Manu Roberts on dawn patrol by tail v2.0
The surf was super fun last night at Piha, I surfed, didn't shoot. El Nino is not kind to Piha surfers, persistent onshores and just that little bit too big and junky for anything other than a high tide despo' . The evening's chats in the water were thematic about a good surf 2 weeks ago, then only one more ok one the fortnight prior. That it's been the worst summer ever for waves at Piha. It wasn't, but it sure sits in that bracket. Good surf last night, hyped for the dawnie then right? Yep. 7am revealed the usual, the promised offshore was over-ridden by a nor-wester. At this point after months of spoiled starts, it's like the mis-quoted and in fact highly criticised Kübler-Ross model. The fives stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I'm at acceptance, I skipped the D ones.
Whale Tail v3.0 for Patsy Clarke
Sooooo what to do? Oh the Tails!!! There's a super cool thing happening around Piha, about 18 months ago the first one appeared at South Piha, a whale tail seat. It got everyone talking, who did it, and why. I didn't love version 1, but didn't mind it either. Then I saw it getting used, that people liked it. Of course it highlighted that there is no seating at Piha, no seats, no council BBQ's. One toilet block at South Piha with one shower head for beach goers. Two toilet blocks along North Piha... with single shower heads. It speaks to an ongoing tension at Piha.... not the wild and sensational drama series Dark Coast. No, this is ongoing tension between the vocal minority and the rest of the Piha residents. There is a group at Piha that are well versed in the way council work, their agenda is to retard Piha, they have done successfully for decades now, blocked us having a public skate area for the kids [although we have had two public ramps in the 80's and 90's]. They successfully blocked a footpath running up beside Piha road, that incorporated better drainage for the road. Any type of innovation is shut down, 'not in the character of the Piha Village', flying in the face of history and facts.
Enter the legend Sandbanksea ... see what he did there... Banksy the world's most famous graf political artist, nice work. Quietly, the artist who wishes to remain ambiguous, crafts their Whale tails and then shares them with the public, they have even sussed out a design and install that ensures at the tails are immovable without using any concrete. I'm noticing Sandbanksea you're putting them at your favourite left banks! The process and thought the artist has put in is quite remarkable and very much a F-you to the vocal minority of self appointed gatekeepers. There's four now.
All installed in the dead of night. It's been quite exciting seeing where and when the next one pops up. Over summer I promised the artist I'd shoot them with a nice sunset, there's been no shortage of nice sunsets, that's not the issue. The problem is I can't get a clean shot at them. They are being used, a lot! They have become gathering points, points of discussion, points of confusion and conjecture. And for all these reasons I'm Sandbanksea's biggest fan.
Wailing v4 and the project evolves with finer detail and craft
Imagine having a series of functional art pieces that actually helped preserve the sand dunes by guiding foot traffic through 'sensitive' coastal zones. Rant over, clearly no surfing :)
AND DEEEN....
Winner and a winner, while there isn't a chicken dinner for the two winners, there is a copy of the latest Submachine Mag jetting it's way to subscribers 1490 and 1403 [using random number generator] So Off Shore Decorators and Byron keep an eye on the letter box.
FROM THE GALLERIES
This guy is actually my screensaver currently, you don't need to know that, wouldn't expect you to want it on the merit that the photographer loves it so much he chooses to see it everyday. The reason it's my screensaver is 100% emotional, sure it's a technically well taken photo, but it's the feelings and memories it evokes, an epic swell and surf trip, a reminder to return to a favourite stretch of sand. That's why clients buy photos, not because the photographer was a technical master, it's because they have a connection to the subject. I like that, kind of makes my job harder, but it's the right kind of challenge. Course, you really should be looking through the Photo CPL Galleries now, you can do that HERE