look at what the light did now

Tumblr

2011-05-15T15:35:00.001-07:00

I think it's time for a change with my blog. I'm going to try tumblr and see how things go. So please update your links to http://keithnovosel.tumblr.com/.

I have the first post on there, and it will evolve with time.

Thanks.

Joyful Nourishment

2011-04-03T18:52:00.001-07:00

I recently shot some photos for Rachel at Joyful Nourishment, a holistic health coaching company. She consults with individuals and makes diet and lifestyle recommendations based on their specific needs. We enjoyed an afternoon of cooking and photography, and the results enhanced the look of her website. http://joyfulnourishment.com/.

mountains, trees, and water

2011-01-26T22:15:00.000-08:00

"In God's wildness lies the hope of the world--the great, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."
-John Muir

3 of my favorite things. They make me happy. I need them.

On a separate note, if anyone is interested in prints, publishing photos of mine, or hiring me for anything at all, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

The White Buffalo

2011-01-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

I've been to a few good shows in Portland so far, but I was especially excited to see that The White Buffalo was playing.

I put in a fresh roll of 3200 planning on shooting plenty of photos, but was told at the door that "professional cameras" weren't allowed, meaning cameras with interchangeable lenses. They asked for my battery. Luckily, it was a fully mechanical camera with no battery, so I was able to sneak a few photos from my seat at least.

Here are links to a couple youtube videos for those of you who haven't heard his simple, powerful music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_wrny82Mc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESOxvLQUjBs

fly/ride

2011-01-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

I (sort of) recently took a trip down to California for a few reasons. To see some friends, get some waves, shoot some photos, and see about a potential future job.

The trip was an interesting one, essentially without any waves, but that's okay. I still got to paddle out some, and I got to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones.

I ended up deciding to come home early, and it was cheaper to take the bus. LA to Portland is a long ride on a greyhound. I met a couple interesting characters, and got to practice my Spanish a little bit. Almost 30 hours later, and it was so great to be back to a whole different world with with less traffic, more trees, and a different vibe all around. (no offense to southern Californians...it's just different.)

I couldn't pass up this first photo while riding somewhere in Central California on I-5.

black and white autumn

2011-01-09T20:08:00.001-08:00

Oops, somehow I haven't updated anything on here in almost 2 months. And I really haven't been shooting a ton, but I've shot a couple rolls of film, a few shots at a time here and there.
I was going to post 10 shots or so all at once, but I'd rather spread it out over a few days so that the photos fit together better.

These first couple are from a hike when there were still leaves on the trees. Ironically, I shot a roll of black and white during the peak of fall colors, but I like the added contrast of light leaves verses the dark pines.

website update

2010-11-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

I just updated my website for the first time in quite a while.

www.fluidmotionphoto.com

I changed around the galleries, adding new photos and taking out some older ones. I also added sections with some of my published work and commercial work.

I took the print galleries down. Please just contact me if you are interested in buying a print, and we can work something out.

I hope that you enjoy looking through my newer photos.

last shots

2010-10-14T18:41:00.001-07:00

The lab that I've been taking my film to here in Portland happens to be really close to the famous Burnside Skate Park.

Created under the Burnside Bridge in 1990 without city permission, the project started modestly, but with passion. Within a couple years, people saw that it was a good thing, and it gained support and funding. With passion, motivation, and the money to build, it didn't take too long for the park under the bridge to become awesome. That's the short version of the story, at least.

I have memories of playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on playstation with my friends a decade ago, with Burnside as one of the main parks.

Being under that bridge watching the people skate reminded me of those good times skating in the driveway, snowboarding in the backyard, coming inside and playing Tony Hawk while warming up to some hot chocolate...

Anyway, I had two photos to finish up before I took my film to the lab. One on my 35mm and one on my holga. Here are those last shots.

Part 3

2010-10-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

Click here to read part 3 of the road trip journal, describing the drive from Arizona to Oregon.

Here's a shot that I took at the beginning of that part of the journey -- on an overcast evening back in July.

SE to NW

2010-10-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated anything on here in a while. Sorry for that.

Towards the end of the summer I moved from the East Coast of Florida to Portland Oregon. I have a little write-up on the move in three separate parts here, and here.

Part 3 to come soon.

About a year ago, when I first got to Australia, I updated my website. I haven't really added anything since then, and it's time to integrate some of the past year's photos in, while taking out some of the old ones. Check back in a bit to see when that is finished. I expect it to look quite a bit different.

Once I'm all caught up with that, I hope to post more often on here. I have a couple video edits to show, and of course I'll have new photos. Until then, I hope you find the photos and writing from the road trip interesting.

bellyboard

2010-06-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here's another photo from New Zealand that I like.

It's of Analisa heading out to bellyboard at a beautiful spot on the south island. So fun. Beauty in the water, beauty in the mountains, beauty crossing the road.

Our friend Parrish makes these boards and they are extremely fun to ride. Kinda like boogie boarding, but the flex and thinness of the wood makes it trim better, more responsive, and just way better overall. http://www.vintagepacificsurfcraft.blogspot.com/

drift

2010-06-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Back in December, Drift Magazine interviewed me about my life and my work. It was published last week. They are also selling a limited edition print of mine.

http://driftsurfing.com/features/2010/keith_novosel/cover.html

I like Drift's style and content, and their work is worth checking out. There are plenty of features to keep you interested and entertained.

new zealand

2010-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

After the Noosa festival, and the Australia trip in general, we flew over to New Zealand while we were still on that side of the globe.

The trip to NZ wasn't really a work trip, although I took a ton of photos that I think I'll be able to do something with. It wasn't really a surf trip, but I got a lot of great waves. Basically it was just a vacation at the end of a year abroad, but it was one of the best places I've ever been, if not the best.

Anyway, I'm scanning a bunch of the photos now. Along with the digital photos I shot, and plenty of images that haven't been shown from Australia, I have a lot I can put up here.

I'll do it a little bit at a time.

I'll start with just one.

This fall I'm moving to Oregon. I've never been there, but I imagine parts of it look like this...and I like that.

noosa festival action II

2010-05-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

yuta sezutsu

Here are the longboard photos that I mentioned in the last post. It was very impressive to watch.

matt cuddihy

kassia meador

yuta

matty chojnacki

matty

teru yamamoto

alex knost

joel tudor

yuta

alex

robbie kegel

noosa festival action

2010-05-08T10:16:00.001-07:00

I was looking through my action photos from the Noosa Longboard Festival, trying to choose which ones to put on here. I was trying to narrow it down to 10 or 15, and was struggling.

So, instead, I'll split the photos into a few categories and spread them out over the next couple or few days.

I'll start with shorter boards. In my opinion, the waves during the festival week were more suited to shorter boards, although there was some amazing longboarding happening anyway. A timed barrel contest probably would have been better than a timed noseriding event, this year, though.

No matter which boards were ridden, the common factor was speed. The waves were fast, so if you didn't go fast also, you didn't have a chance of making the waves.

harrison roach

matty chojnacki

harrison roach

little cove

brett caller

harrison

jack lynch

christian wach

boiling pot

joel tudor

matty chojnacki

jack lynch

harrison

byron again

2010-04-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

It got pretty busy around here (Noosa) with the festival on in March. And with being on the road in New Zealand for the last month, I haven't had a good opportunity to update much on here.

In the last post I was about to leave for byron, so here are some photos from that trip. It didn't end up being exactly like I thought it would be, but it was still really fun. I met plenty of new people who were on their way up to Noosa, where I got to hang out with them a bit more.

The next post will have some photos from the festival week.

Until then, I hope you enjoy these ones.

rainy byron

hanging out with brett and matty

yuta sezutsu

matty chojnacki

yuta again

brett caller bodysurfing

yuta

the crew at broken head

teru yamamoto cutback

byron

2010-03-08T01:07:00.000-08:00

We're headed back down to byron bay tomorrow for a few days.

One last little road trip in australia before coming back to noosa for the longboard festival, then to NZ for a month.

I got way behind and pretty much haven't posted any recent photos on here. I'll either mostly wait, and post a lot of them at the end, or just pick up with things that are happening in the present, and go back to everything else later... we'll see.

Until then, here are a few photos from our last trip to byron in december. I'm pretty sure that this trip coming up should be pretty amazing.

Finally Pennsylvania

2010-02-18T16:41:00.000-08:00

I finally got my scanner cord, and scanned in all of the photos that I wasn't able to before. Here is a small sample of photos from our trip to Pennsylvania way back in August. Road tripping, family time, camping, home town visiting, stray animal saving...

bodysurf iv

2010-01-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while...

I'll have more of my photos to post soon-ish, but for now, here is a link to the newly published issue 4 of Ryan Heywood's bodysurf project. http://bodysurf.com.au/

I'm honored to have a couple photos of mine in there, as well as a couple photos of me shot by my friend Travis Wheeland.

There are so many great photos. One of my favorites is a black and white over/under barrel shot that Garrett Allard captured in California.

I recently tried a hand plane for the first time and am looking forward to trying and shooting that a bit more once the waves get a little better.

prints

2009-11-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

prints are now available for sale on my site, in a variety of sizes.

they've been available this whole time, i guess...now it's just simpler to buy them.

on a side note, i'm about to head to byron to surf and shoot for the next week. i'll have some photos to post from that trip.

plus, i should have the new scanner charger by the time I get back, so i'll have a lot of other shots to post too.

scan -- negative.

2009-11-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

well,
i got my film back yesterday, and i'm really happy with the results as a whole. there are some light leaks in a few of the medium format photos...i need to make sure that stops happening. other than that, i'm happy with them all. the 35mm slides look especially nice.

i went to start to scan them, though, and the converter wasn't the right one for the scanner power cord, so it blew up... and now i have prints and slides, but no good way to get them onto the computer. so, for now, here is a picture of just a few slides that i put up onto my computer screen and took a photo of tonight...

hopefully it won't take me too long to find a way to fix the scanner problem. the quality will be much be much better than this...

heaps of trust in the australian postal service.

2009-11-10T01:20:00.001-08:00

my film should be at the lab in melbourne by now, and hopefully i'll have it back by the end of the week. expect more frequent updates once i have it... i'll have some catching up to do.

there's potential images on those rolls of film from between august and now. I haven't really wanted to post much of what i have so far on here because it seems incomplete to just have the digital ones. it'll be fun to go through everything.

it's just been hard to find a place to develop slides, so i finally just gave up looking and mailed it.

i did find somewhere to process regular negative film, though, so i experimented with one of the slide rolls and developed it there. here's one shot from that roll.

i'm pretty happy with how they turned out. i certainly won't always cross process, but in certain situations it looks nice. this one is in sydney, on the boat ride from the northern beaches over to the city. that's analisa on the left, checking out the skyline, opera house, and harbor bridge.

"used" prints for sale

2009-10-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

i printed quite a few of my picaresque photos to travel along with the east coast tour.
a lot of them are still available.

some of them have become a little bit weathered through the journey up the coast and back.
some are still like new. either way, from a distance they all look fine. when you look closely some may have some small scratches.

it doesn't them worthless, just not worth what they were during the tour...
it gives you an opportunity to get some prints for cheap, though.

the prints are 8 x 12, mounted onto foamcore.

i'm selling them for just $30, including shipping. orders outside of the US will have to be a bit more (the amount will depend on the country) to cover higher shipping costs.

send me an email with a description of the print you want, your address, etc.

keith.novosel@gmail.com

here are photos of the ones that are available.

thanks

a few oz samples

2009-10-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

i still have a lot of film to get developed, so here are a few photos from the trip to show for now... just a tiny taste of what there is.
i still eventually want to do proper updates, with text and everything, so these few aren't in any particular order and i won't be writing to explain them yet.

east coast

2009-09-23T21:38:00.001-07:00

we've been slowly travelling down the east coast for the last couple weeks. we're in sydney now, where we should finally find a proper photo lab. i'll post plenty of updates pretty soon i hope. photos, text, etc. even though it won't be current with what's going on, i'll probably still split it up into sections.

worth the wait, i hope

2009-08-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

i just finished updating my site with reorganized galleries and new-ish photos.

i took off the old galleries at the end of april because i was tired of how it looked and there were too many photos.

i meant to narrow it down a lot, and i kind of did, but there are still a lot of photos. it just took a long time to figure out how it should be done.

i hope you like the changes.

www.fluidmotionphoto.com

i should have other new photos from a road trip/camping trip to PA sometime soon (as soon as i find a lab to develop the film). and i'm in australia now, so i'll be shooting a good bit over here too... so, i'll be writing updates on here from time to time, and adding photos to this, and maybe some to the main site too.

we'll be going down the coast to meet up with a friend later this week... to crescent head for an old mal contest (pre 1968 logs), and then onto sydney from there for a little bit. then we're going to make our way back up the coast to find an area to live and work.

it should be interesting.

fluidmotionphoto update coming soon...really

2009-07-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

the gallery on my site has said it would be updated soon since the very end of april. oops. sorry about that. at that point, i took the photos off to hopefully come up with one, small portfolio gallery.

i wasn't sure exactly how to get started, plus i got pretty busy for a while... but i'm going to spend some time now to figure it out and actually get it online asap.

there will likely be a small portfolio section (for those who only want to see a sample of my work). i don't think i'd feel content with just that, though. i think there will be another section (or several sections) with lots of other photos, still. i just can't get myself to leave so much off of there. how can i narrow down hundreds of photos that i'm pretty attached to down to 30? i think i would have to have someone else do that for me, without me giving them any input at all...

anyone have any thoughts?? one gallery with 30-50 photos, or have multiple galleries with lots of photos?

additionally, es-cent-ial's new site will be up this coming week. there will be some good stuff on there (plus more of my photos). the escential store will be up soon after. i'll do another post on that site once it's ready.

rough thoughts a few things

2009-06-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

it's been almost a month since i wrote anything on here (thanks to anyone checked out the little weeds thing and voted).

i just went to el salvador for a week to meet with a guy about working on a surf film for the next two years. it forced me to make some serious decisions.

recently, i've been thinking a lot about what i really want to do, and about all kinds of things. during this trip, i decided that the surf film, or surf photography in general (as a full-on job/lifestyle) isn't for me.

it will be a film with a great message, but i just can't fully dedicate my time and creativity towards that right now. (if anyone reading this is an aspiring filmmaker (or photographer who could easily make the transition to making films), send me a message and a sample of your work and i'll put you in contact with the producer. having plenty of free time and not much to tie you down would be be helpful in making it a possibility...

for me, it's time for a step away from the storytelling of surf culture. i just need to get back to the point where i'm simply enjoying surfing. i'm not going to talk about why it's fun...you all know.
somehow over the past year I lost that a bit. i need less talking about and thinking about surfing, and more of the actual activity. --less reading magazines, watching films, reading websites, etc. and more fun during the times that i am in the water -- i know enough about all of the excellent places around the world to surf, about board design, and about everything else that is talked about in those mediums, that i have no desire to learn anything else about it.

i'm inspired to live a more meaningful life out of the water, and then just surf because i like it. not everything has to revolve around the activity. i'm on the right track to get to that point.

i want to use the things i learned about the world and about myself over the last few years to do something great. i'm hoping that the kind of worldview i've acquired, mixed with my education and creativity, will be useful.

i'm not saying that i'm never going to shoot surf related photos... but i am likely going to do it a lot less. i'll be super selective in projects that i get involved in and sessions that i want to shoot. (picaresque was probably a perfect project for me to be a part of, and it helped me get to this point in figuring things out.)

only one of the el salvador photos here is even remotely surf related, actually. during this trip, it was a lot more fun for me to just walk around the city and shoot some street/lifestyle photos, and to take a couple portraits.

i spent a day with a local guy named oscar, from whom i learned a bit about how things work in their country. it's a pretty intense place for them. he told me that it is rather safe for tourists in el salvador right now (you still have to be smart), but it's not safe for the locals at all.

there is constant conflict between rival gangs, people not in gangs, and the police. none of them get along with eachother, and the authorities don't do much to help stop the violence. the threat of being "finished" is real to those who live in tough neighborhoods. the machete scars on oscar's neck, wrists, arms, and legs were clear evidence of that.

he has always worked instead of going to school (any school at all...i'm not talking about college), in order to provide for his mom and sisters. i assume that many others are like him in that way.
learning about these things directly from someone involved in them can be a reality check. even though the lives we lead are very different, we all have the same basic emotions, rights, senses, etc.

it's important to remember that. i think that's why i felt that i could relate to him so closely. even though my life experiences are very different from his, i've seen and been through enough to imagine what it would be like to live differently than i do, and through that imagination, i can feel what he feels, and i can understand, at least on a basic level, the issues of so many people around the world.

the material differences aren't important. many people put emphasis on that, saying things like "look at how small, dirty, simple their houses are... their clothes are so old... we're so lucky in the united states to have the luxuries that we have...".

luxuries and vanity are not what matter. the importance, instead, should be on basic necessities, including food, water, safety, education, shelter (any adequate shelter, not how great one's house is), medicine, at least some form of recreation, and community. how nice one's house, clothing, car (if they even own one) etc. is does not make them or their culture any better or worse.

i still don't know what i want to do, but in one way or another i want to help people who don't have those necessities to get them, and i want to help other people understand why those necessities are important for everyone. It may or may not be part of my job, but i hope it will be part of my life.

ok... anyway, here are some photos from el salvador.

little weeds

2009-05-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

i recently entered an australian photo contest through stab magazine. the winners compete at the end for the grand prize of a trip to bali with dustin humphrey to shoot photos, and a year long contract with stab magazine.

it's a long shot, but it's worth a try.

i created a profile and added some photos to their site. I'm sure the contest isn't only based upon votes and comments, and I don't want people to vote if they really don't like my stuff...but if you go to the following link and like what you see, please click on "stab". you don't have to register to do that. to leave a comment, though, you have to register as a spectator.

i'll add some more photos before the end of the contest as well.

http://www.stabmag.com/littleweeds/the-littleweeds/keith-novosel

thanks in advance.

hull-elujah

2009-04-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

i just got home from a week and a half in california. i was there to pick up a new board, stop into some surf shops on behalf of es.cent.ial wetsuits, have a meeting about a job, visit friends, shoot some photos, and of course surf.

the trip went well overall, except for the surfing part. right before i flew out there, i considered postponing the trip due to lack of swell in the forecast, but i went anyway...

i stayed with dave from almond surfboards for the first part of my trip. i picked up a new board that they had shaped for me... a 9'10". (the green and blue one in the photos). i didn't get a good opportunity in newport to properly ride it though. the waves went from good sized and super choppy to small and mushy pretty quickly.

it was great meeting dave and his friends. if you're in newport for any reason, stop into his shop and check out all of their boards, clothing designs, and starting next week, wetsuits. i'm sure he'd be stoked to chat about board design, etc. here are a few photos from around the almond shop...

he also took me up to shelter surf shop one day to show them the wetsuits. they made an order for summer suits (everything but fullsuits). shelter is another great surf shop, actually. it's different from almond, but both are non-standard shops, which is a really good thing... it's refreshing to see people realizing that not everyone wants only what the largest brands are offering.

after leaving newport, i went up to malibu to visit friends. it was awesome to catch up with several close friends, and it was great to be back in malibu. i love the area, i love the wave, i don't love the crowd at 1st point.

i've missed malibu since i left it two and a half years ago. i got over that a little bit on this trip. i'll still miss my friends, the mountains/nature, and what i know the surfing experience can be like if you get it on the right day...but i have no desire to surf there again for quite some time.

i just didn't get a chance to catch it on a medium day...like a consistent waist high weekday, for example. it just went from almost flat during the week to a hyped up shoulder high + swell for the weekend, with seemingly no transition time.

i'm generally content to surf the inside and get mostly scraps, but i was barely able to even do that on this trip. i spent a lot more time watching the madness from the wall than i did actually surfing. injuries, crying, negative words, craziness.

i've heard a lot about hulls recently. during the swell at malibu, a few guys riding them were really fun to watch (see the photos). smooth style and intense speed. i picked one up to bring back to a friend in FL. the one i was bringing back was already a used board, so why not use it one more time, right?

on the last night of my trip, i went out on the hull in north la county. one last chance to get a decent session out of the trip. from the cliff, the waves looked solid...head high or so, long lines. mostly super fast lines/closeouts, but a few looked make-able. it was worth a try anyway, at least it wasn't crowded.

at the beginning of the session i passed up what one overly aggressive guy must have thought i should have gone on. he said something...i can't remember what. it wasn't pleasant, though. was there nowhere with good vibes left over there?? at that point, after the week and a half of surf i needed and didn't get, i was essentially done... done with surfing for a while.

i can only go so long trying to have a fun session, without really getting one (not just this week and a half...that was just the final straw...) i've managed to get fun single rides here and there...but it's been a long time since a whole session or day came together properly.

i was thinking it must be time to just stop trying...stop checking swell models, stop looking at the ocean every day, stop watching surf films... just let a good session happen when it was going to...whether it's a month from now, 3 months from now, 6 months?

then i got a wave, and the good session started to happen right then.

the way that board rode fits my style well, i think. apparently a lot of people dig rails when first try to surf those boards. they're used to quick movements on thrusters. i prefer single fins and drawn out movements, so it felt really natural to ride this board. the first bottom turn propelled me forward like i haven't felt before. it was loose...but stable at the same time, if that makes sense. i was able to make waves i may not have made on any other board... i was loving it. i got about 5 good, long waves that session, but those few waves saved my desire to surf.

now i'm back in FL...still day dreaming about surf, still checking swell models, still watching surf films... still hoping/needing another good session sometime soon...really soon.

last minute shoot

2009-04-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

last weekend, we had one final session for picaresque. this time, we were guarenteed waves close to home--as long as there was not a power outage or a mechanical failure...

dustin edited in the new footage at the last minute and the film is finished -- ready for the US premiere tonight in cocoa beach.

see you there maybe.

here are some of my favorite photos from that session.

es-cent-ial in nicaragua

2009-04-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Last month, i went down to nicaragua with es-cent-ial wetsuits to surf and to document the trip. You may or may not have heard of them. If not, it's probably because they are brand new and just trying to get the word out. If so, then their current form of marketing is working.

Since advertising drives the price of products up, es-cent-ial is trying to create a following through grassroots marketing and word of mouth. My photography will hopefully help them to succeed.

Capturing photos to show the vibe of the company was my main purpose on this trip. Coincidentally, my natural photo style and lifestyle fits the company very well, so it made it easy to get great, true photos.

Please don't view this blog post as an ad, though. True, you'll learn about the company and product line, and yes, i'm endorsing the products and company as being great...but I'm not getting paid to say those things...i really believe in them.

see www.es-cent-ial.com to see other photos from earlier this year, and for a link to their blog with more info and the product shots from this trip.

enjoy.

picaresque

2009-03-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

i assume that many of you (if there even are many who read this) have probably looked at plenty of the picaresque photos i've shot, and probably watched the teaser and trailer numerous times over the past 6 months or so.

for those that haven't seen the trailer, i'm pretty sure you'll like it. mikey detemple, dustin miller, and all of the surfers in the film worked together to create what i think will be a beautiful film.

Picaresque Trailer 2009 from High Seas Films on Vimeo.

well, the time is almost here where the film will be shown in the US.

to those in northeast florida, there is a screening in st. augustine on april 11. for those farther south in FL, the official US premiere is in early april as well, in cocoa beach. i'm not sure yet about the date of that, though.

here's the poster with the info for the st. augustine event. i'll be stoked to see the short films as well. all of this is part of the first coast surf film festival. click on it to see it larger.

more film

2009-03-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

here is some more film from costa rica, plus a few shots from the end of the roll in florida, and one from the very beginning of the nicaragua trip (more on that trip in a post sometime soon).
enjoy the scenes.

costa rica film

2009-02-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

on my way home from the airport yesterday, i picked up my film from costa rica. i'm happy about most of it, a little bummed about other parts.

so it goes.

some are taken with the biggest camera i own, and others with the smallest... that's not important...i just thought of it and found it interesting.

here is a small sample of them... the rest of the photos are on their way up onto section five of the costa rica section on http://www.fluidmotionphoto.com/.

siestas and olas

2009-02-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

i stayed in costa rica after the picaresque trip ended (i'm still here for one more week)...
this morning, i was disappointed with a super crowded lineup (about 70 guys spread over 2 or 3 peaks that are close to each other), and pretty much all closeouts. i thought that was going to be it for playing in the ocean for the day.

i went with my roommate to the grocery store in the early afternoon, but forgot about their daily siesta---closed from 12-3.

We had some time to kill, so we went down to a stretch of beach way away from the main peaks and went bodysurfing. it's the best way to have fun when it's clean and hollow, but closing out.

it was so fun, that we went back this evening with the camera and got a few photos. i'm sure we'll do it again over the next week, because by the time we got back out there the light was about gone... it made for beautiful water for a while, but then blurry photos after that. anyway, here are some of the photos we got.

travis, my roommate down here, shot the photos of the guy in the wetsuit (me -- yes, i know...a wetsuit in costa rica?? well, the winds have been super strong offshore and there's some cold water upwelling...i'd rather be comfortable than shivering.)

not bad for one of his first times shooting in the water, eh? the last photo is obviously way blurry cause of low light, but it's my favorite wave that i caught this evening, so i'm putting it up anyway. if you use your imagination, you can see the shore on the far right, and the lip/wave wrapping around the black and orange blob in the middle.

the empty waves and ones of travis (no wetsuit) are by me. hopefully we'll have a chance to get some better ones in the next few days.

updated

2009-02-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

the costa rica gallery is being uploaded to my site as i write this. there are 4 sections, almost 200 total photos. at some point, i'll narrow it down much more, but for now, there are a lot of photos...

take some time, when you have some free time, and take a look if you want.

the gallery doesn't include any of the photos that i shot on film. those will be added later, once it's feasible to do so. i'm hoping that a few of the most interesting photos have yet to be seen by anyone other than the lab technician... but we'll see.

picaresque in central america

2009-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

i meant to update this as last week progressed, but there really wasn't any time after shooting, eating, catching a few waves for myself here and there, uploading photos, and most of all, travelling around to find waves and/or waiting for the tide to be right.

last week was the final trip for the filming of picaresque. i continued my roll as the still photographer. so, after this third trip, i was fortunate enough to be able to shoot photos in france, new york, and costa rica. (photos from france and new york are on my website and/or farther back in this blog.) there are many more on my website than on here though. http://www.fluidmotionphoto.com/, for those who don't know.

this trip consisted of dustin miller (filmmaker/editor), eric hires (water cinematography), myself as the photographer, mikey detemple (director, producer, and surfer), and surfers harrison roach from australia, scotty stopnik from california, and surfer/shaper chris christenson from california. they were all truly great guys to travel/work with.

anyway, this trip was like the others in that good waves didn't come to us super easily. but, we did end up scoring some really good sessions, which is all that we really needed. we had to deal with 50 mph offshore winds almost every day, but occasionally we managed to find the short windows of time throughout the day where the wind was more mellow and the tide was right. harrison had one session, though, where he surfed right through some of the worst of the wind...and he surfed it very well. when we couldn't find those windows of good conditions, we took a chance and headed a few hours south where luckily, the wind was a bit lighter.

enough of the semi surf report though... i can let the photos do the talking for that. it was just important to note that the waves didn't come easily, because that was such a huge part of this trip. i haven't been lucky enough to have a september sessions type trip, where we could just surf and shoot/surf waves "as good as waves get" for an entire trip.

that is quite rare, though, i'm sure. the time and effort taken to get good waves, and even surfing the less than perfect waves, should add plenty of personality to this film. many people, after watching the teaser and/or trailer, comment that it makes them want to surf. The reason for that, i think, is because although the quality of waves in the film are great, they are not so crazy perfect that they are unattainable.

i won't name surf spots here, even though they are hardly secret (at all). but, i do want to mention that joe walsh from witch's rock surf camp helped organize our stay at the beautiful cabinas las olas in northern costa rica. it was a great little eco friendly place with cabinas, a restaurant, ping pong (we had some great matches, even in the wind), and a short walk to multiple wave options.

i think that's a decent basic summary of the trip... nice people, nice places, nice times, and with some work, patience, and imagination, really nice waves.
here are a small sample of photos for now, until i decide which ones to put on my site.
pura vida.

so close to home, but so different

2009-01-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

i took a trip to the bahamas over new years. it wasn't a surf trip or a work trip, but i was lucky enough to do a little of both of those while i was there.

as far as the surf goes, it was very good. way better setups than florida. They get the same swell for the most part (except for the swell that they block from getting to south florida). but, instead of poorly formed sandbars with a trough between the inside and outside, there are plenty of reef setups. The water color is superficial, but a nice benefit as well.

the work part of the trip was for es.cent.ial wetsuits. http://www.es-cent-ial.com/. out of all of the suits i've owned, their's are the most warm and flexible by far. here are some of the photos from the trip, showing a sample of the waves, the mellow vibe of the islands, and the wetsuit photos.

panoramic

2009-01-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

here are the results of a roll of film from a fun little experiment i did a while back. i'm sure i'll play around with this technique more at some point in the not too distant future.

wedding

2009-01-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

about a month ago, i went to south carolina to shoot photos of my cousin's wedding. it was the first full wedding i have done, and actually, it was the first wedding I had even been to in something like 16 years...

i wasn't positive what to expect. I took a couple wedding photo books with me that I read last year, for some inspiration/knowledge reinforcement the evening before the ceremony. there's nothing quite like cramming to have things fresh in your mind.

the whole day went really well (photographically and otherwise), and i had a great time with all of my family.

here are a few of the photos that i captured throughout the day.

malibu/san clemente

2009-01-19T17:38:00.000-08:00

here are the last group of photos from california. it was good to be back in malibu to see friends, and to catch one of the fun off season background south swells that i like so much there. the pottery photos are of my friend daniel george's work. you can see more at his blog, http://www.danielgeorgepottery.blogspot.com/.

san clemente was also a great trip. i posted some about this trip right after i got back, so some of the photos will be the same. there will be some new ones, too, though.

when i was out west, i don't feel like i surfed very much or that the waves were that great in general (although all of my photos would suggest otherwise). but, it's all relative i suppose. these photos make me miss it for sure. florida's waves just can't quite compare on most days. every once in a while it does though, and i'm very ready for one of those days.

anyway, here are the photos of some california magic, on an average to below average week of winter swell.

ventura

2009-01-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

here are some photos from ventura. i really like that town.

port hueneme

2009-01-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

i decided that a portfolio of my whole california trip will be to large for a single post, so i'm going to do it in segments, beginning with ones i shot in port hueneme, where i was living. Here they are, in no particular order. Other photos from malibu, ventura, and san clemente will come soon.

excellent find

2009-01-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

A lot of people scour thrift stores in search of unique treasures. Some are monetarily valuable, while others are personally valuable due to personal taste/style/needs.

I had been wanting a small, pocket-able 35mm camera that I can carry around with me when it's inconvenient to bring my digital system, or my much larger 6x7 camera.

I recently found a perfect camera at one of the first shops I tried. I'm not usually one of the people who spends time searching...so I guess I had some beginners luck.

I asked the employee being the counter what he had the fit what i wanted. The first camera looked ok, but the film advance lever was broken. $10 for a camera that didn't fully work? no thanks.

He then pulled out a little silver and black camera that he said was made in germany, and had a nice weight and feel to it. A leica CM. I didn't know much about this specific camera, but I certainly know Leica's reputation. Everything looked perfect on it...except that the battery was just dead, so there was no way to test it.

I immediately said that I would take it, as if i didn't get it right then he would raise the price or something. So, I paid the $8.99, bought a battery and roll of film at the camera shop down the street, loaded it up, and looked into the lens and fired the shutter to make sure it worked, and I had the perfect camera I was looking for.

I will post a gallery of california photos very very soon, including some of the first roll of film I shot with this camera.

new work

2009-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

i'll have a lot of updates in the near future...

just writing this to make sure it's known that i haven't abandoned writing on here. i'll have some photos from california, my cousin's wedding, and the bahamas, plus a few photos from this past fall that haven't been seen/shown yet.

hopefully 2009 will be extremely productive. i'm looking forward to growing in my photo ability, and simply shooting photos a lot more often.

so long, california

2008-12-13T15:13:00.001-08:00

well,

my attempted move to california didn't work out quite as i had hoped, so i'll be packing up to go back to the east coast for the holidays. after that...i could end up anywhere...we'll see.

i'll probably put up a portfolio of the my favorite photos from my time out here, but i need to get a roll of film developed first.

Until then, here are a couple logging photos from a surf session yesterday morning.

sea walk

2008-12-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

in general, i haven't been too interested in going south of LA to surf. i think, since the waves down there are so overexposed in magazines, that I just got tired of them before even checking them out.

i was definitely missing out. i just spent a couple days down there with christian wach. we surfed very good waves with hardly anyone out...for both of the sessions. the first session was overcast and foggy, so i just surfed.

the waves were much better during that session than the waves in the session that i did end up shooting, but here are a few shots from the second day, of christian riding his new log and a borrowed alaia.

it's a rare thing for a surf photographer to get to surf when the waves are at their best...so even though the shots aren't as good as they could have been if it was sunny that first day, i'll take the waves instead of the photos this time.

good waves/bad vibes

2008-12-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

sorry for the lack of posts all month... i haven't had the internet at home and it makes it tougher to post things on here. i'll try to catch up a bit when i have enough time on the internet to do so.

for now, here is a little rant about my home wave. i've had great sessions there on the days that the swell isn't supposed to be epic. Then, when a proper swell finally came, it got crazy. This is just some thoughts on the craziness.

sorry, also, if reading it bums you out a bit...but i think it's important to realise how much bad vibes effect everyone's session...so next time you feel like someone is invading "your" spot, give them a chance to respect you before you ruin the session.

good waves/bad vibes (maybe i'm just naive)

i'm really bummed that i can't feel comfortable shooting photos at the waves by my home, just because the sandbars happen to be really good. i can see the purpose behind "locals" not wanting "their" spot to become publicized--the whole "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" theme applies. but...there is already a parking lot here...and although the wave is very fun and fairly un-well-known, it is hardly paradise. that time is long gone here.

i wasn't going to name names and post the photos all over the internet and in mags, etc. anyway. i understand the principles behind keeping semi-secret spots semi-secret, and was just trying to shoot some photos for some friends. i wasn't going to even shoot at the main peak. i just enjoy shooting barrel shots from the water, and shooting at the closeout down the beach would have been just fine. it would have been soooo fun for that.

but, it didn't matter what the purpose of my having a camera was, apparently...it wasn't worth the risk of losing the equipment that i would have had to have left in the car, just in case there was some truth in the warning that "there would be trouble".

i now don't really care about posting a few of the shots i got from the beach that day. not like that many people read this anyway, and i'm still not going to name the spot out of respect (not respect for the aggressive "locals"...i have no respect for their bad vibes...but just out of respect for the general code of conduct for spots like this, which i would have followed anyway.

at least my friends who paddled out had a really fun session, and friends in FL, etc. will probably appreciate seeing a few photos of quality waves.

we ended up going up the coast to get some photos for my friend jesse. We got great waves with a proper, mellow vibe at the other spot. it definitely wasn't uncrowded, but everyone got along fine and caught plenty of waves to themselves.

that same evening I went for a surf with my friend daniel back at the wave by my home. upon suiting up near the wave, someone driving by yelled "go home!" to whom I simply replied "I am home!". we then went out and had a fun session at the beach break, eventually moving over to the main peak right before dark when the crowd subsided. The few waves I caught there had the best shape of any i've caught in a long time, and I'm pretty sure daniel was stoked on the session too.

but, daniel took two boards down to the beach, and unfortunately only left with one. someone thought that the board should be theirs instead of his, I suppose. I'm positive that Daniel wouldn't have agreed...he was pretty fond of the board. If someone asked to check it out, use it, borrow it, etc., i'm sure he would have happily offered it to them...but stealing it is different, and it is the ultimate sign of disrespect.how can people who spend so much energy trying to scare people out of doing what they enjoy be able to sustain a positive feeling when participating in the activity themselves? It would be a shame to feel so alert/protective/aggressive all the time.

all surfers like to have waves to themselves, and it's normal, i think, to feel like it would be better with a few less people in the water. there has to be a better solution though. As long as respect is shown by everyone for everyone, in the spirit of mutual stoke, there is no reason why everyone can't have a fun session. besides the obvious signs of respect such as not dropping in on someone, not taking too many waves, waiting your turn for a set wave, etc. I also mean not paddling out to a spot that is already overcrowded, not naming names of sensitive surf spots in photos/articles, potentially saying hi and being friendly--actually enjoying the company of the people around you, not trying to threaten people out of the water or off of the beach--and of course, not stealing a board from someone.)

the land of mountains, pointbreaks, and groundswell

2008-11-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

i've been back for a little bit, but haven't really shot many photos yet. here are a few from the swell that welcomed me back. it was a fun morning with only friends out...not epic waves, but definitely not bad at all.

go west.

2008-10-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

i'm currently packing to move back to california-- tomorrow... i'm not sure what i'm going to do when i get there, but i'll work something out. if anyone knows of good jobs between malibu and santa barbara, please let me know.

plenty of photos to come from the west coast i'm sure--both film and digital.

new york gallery

2008-10-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

i've been shooting a lot of photos this week...baseball, portraits, and architecture. (i'm not sure if i'll post any of these recent shoots on here)

but, now that i'm done with those i finally had time to put the a gallery of images on my site from new york. http://www.fluidmotionphoto.com/ they are organized by general location... rural, urban, and suburban. long island is quite a diverse place.

you should check out rob kuliesk's film shots from the trip too. he got some epic portrait/lifestyle/scenic shots. go to http://www.robkuliesk.com/, and click to see images from picaresque. he shot this one of me, gerry, and mikey. i'll be putting up links to friend's blogs soon, including rob's, gerry's and mikey's... they are all very talented at what they do and it's definitely worth checking out their work.

a few more photos from new york

2008-10-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

i'm back from new york now, and im in the process choosing my favorite photos, etc.

since only photos from the biggest day are up so far, i'll show a few logging photos now. sometime next week i'll put a gallery on my main site with a portfolio of the whole trip.

seek and ye shall find

2008-10-21T13:40:00.001-07:00

to follow up on the last post... we found the right combination of swell, wind, tide, and sandbar that we were looking for. it just happened to be on the western end of long island, right by where we had surfed the night before. the problem was that we had driven 2.5 hours out east the night before. after spending the morning conducting an exhaustive search of the points around the eastern end of the island, the decision was to drive all the way back to the western beachbreaks.

the waves that we pulled up to were well worth the drive. what we found obviously wasn't proper logging waves, but the guys charged on their lighter longboards (and alec on his fish). mikey's boards were a little too light for the heavy conditions... two of them snapped before he called it a day. he was obviously bummed about that, but still stoked on the waves, photos, and footage.

i'll post more photos from this day later in the portfolio from the whole trip...

searching for waves in the northeast

2008-10-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

i've been in new york since friday to shoot some surf photos. i'll have some samples to show pretty soon. i haven't had much time or access to the internet to update anything on here.

this trip is the epitome of the east coast surfing life. constant monitoring of changing swell and wind forecasts, a lot of driving and looking for waves, and then finally getting to surf some fun waves, and/or making the best of the waves that there are. there have been some fun logging sessions...

there is plenty of swell right now, but we haven't found the right wind yet... there's an epic session waiting for us to find it later today hopefully.

i'm still beautiful

2008-10-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

last week, i spent some time with my sister in nashville. for several months, she has been organizing a benefit concert/fashion show to raise money for the organization "i'm too young for this". the purpose of the organization is to provide a network of support for young people with cancer. cancer is not just a disease that older people get. many people, including doctors, sometimes seem to forget that. "i'm too young for this" provides much needed support to get people through tough times, and to show that they are not alone in going through what they are experiencing. they show how it is very possible to still live productive, happy, normal lives, even while experiencing tough times.

the event that she organized, named "i'm still beautiful", was a lot of fun and it was very successful. I shot some photos of the bands...here are a few of my favorite band photos from the event, including photos of the following local nashville bands: the worsties, david condos, gone city, the good wolves, and lindsey jones. The music ranged from mellow acoustic to rock, and some in between. an 80's cover band named bueller played as well, but i like photos from the other bands better.

first post

2008-10-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

i figure it's about time to have a site to supplement my actual photography website. by trying to keep the photo website as clean and simple as possible, there are a lot of photos that get left out, and recent work often isn't shown. this is a place to show and discuss that work. additionally, this gives me a place to write a little bit about the stories behind the photos if i feel that anyone might be interested in reading about it.

i will begin with some recent work (which actually is on the main site...but not all trips will be), but will also pull photos from the archives at times to show/discuss photos from the past couple years.

i'll do my best to update relatively often.

ok...now to talk about some recent work...

a few months ago, i came across a post on the messageboard of the surf station's website (a surf shop in st. augustine, FL). It was posted by local filmmaker dustin miller (http://www.fleshprofitsnothing.com/), presenting a trailer for a surf film he and mikey detemple are working on called picaresque. i was blown away by the trailer and it made me so stoked on surfing, longboarding, film making, travelling, and the potential for epic photography to accompany the moving film being shot. I contacted dustin back in april i believe, and we met to discuss the film, the business/art/styles of surf photography, etc.

Five months later (part of what dustin and i discussed is the need for patience and persistence in surf photography), I found myself on a plane to france with him where we would meet up with mikey, christian wach, justin hugron, and matt chojnacki to see what we could come up with.

i'm not going to go through and tell the story of the whole trip, because hopefully over the next several months you'll be able to read that in some magazines, but i'll show a few photos here (up at the top.), and i'll do other posts in the future where i choose certain single image from the trip to talk about them some.

i feel that the first two photos are best viewed together...showing the ultimate contrast between land and water. both can show beauty, harmony, power, etc...just in very different ways. i don't feel like getting too philosophical right now...but i think there's a reason that both are nice photos when looked at alone, but way better together.

the third photo is one of my favorites from the trip...it's of matt in a perfect little barrel. he's on the right board for that wave. i doubt he would be in that position on the wave with enough speed to make it out if he were on a shortboard. there's just not enough room to pump for speed, and a shortboard wouldn't allow for the same effortless trim. plus, a barrel on a shortboard on a wave that size would seem a bit insignificant, but on a longboard, it makes you (at least it makes me) want to be there.

the last photo is of the whole crew after a session at biarritz. from left to right: justin, mikey, christian, matty, and behind the camera on the far right is dustin. thanks for a great trip guys.