we capped it off by getting some ice cream at mcconnells. she ordered rainbow sherbet with sprinkle covered chocolate chips. needless to say, we had a wonderful time.

to check out a few more pics click here

me: “do you want to go play in the snow?”
the kids: “yaaaaaaaaa!”

can’t you just hear their joy-filled screams?

to view a few pics from the weekend click here