i was digging through the archives today and came across this photo from last year. a classic shot of surf board shaper al merrick and surfer/musician/all around cool guy rob machado in the shapping bay at channel islands surfboards. (click on the photo above for a larger view)

180 south world premiere / feb 10th 7:30 pm / santa barbara
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if you live anywhere near santa barbara you won’t want to miss this film premiere.  it is the perfect combo of story, stunning cinematography, surfing, climbing, travel, and adventure. to top it off, the movie is made by one of my favorite film makers – chris malloy… and it features some interesting people like yvon chouinard, keith malloy, jeff johnson and others.

click here to check out the trailer

as a side note, below is a iphone snapshot from my office today. the huge picture of the graveyard and ocean was captured by jeff johnson while filming 180 south in the easter islands (click on the image for a larger view). this image, along with others will be featured in a coffee table book to compliment the movie.

i’ve been having some fun with a plastic twin lens reflex film camera called the blackbird fly
(the orange camera pictured to the left) - click here to learn more.

the camera is a bit tricky but there’s something about the limitations that i’ve found refreshing. i’ve set it mine up to expose on the entirety of the film, sprockets and all. the shot above was the last frame of my most recent roll of film.

as certain film gets older it starts to degrade and fall apart, yet i find beauty in the decay that marks the passage of time. even more, the image above is a scan of something that you are supposed to discard  - it is the flipside of the “real” image. almost like a soft reflection of a more concrete ideal. is it just me, or does this type of idea/image connect with you? i’m curious to hear your thoughts. click on the image for a larger view and enjoy!

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.

joe curren surfing rincon yesterday. it was small but fun… and joe with his fluid style was lighting it up.

i apologize for the delay in posting…. i’ve been shooting a ton this last week! here are a few quick pics from last night when rob machado and gang came through to play some music and promote rob’s lastest movie the drifter. it was an epic show and film!

while going through my film archives today and was stopped in my tracks and saddened by the two scans above. these are two images taken at my friends house who lost everything in a fire last year (click on the image for a larger view). whenever we are faced with loss we remember to be grateful for what we have.

as many of you know jack johnson is one of my all time favorite artists and people. last night at the arlington (pic of the crowd below) was the world premiere of the movie titled “jack johnson en concert.”

the movie was epic. as a surprise jack introduced the film and then afterwards played for about 45min. it was an unreal acoustic show! for more info about the film click here.

yesterday i had the privilege of stopping by shawn stussy’s creative headquarters. shawn is an amazing person who can’t be defined by conventional means. he is a creative thinker, artist, surfer, surf board maker, designer, visual savant and more. he is articulate, down-to-earth and alive. it was an unbelievably inspiring visit.

channel islands surfboards just posted a few photos and an interview that i did with one of the world’s greatest surfers – tom curren. his style and approach to surfing is unreal. yet even more, tom is a thoughtful, soulful, humble and down-to-earth person who i admire. he is much more than a great surfer.

>> click here to listen to our conversation

walking along the ocean’s edge
the morning fog softened sound and sight
making me think new thoughts
as i absorb all that i see

i came across this rock post in my neighborhood and it immediately caught my eye. i have always had an affinity for things built from natural materials.

last week jacob (pictured above) and i went up into the santa barbara mountains to shoot some videos for the companion site for the book visual poetry. the site should be live in a few weeks – i’ll write a post once it’s all wrapped up.

joe walking along the goleta pier

here’s a closer look at the kelly slater photo published in the surfer big issue (click the image above for a larger view).

channel islands surfboards just posted a few of my photos of kelly slater + an interview. to listen to the interview on the channel islands site click here 

also be sure to click on the image above for a larger view – yeeehoooo!

Here’s a pic of a recent pic of me photographing Kelly Slater (photo credit: Travis Lee). Not only is Kelly a 9x World Champion surfer, he’s a super cool and down-to-earth guy. I wish I could show you some of my photos from the shoot – they are insane!! Once they’ve been published, I’ll post some here. For now, click on the image above for a larger view.

i recently photographed world champion and legend shaun tomson for surfer magazine. we met at sunrise and made some unreal photographs. the above image is an out take from the shoot. while it wasn’t one of the photos i selected in the final edit, i still like it because you of the light and shadows. (click on the image above for a larger view)

as we walked back to our cars, i asked shaun a few questions. you can listen in below:

another magic channel islands surfboard.

(be sure to click on the image above to view the details)

tom curren decided to play some tunes at his ripcurl shop on friday. i swung by to hang out for a bit. tom is one of a few, who actually are, true artists/surfers. he is a thinker. he is a great dad. he is a traveler. he is creative. he is someone who charts his own course. and he happens to be one of the most influential surfers of all time. yet, tom doesn’t let that get in his way. he is authentic and soulful through and through. click on the play button below to listen to a sample of tom’s fluid and freeform musical style. i recorded this on fri in the shop (while the recording quality isn’t great, it’s definitely worth checking out).

to see some youtube surfing footage of tom: click here

joe curren is someone i admire deeply: an artist, writer, thinker, traveler, and super talented surfer. 
channel islands surfboards has just released a joe curren signature model: the even keel

i had the chance to snap some photos at the hammonds tracks
and to record an interview at his brother tom’s house in santa barbara.

>> click here to listen to the interview <<