Big Year

It Most Certainly Has been a Year of Big Things

Maybe the biggest installation of 2019; Piha Layers in Auckland Hospital, 6 metres long

And the original, actually cropped quite a bit from the bottom and left, showing how high resolution the 1 gig file can handle. Check it out HERE

Ok, in full disclosure, this post is written in complete distraction, there is usually, well mostly, a plan for the content... but the Pipeline Masters is on and it is PUMPING... I'm multi screening hard.

As 2019 winds down there's been a realisation that there has been some big stuff go down. Usually I get one or two big format commissions a year. In the last 6 months there have been heaps!

Paunui Walkway installed in the new offices of Network Edge in Fanshaw St, Auckland's CBD

The image was also used as the opening spread for Puanui in The Big Little Beach Book.... which sold out this week.

Then there’s old Capt Capsicum in front of his install of the Piha Bar Room in their Hong Kong offices

Check out the original image HERE

This whooper triptych at 3 metres x 2.4 metres just went into its new home in Papamoa.

The Mount at Dawn, first featured in the book Beached As Then and Now - check it out HERE

...this earlier this week Paul Moretti installed into the front window of Backdoor Westgate, right next to JJF!

The shot also features in the new book NZ Surf The Collection Volume II

Gotta big boring wall? Well maybe I can sort you out.

NZ Surf The Collection Volume II is now distributed nationwide through all good Bookstores and Surf shops.

But if your local doesn't have it you can buy the book online. The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order >>> HERE

Drought Broken

James Mcalpine, Shane Kraus, Toby Dobson-Smith and Liam Joyce ready for a tough first heat

This is not a board-riders contest report

But the only surfing photos I took over the last week of good waves were for our Keyhole November contest. And I'm not sorry one bit. Like every second mate I chatted with over the last week in the water, it has been a surf less few months. I did what every good surf photographer shouldn't do, I went surfing, got through the remedial surfs, got to wear my springsuit! Got rashes. Got stoked and got surfed out. 

Toby flying past Liam

Liam

Shane

Finalist Dave Wood

Tom Emmerson powering it

Let the Dune show begin

Dune Kennings put on a masterclass of high octane surfing through the contest to eventually win... but he sure didn't have it his own way. Shane Kraus got the highest single wave score in the final, and on another ride got tangled in the wash coming out of a searing carve, the result largely came down to an incomplete turn.

Dune...scarey good surfing in a board riders comp.

Anyway! Hope you're all feeling the burn from sore paddling muscles and you filled your boots.

NZ Surf The Collection Volume II is now distributed nationwide through all good Bookstores and Surf shops.
But if your local doesn't have it you can buy the book online. The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order >>> HERE

In The Press

This morning...actually not too bad! Aussie bush fire haze in full effect.

It would be easy to complain about the lack of surf at the moment, every second conversation is about how terrible Spring has been for waves. Spring is always bad around these parts, but this Spring has been particularly horrid. Seems like the Spring equinox is breaking though, Highs are filling the Tasman again and there was a nice swell over the weekend on the Eastside.

It's the busy time for books though, it's the time to be on Publisher/Distributor mode while Warren Hawke has been in promotion mode and man he has been doing well! Over the last week NZ Surf The Collection Volume II has featured heavily in Canterbury's press.

Cover tease and a double page spread in The Star today!

Cover and Page 8 in last week's Bay Harbour News

Cover tease and double page spread in the Pegasus Post this week. Otago, Marlborough and Westcoast a coming!

Seems like everyone is picking up favourably on the vibe of NZ Surf The Collection Volume II... good on ya Wazza, you've made another great NZ surfing book!

NZ Surf The Collection Volume II is now distributed nationwide through all good Bookstores and Surf shops.
But if your local doesn't have it you can buy the book online. The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order >>> HERE

Kerikeri Vert Jam

The man himself, Dave Crabb, organiser of the 2nd annual Kerikeri Vert Jam, on the tin ramp he built 18 years ago

I've bleated on in the past about how much I love shooting vert, how it is a full circle thing for me; how the very first photos I took were of Tony Hallam and Mark Robinson in the bottom bowl of Bob Hill Park in the early '80's. So when me ol' mate Cale Tolley suggested I jump in for a roady up to Kerikeri for Dave Crabb's Vert Jam, there was no pondering, just a firm f%ck yeah bro- let's go!

Roadie mates Ants McCloud and Cale getting ready for Friday evening's killer session

The Prez of Skateboarding NZ; Ramon Thackwell showing the flare that would earn him a healthy second in the Masters

Ants warming up

On Sunday, Ants reckoned it was probably time to break in a new pair of skate shoes

Much to everyone's surprise Dave opted not to enter the event, later citing, quite rightly, it's too hard to run a comp and have your directer hat on and then swap over to competitor mode. But on Friday, the 57 year old had all the other Masters worried

Cale... he's gonna kill me for this head shot... but...it's so funny

Cale limbering up on Saturday

Wanaka's Chris Curren

Uncle Mozza, Andrew Morrison, Morri, free from being the contest director this time, went on to win the Masters and the Highest Air

Pretty sure this is the winning Air

Cale's nose grind that was part of the run that got him the third in the Masters

Ramon's Crail Slide

Working out runs

Chris Curren backside feeble

Wellington's Chris Wood, defending Open Champ

Well on his way to backing it up

And he did... but this guy was nipping at his heals...

Meet 12 year old Wanaka local Zedyn Fellows... second in the OPEN

And no surprises... Junior champ

But right there behind him was Taupo's Remus Hanare, getting higher and more powerful every comp

Ants's fakie Ollie...crowd and judge pleaser

Ever the generous host, Dave Crabb invited EVERYONE back to Crabb Cove for a BBQ. It's a rad comp, Dave repetitively hammering home that it's all about good vibes and hanging with the NZ Vert Family. No doubt the legend nailed it for another year.

NZ Surf The Collection Volume II is now distributed nationwide through all good Bookstores and Surf shops.
But if your local doesn't have it you can buy the book online. The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order >>> HERE

The Dilemma

It has been phasing me for a week now. Of course the issue wouldn't exist if I simply hadn't pressed the shutter button. But I did. Call it instinct, muscle memory or a complete brain fart. Either which way it is done. Possibly the best 'surfing' photo I got at Mangamaunu, Kaikoura and it's of a bloody sea sweeper. Warren Hawke and I were in Kaiks for the final launch night of NZ Surf: The Collection Volume II. And there were fun waves, very shootable, what are two senior surf photogs s'posed to do- shoot of course. Wazza consoled me; 'Well you can spin it like this; It is, after all, Al Temoananui and he rips on any board he's on. He's the president of the Kaikoura Boardriders Club and he did contribute hugely to the Mangamaunu chapter in the book. You know you could alway photoshop the paddle out.' On top of all that he's a bloody top bloke, he's going absolutely 12'o'clock .... but he's on a SUP. Why did you do it LT, why didn't you paddle out on your proper board? What do you do? Bury it in a hard drive never to see the light of day? Or celebrate fine wave riding, no matter what the craft? Clearly I've gone the latter, but it wasn't a thoughtless process I tell ya.

Levi O'Conner adding a huge amount of ease to the problem

Feeling a lot better, thanks Levi

My counsel, Mr Warren Hawke, photog and author... an actual legend for his on going contributions to the NZ Surfing community

Tasty fun Mangamaunu... the scene of the crime. And sadly still under threat of a cycleway, despite it being recognised by the government as a protected surf break

Josh O'Rouke, our graphic designer for the NZ Surf book trilogy, snagged his fair share on the Kaiks leg of the tour

Tour done and back in the mighty Christchurch... and Taylors Mistake turned it up a notch with both swell and offshore gusts

Sorry mate, didn't get your name, but that's a fine drive off the base

Taylors Mistake has some of NZ's best baches tucked into the cliffs and hills

Another regular feature in Warren's books, Ben Reeso hacking through the offshores

Love me a good crib... and yep that actually is the direction to the famous Taylors rip

Try saying Rod Somogyvari's surname five times fast... it'll get ya

That's gotta suck

Better approach to the slamming end section on the next ride

Twin keel lip carve

Rod again in a cavern, Rod's also in NZ Surf The Collection Volume 2 ...AND he's got a camper van!

My week in the Mainland was sick, we had awesome turnouts for the four book nights. Thank you everyone that came along, regardless of whether you bought a book, it was just good to see you. AND we got waves!

Pre Orders for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2 are all sent out! THANK YOU all for taking up the offer!


The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is now here and ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order >>> HERE

Come Hang Out

You are invited to attend one of the following surf book launches

Sumner: Monday 4 November from 8.00pm Clink Restaurant and Bar.
New Brighton: Wednesday 6 November Level One Cafe and Bar from 7.00 pm.
Waikuku: Thursday 7 November Office Cafe from 7.00 pm.
Kaikoura: Friday 8 November Groper Garage from 7.00 pm.

I love these weeks. A, B and C I'm in the Mainland. And I get to hang out with Warren. Of course we do have a pretty close working relationship throughout the year of producing a book, and it's super fun, no doubt the hour long conversations we have are only 30% work. The evenings are rad catch ups with the Mainland crew. So if you're about come on along. Check out the book and have a yarn.

It has been the season for big installations. Here's this weeks. 5 metres x 2.8 metres gone into Network Edge's offices. It is the opening spread image of Pauanui in the Big Little Beach Book... which is nearly sold out again. There are only 50 of the reprint left. I'm guessing they'll go in the next round of shop orders. Should there be another re-print?

And this one nearly did me in. Because the client wanted a big 1200mm wide canvas the decision was made to get another drum scan done oversized so it prints super well, effectively 1200mm wide was a 50% reduction of the new drum scan. The downside; somebody had to spend 10 hours, re cleaning and ridding the 2 gigabyte image of pesky dust marks. On the upside, there's now a perfect file that will handle going billboard, and the 1200mm canvas printed amazing... like actually, even had the cynical, critical photographer's eye stoking out on the sharpness and depth of detail. Thanks to Heath at Phreon for the mega scan and Ange at Factory Frames for printing the beast so well.

Pre Orders for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2 are all sent out! THANK YOU all for taking up the offer!
The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is now here and ready to ship. Secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Check it out...and order, only if you want to of course >>> HERE

Barkers’ X Surfline Factory Seconds

For the last three years I've had the absolute pleasure of shooting the Barkers' X Surfline summer range. And last week we were able to step it up a notch, better waves and the addition of a new star model... Taz Hall. That's Taz up on the nose of Roger Hall's board.

Taz has his own Facebook Page and anyone surfing in Bream Bay regularly will probably have shared the swell with him. He's a bit a a wave hog/dog but his stoke is bloody infectious. Pretty much he perches up the front and instructs Rog which wave to catch, which is all of them.

Paws heading to the nose

Barkers' Clothing and Surfline have had a long relationship, longer than I've been shooting the summer range. The images made in these shoots get used for instore posters and window displays, and they also feature as a big spread in Spring issue of Barkers' magazine 1972, which goes out to 60,000 people. Quite a few more than NZ Surf mags ever achieved even in the halcyon daze of the early 2000's.

The factory seconds aren't really the B-roll, they just aren't the ones that quite fit Barkers' brief; like these ones of Sasha Brownlie, she's a girl, Barkers' is a menswear company... but she was also our continuity controller and art director last week.

Tony Baker was also one of the talent for the shoot.

Product obscured... straight to the out-take folder.

Moonbob has been a mainstay of the shoots and has ended up in Barkers' front windows on A0 canvases nationwide as a consequence... product in the shade...out-take.

Rog and Taz dominating proceedings

Sasha cross-stepping with grace

Sasha... and the rain comes down.

Moonbob... and a back focussed 5, damn it..straight to the out-takes.

Rain doesn't stop Taz, but it does kind of f&ck up a Spring/Summer boardies shoot.

TB..builder's crack 5...straight to the out-takes.

Paul aka Moonbob sitting down on the job.

Taz, stoked!

The man, the legend himself...Mr Mike Cunningham on the film camera and on hand to create video content of the day. Here's a teaser of his fine work, full edit to come...

The A's are in Barkers' hands now, Roger is sharing some of the images already via Surfline's Insty and Facebook, it's all go.

Speaking of which...today is a big day in CPL land, NZ Surf; The Collection V2 has landed! The wait is on for the call, come pick up your books, and pay the Customs, GST and Duty...dohl. So if you wanna help out with the GST...

Pre Orders for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2 went crazy last week. THANK YOU all for taking up the offer!
The 192 page+ Hardcover edition is nearly in the distribution warehouse…nearly! We are taking orders now for those who want to be first on the block with their copy. And of course secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Pre Orders are Available HERE

Podcasting From Piha

This week's post isn't going to be a long rant...'cos there's a new Raglan Surf Report Podcast out which fills that position. Check it out HERE

Luke's opening spread in NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2

We had a lot of fun doing it, Luke's way with the podcasts is to do them completely unscripted and with little to no plan about what is going to be talked about. We certainly end up in some weird places and are probably waaaaay too frank. But it's all done in humour and I hope you get a laugh out of it. If you don't use a podcast app you can watch the podcast on You Tube HERE

Pre Orders for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2 went crazy last week. THANK YOU all for taking up the offer!
The 192 page+ Hardcover edition will arrive at the end of the month. We are taking orders now for those who want to be first on the block with their copy. And of course secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.

Pre Orders are Available HERE

V2 is Here...Almost

If you've been reading the emails sent the last 3 weeks you'll know I've been tripping all over Italy. It was crazy cool, a trip of a lifetime. We came back through Hong Kong with good reason... not to partake in the riots, which actually were happening while we were there. No, there was a more pragmatic reason. I got to visit my printer's HQ and pick up an advance copy of NZ Surf: The Collection Vol 2 . It has been this year's big book project. And I can, being 100% un-objective, report it is a banger. 

An actual real book, already getting beat up from people having a blat on it...with a cheeky 1600 of it's siblings arriving at the end of the month!

I can't claim editorial prowess for this book, the concept and execution is all on Warren Hawke. He's the creative force behind it all, my roles are publisher and contributor. As the publisher, this was a no brainer to take on; the first volume of The Collection sold out in just over a year. Warren had..and has...identified a need for a book that reflects all aspects of our Kiwi Surf culture.

As with Vol 1 the book is crammed packed with NZ surfing royalty, shredders, big wave tacklers, women, long boarders and grommets. Warren draws no destinctions between craft ridden, age or sex. It's just about celebrating Aotearoa's rich surfing culture.

An important element of the book is the continuation of the Surf Village features. It worked super well in Vol 1 and this has been refined and distilled in Vol 2.

And there's wave porn... don't you worry, there are lots of waves to paw over.

Regional diversity is nicely covered off with surf breaks from the Far North to the Deepest South...and right in the middle.

There's contributions from Logan Murray, Doug Hislop, Shaun Tunny, Bryce Wilson, Wayne Parkes and more.

From our elite athletes...

....to where it all started.

The movers and the shakers...

The artists

and the far flung

The 192 page+ Hardcover edition will arrive at the end of the month. BUT the advance copy signals the opening of pre-sales. We are taking orders now for those who want to be first on the block with their copy. And of course secure a copy of the limited edition run...once the 1600 are gone; and they will go, that's that.
Pre Orders are Available HERE

Chaos and Explosions

Piha from Anawhata Road last Wednesday night... 106 frames, each 30 seconds long, stacked. The horizontal light lines are planes leaving Auckland airport.

Last week was all about the photographic trend of astrophotography and specifically image stacking. Didn't see it? Check it out Here

This week, keeping in the theme, is another photographic trend, which is closer to my heart...Backwash and the glorious chaos it creates. There are photographers who specialise in backwash photography, some even going so far as to claim it as Ocean Art. I think that's a bit verbose. But there is definitely a set of skills involved in getting good backwashes, or more correctly; where backwash collides with an incoming wave. That's easy for me, I live at a beach that has a very famous one, so that's a big tick.

Glorious chaos and explosions

Then you have to pick your times, personally I like backwash backlit, which means on the West coast, it's an evening shoot. Back lighting shows the opacity of the wave face and ideally you'll get a bit of golden light in the spray. Clean offshores are good too, you get more loft and hang time in with the spray, plus your kit doesn't get covered in incoming [deadly to expensive electronics] sea mist.

Backlit goodness

You want to be close, but not too close, using a tripod is always ideal, but it does mean you're committing to being stationary. Before you set up observe a few sets, time your session on an outgoing low tide, find a spot to set up that isn't going to get nailed by a random sweeper set... I pushed it once, trying to sneak a session in on an incoming tide in 1991, I learnt the hard, expensive way.

Milkshake peak

Timing is everything; here's my golden tip, while you're going to want the biggest set, sometimes they aren't the best explosions, it's about watching and following the backwash. So almost counter intuitively, you're studying the waves going out to sea, as much as you are the incoming set waves.

Sea Mountain

Bat Eagle

The image I was after, ironically shot just 5 mins after setting up

Get out there, have a go, good photos don't happen sitting around thinking about it.

Next week... well... you'll have to wait, but it's going to be different again.


From The Galleries

Chaos from the water, can't wait to be in this place again. Like this image? Check it out bigger HERE

Stacking It

Excuse the typos in this week's post, it's finals morning at Teahupo'o so there's real distraction. Of all the WCT events Choopes would be my favourite. It is the one I'd love to be there.

Choopes back in the day before international comps at the venue, 2005

Blair Stewart in a Choopes beast 2006... man I'd love to be back there!

There have been no waves around these ways, but there are windows of off shores coming. The default is to another super fun type of photography; Night Shoots and the night sky.

Auckland's Civic Theatre at night

Auckland Viaduct night pano... and International Pano Award winner 2013

When I first got a camera in the late '80's I loved making long exposures of the Auckland skyline. I was fascinated with the concept of being able to lock the shutter open for hours letting the available light from buildings just seep onto the film emulsion.

29 Pines, Mojave Desert, shot on 120mm film at about 12 minutes… and one of the best dad jokes ever; Liquor in the front and Poker in the rear… which is actually a Reverend Horton Heat album name

Digital cameras are pretty good at night shots, you can change the iso, you can see your exposures at the time. The one real down side is you can't do REALLY long exposures, anything over a couple of minutes and you risk burning out the sensor.

Stacking it, framing the southern axis over North Piha's only shipwreck

But there is a work around called stacking. You set up the camera and take multiple images over a long time and then in post stack the images on top of each other. Here's last nights;

Piha from Anawhata road... 106 frames, each 30 seconds long, stacked. The horizontal light lines are planes leaving Auckland airport.

And the Tahiti Pro 2019 is done and dusted!... no spoiler here though, you'll have to go find out somewhere else.

From The Galleries

Lion Rock under the southern axis sitting the the Beach Gallery HERE

Salty Faces

When the PhotoCPL book was being together a theme emerged that wasn't preplanned at all. It became evident that the spreads really started to shine when a portrait inset was added. We ran with it, it worked.It worked better than ever anticipated because it added more depth. It highlighted just how well a portrait almost instantly becomes a recording of the past. haircuits, hell, hairlines change. Clothing and trends tie an image to an era.

AJ Matthews spread in PhotoCPL

Mikey Banks spread in PhotoCPL

Doing that book 11 years ago hammered home that fact that photography is such a rad way of recording time. If there was a thing I'd do differently it would be to take more images of people to have an archive of thoughtful moments.

Daniel and Xavier Davie spread in PhotoCPL

I'm not a portrait photographer, I'm not good at it. I look at the editorial work of Marti Friedlander or Robin Morrison in awe...like how, why whaaaatt? How'd they cajole the subject into that poise- how did they think of that? 

There is a place I've found that I like what happens when I attempt a portrait. I suspect they work, work for me anyway, because at that time the subject is absolutley in the place they want to be the most. They are somewhat less guarded, the subject exudes a happiness. Generally with a smile that's hard to fake. 

Kehu Butler a few years back

Khan Bulter, Kehu's Dad

Jesse Peters at Shippies

Billy Stairmand at Manu Bay

Peter Harding at home on Greedy's Left

James MacAlpine at Te Waha

Cale Tolley at the Island

Johnny Stokes double rainbows

Luke Cederman's blue steel

Leon Santorik and AJ Matthews a couple of weeks back

Paul Culpan at Johnson's Point

James Skivington at Caves

Greg Straight same day

The legend, Al Goodwin

Ant Low summer vibes

Brendon Shadbolt always stoking

Mark Coffy A O K

Hayden Strom, Krui, Sumatra

Deidi, Krui

Ratty at home

Luke Huges at his home

Nat Baron during a North swell last winter

Roger Hall, Waipu last spring

Kye Bedford in his happy place

Paige Hareb between sets

Lewis Hampton just before the set that snapped his new board

From The Book Shop

The book that started it all, check it out more HERE

Other Things

I do shoot things other than surfing and waves.  I keep it pretty quiet, but certainly a large component of the annual income stream is commercial work. I really like architectural and construction work. I like the discipline of understanding the optics of a lens and how to achieve  straight lines... Architects and Builders HATE bent verticals and curving beams... you have to be so critically correct and know what is going on in the camera. I love it, love the challenge, love the technical knowledge you have to build up. 

So while I'm chained to the desk in book production for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol II which you can read about HERE  and there's clearly no surf around these parts. Here are examples of what also pays the bills. 

Just fresh out of the camera, this was a job for Nouveu Construction and Oceans Electrical last week at The Wedge, Ponsonby. The challenge was to show the light installation and its reflection while showing the work space. So I opted to do some panoramas to avoid lens distortion.

The LED light strips are controlled via an app so you can adjust the brightness and colours, part of the brief was showing that, so another challenge was keeping the light [in photog speak temperature] faithful to those lighting changes.  

After all that, this is a personal shot. I wanted to shoot the Crystal Palace's ceiling Rose, but shoot in technically correct and big, again these are big resolution panos. The curves in the ceiling moldings are sagging from the old girl's age. 

I shoot tiles! Tiles are a challenge to shoot, tilers are super critical about straight lines and of course tiles are highly reflective and generally in small rooms with mirrors. You have to be on your game to be straight AND not be in the image. I like this one because the mirror was used to show the hex tiles on the back wall. 

This one was harder than it looks; the challenge was to show the angles and the different textures of the tiles used.

The atrium on the TVNZ building shot last winter for The Tile People. 

Getting a job and making it harder, a detail pano of tiles in a tight kitchen.

Next week there's going to be waves! So transmissions will return to normal... don't unsubscribe just yet. 
 

From The Galleries

And not a straight line to be seen, just nature's best curves. An east coast bomb from July. Check it out HERE

Big Thing Coming

We had hoped to do it, but really it all hinged on you. Would you pick up on what we're putting down?  Turns out the book NZ SURF: The Collection Vol.I was a bit of a runaway success. We sold through the entire print run in 14 months. There are a few copies scattered around some book and surf shops, so if you haven't yet got your hands on a copy you'd better get out there toot sweet. 

NZ SURF; The Collection is the brainchild of Warren Hawke, I stepped back into the role of being the publisher and Wazza took on being the author and editor. It's a challenging thing, releasing the reins and just guiding someone else through the thorny garden of book making. But Wazza hit a sweet tone with Vol.1. He jammed as many Kiwi surfers and stories in there as he possibly could. It worked, we sold out and sold out fast. 

The title alluded to the hope that the New Zealand Surfing community with like it enough that we'd be able to continue the series. For the last 18 months Wazza has been amped up on creating content for NZ Surf: The Collection Vol.II. He's travelled the country chasing swells and gatherings of the tribe. 

I'm only allowed to show you the cover, but I can tell you now Vol.II has totally honed in on what worked, what was applauded in Vol.I and distilled the winning formula. 

The final touches are being completed this week, and on Monday the 192 page [+covers and endpaper...so really its 200 pages]  book gets sent to the printer. The release will be November and we're bloody well excited at the impact that this is going to have.

Vol.II is new material, but follows the best ideas from Vol.I. There's coverage of new and older members of our surfing tribe, we've included some very different places in different ways to get to the roots of surfing in New Zealand as only a book can. There's surf history, surf stars and grommet coverage. Wazza has packed over 500 images and close to 60,000 words into the book that will have you go back again and again. We also reckon that there's photos of at least 350 different surfers in Vol.II. 

As with all PhotoCPL Media books it is a hard cover, quality printed and bound using sustainable FSC certified paper stocks. Designed by artist Josh O'Rourke. It also features the work from both established and upcoming surf writers and photographers. NZ Surf: The Collection Vol II - will be a limited print run again. The rrp will be $65.00. In the next few weeks we'll start pre-orders, but in the meantime... well, there you go, thanks to all that bought into Vol.1....here comes the chaos of book promo'ing and distribution! 

Reef Giveaway- Given Away!

Reef very kindly gave me a pair of Voyage Boots and Mick Fanning Jandals to give to you, that's $300 of kicks. You had a 1 in 1487 chance of walking away with the booty [see what I did there]. Every subscriber went in the draw, which was done at 9am this morning using Random.org's number generator and Ken from Raglan won. They are on their way Ken! 

From The Galleries

An east coast bomb from earlier July. Check it out HERE

24 Hours In The Waikato

There was no post last week, and there was the best excuse. The only acceptable excuse; waves. A flurry of messages and calls, organising, packing the camera gear, packing the boards, packing the Troopy and slightly packing about what I was getting myself into. Last week's long period west coast swell had everyone frothing at the gills. Where would be handling, where would be big. As it turned out the coasts from South Taranaki up pumped for days. I opted for 24 hours in the Waikato. 

Luke Cederman last Thursday, just as the swell started to show

Luke in Raglan Surf Report advertising mode

That was fun, but I didn't drive to the Waikato to shoot lefts this time. The pre-planning was all about chasing down some big rights. The tides were good, the wind was right. 

Leon Santorik drawing first blood on the right

Sam Mathers under the hood on one of the larger ones of the session

Luke Hughes wagging the shaping bay for the morning

Leon on the foam ball

When close is too close; Taylor Hutchinson well past full frame

On the next wave Stu buckled that black beauty

Sam Mathers perfectly poised, Sam doesn't love this shot, frustrated that the wave wasn't big enough

Our Champ Billy Stairmand and my favourite image from the session

Close second fav, Leon

...and that was that, the tide moved in and the bank stopped churning. But the day was far from over, within hours, just enough time to decompress and get some lunch, the next bank would start to fire up. 

Straight into the sun and the glare, miles away, everything photography 101 tells you not to do, Alex Dive driving through the glitter

Tom Billington couldn't make the morning sess' , he made up for it with vengeance in the arvo

Chris Malone hooking

All style and rail... Billy Stairmand

Not to be out done on the rail game, Divey

Billy

Leon out on the face for a change

Waikato winters and options

Taylor not so full frame this round

It's wintery green, it's cold, its rippy, its hard work, but wouldn't you just love to be presented with that section. Billy blazing

24 hours of crazy good waves. As it turned out the west coast would pump for another 96. I'd like to be writing a claim that I'd surfed it out myself; truth be told I was happily broken from the big swim. Hoping you got your fill. 

THE ASFF Winter Sessions

Did you miss the Aotearoa Surf Film Festival 2019 this summer? Well aren't you a tinny little bugger, it's back for the winter sessions!  Watch the trailer HERE

Details for the Auckland showings are on the ASFF website... Auckland showing at the legendary Crystal Palace! 
 

From The Galleries

And for something not too dissimilar; and east coast bomb from earlier in July. Check it out HERE

Giving and Watching

Billy Stairmand is one of 3 men who have been selected to represent New Zealand and compete in the ISA World Surfing Games at Miyazaki, Japan in September this year which is one of the qualification events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

He's started a givealittle page to crowd fund the costs of getting there. At 5K he's not even asking for that much. Anyway, on the givealittle page/s prizes and gift packs can't be explained. BUT Billy has organised a whole bunch of prizes that will be given away, including one of his surfboards [not one of the snapped ones from the other week!] Billy is getting to prizes together now and will announce them via other social media next week. - I'll keep you in the loop as well. In the meantime, if you donate now, you'll still be eligible; basically every $20 unit equals an entry. So give a little. 

As mentioned in last week's mega post Brodie Jakich's clip of the strike mission is now out. You can view it via Backdoor's Instagram HERE

Speaking of Clips

Did you miss the Aotearoa Surf Film Festival 2019 this summer? Well aren't you a tinny little bugger, it's back for the winter sessions! 

Watch the trailer HERE

Details for the Queenstown and Auckland showings are on the ASFF website... Auckland showing at the legendary Crystal Palace! 
 

From The Galleries

If it was music it would be called re-mastering it. Last week I posted this image as a new edition to the Waves gallery on PhotoCPL.co.nz. Often I'll get a proof done, and I didn't like the proof. I'd made the blacks too muddy in an effort to have a punchy image with wintery skies.

Fail! the beautiful silver opaque tones of wave was lost.

So back to the original, and a complete revision of the grading. NOW there is an image that looks like what it was like that day.

Check it out HERE

Chasing Storms On The Eastside

You can view this one larger HERE

The message back to Darren, Backdoor's marketing guru, was a firm YES. Yes I'm keen to go storm chasing with the Backdoor team, yep I can meet there, yep I can meet then... wait can we make it earlier and maybe even stay longer? The froth levels were super high, Darren had assembled the A team and the Low spooling off the East coast looked REAL good. 

5am Auckland traffic

What we hadn't really accounted for in our pre planning was the weather. We had over frothed.

Dawn.... beautiful driving and shooting conditions.

Darren and the crew at stop one... you see a photo of Darren... I see a photo of the Troopy

The ol' when a wave breaks there, don't be here... Paul Moretti about to embrace the tumble cycle

The Low Pressure System was behaving itself and doing exactly what the weather gurus had predicted... we on the other hand and expected faster movement. We were a day too early. When you've been on enough surf missions, there's a mode you learn to adopt. Slow down, micro manage, fill the hours while you wait with meaningless tasks... want lunch? Find a warm cafe and make it last 2 hours. Need to catch up on your texts... write essays to your absent friends. The wind finally swung, the rain did not. 

A rare sighting of the Ceep... but how's the set up, love that $5.00 e-Bay umbrella/tripod bracket!

Matty Hewitt's rain dance

Matt, rain dance v2

Half the Backdoor team could only stay the day, so job on. We were lead to a perfect option thanks to Daniel Davie, credit where credit's due Dan made a great call, the waves were thick and rifling. 

Dan, absolutely styling it in his own front yard

Taylor Hutchinson perfectly poised

Darren Celliers hunting down the hollow ones

Paul Moretti setting the tone for the next few sessions

Grom sensation Caleb Cutmore found a few rare open faces

It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done. Taylor, Matt and Darren couldn't stay. I would ague they had a misdirected work ethic. The rest of the team opted to stay, pleading texts were sent to partners and bosses. The rain persisted through the night. Was it going to be a wash out?

Taranaki's Daniel Farr drawing first blood first light

Klee Dummond as always, on the ones that drain just right

Your 7x national champ, our trip captain Billy Stairmand and the one that got away

Billy's redemption

Daniel Farr charging down in the southern corner

Bill with board change [board snap] number 2, the cost of charging

..and the clear dividend of said charging

Paul, at the 'this is probably not going end well' moment

Again, Paul's dividend

Paul...ok at this point there has to be a forewarning ... there's a lot of images of Paul, aka Pablo, aka the Rook. It was his session

Whitianga's own Jay Piper- Healion well locked into cruise mode

Jay in a nugget

Bill in full flight and steaming for the exit

Pablo... he just kept finding them

Not the same wave

But definitely the last one of an epic session

Why the last? Well that lip got me pretty good, blew the water housing out of my grip and sent me into a crab dance on the sand. We both came up laughing, and the camera survived

Thanks has to go to Darren and Hutch from Backdoor Surf for pressing the go button in this team trip, check out Backdoor's social media, Sharp Eyes NZ, Channel Islands NZ and all the lad's Instagram accounts for more of the images. Brodie Jackovich was on hand too videoing, I've seen the rough edit, it's gonna be a sick clip when it drops. 

From The Galleries

There were lefts too! Big hollow perfect peaks, I've added this one to the Wave Gallery, fricken LOOOVE it. Wanna see it bigger, want it on your wall? Well click here ... and while you're there, there is a like button and sharing options, help a fulla out, share the love :)

Got The Cover!

If you've been getting these E-bombs and weekly posts for awhile, you'll know I'm not one spare of a few words or four. It's an occupational hazard of being a surf journo hack. I've lost my words this time though. The latest issue of Smorgasboarder is about the hit the surf shops in Australia and NZ. Dune Kennings is on the cover; it's a shoot we got together a while back, a winter session at North Piha. Dune is on the board his Dad Lynden shaped him, January 1, 2000. Dune's very first board, the one he learnt to surf on. 

I'm stoked beyond stoke. Stoked to have landed a magazine cover again. Stoked that it's an international mag. Stoked that it is Dune, at North Piha and on THAT board... wait, apparently I've found my words! 

The latest issue of Smorgasboarder's lead feature is ummm.... me! I knew the interview was going to be published, but figured it'd be rightfully tucked away in the back. It's not, it's fricken front and centre, bold as fuck! I have to say there's definitely a bit of ol' Kiwi humility kicking in.  Whaaa? Holy shit, that's not what I signed up for! But I'm stoked on the photos Dave and the crew from Smorgasboarder have used, stoked on the look of the spreads. 

Cale Tolley back in print! This image was also used by NZ Post as the cover for their presentation pack of NZ Surf Breaks Stamps

AJ Matthews, casual as

Dune getting another spread

oooshhh! South Piha and the Lion looking pretty. This image is also on the store from of Back Door, Barry's Point Road

The book The South Seas gets great props in the feature

The 12 page feature is bookended with a bang, Elliot Paerata Reid under a nice thick lip

Has the word stoked been used too much in this post? Definitely. Bloody chuffed to land a cover! 

Check out the full new issue of Smorgasboarder HERE  

The Book Store

Wanna check out the Photo CPL Media books? Well the link is HERE
10 years of Publishing Hard covers and no sign of stopping anytime soon :)

Roady Time!

This week was always going to be about a mid winter wave hunt. It always is, it's my birthday week. I'm pretty sure I've prattled on about Gisborne holding a special place in my heart, but here I go again. In my late teens when I was living on the Gold Coast I hung out with a lot of surfers from Gizzy. And they all ripped. They'd recall stories of epic Gizzy Island sessions, how hard it was to get out there, how good Stock Route was. It hammered home how good it must be.

This week’s treats

I didn't get down to Gizzy for another 4 years, the first trip was with Col Johnson, Sos [Steve Sosich] and an American surfer. We went to Mahia and slept in the Pines, got skunked with the wind and drove back to Wainui to find it pumping. Clean 3-4 foot lines pouring in at No Access. It was crowded! And everyone seemed to surf really well.

A Tuesday Stock Route Special

Soon after that I started working at the surf mag. I was working with a Gizzy native, Chris [Budge] Berge. And at the the time there was a huge Gizzy push of talent, Clint and Eddie Daly, James Fowell and the grommets; Maz Quinn, Damon Gunness, Brent Rasby, Chrissy Malone and Blair Stewart were all making names through the junior ranks. Budgey made sure we never missed a chance to be back in Gizzy. 

It set the tone for the next 15 years. We'd stay right on the beach at Schools, Wainui in Teddy and Smurf's flat with a revolving cast of flatmates. There'd be a minimum of 6 road trips a year to Gizzy, sometimes more, never less. There was criticism levelled at the mag that it was too Gizzy centric. We remained unrepentant, there was a real push of talent from the province. And dammit the waves are so good. 

Makorori blurs and hues

Troopy Porn... don't you worry, more to come

Every year I vow to get back to Gizzy more, more often. Every year slips by and the trips are less. I don't like it, life gets in the way. 

This week was awesome. The gorgeous Ange and I had 4 blissful days surfing and sunning along Wainui and Maccas. The waves weren't epically epic, truth be told the banks are a bit blown from the swells Gizzy has copped over the last month. It didn't matter, there was still fun to be had. The weekend was packed, the week days were mellow. Good catch ups with old mates. Never enough time to catch up with anyone really. 

Lines for days

Young Nick don't surf

Home away from home, heater on full blast

The infamous Stock Route wall, Stick 'Round Maz? Nah, Stock Route Mafia

Stock Route and not another soul out, clearly must've been in the wrong place

Gorge Textures

See ya again soon Giz-Town. 

The Book Store

Wanna check out the Photo CPL Media books? Well the link is HERE
10 years of Publishing Hard covers and no sign of stopping anytime soon :)

Back On The Map and Ric

And the world's worst kept secret is out... 

Late last week the Herald 'leaked' the information that there was a very real chance that Piha would host as World Qualifying Series Event in 2020, not only that, but the organisers were going for gold, it will be a 10,000 star event. As such attracting, possibly, all the very best surfers in the world. I feel that I have to stress here, I'm not being glib, and trying to be all like 'told you so'... but it's hardly been a leak or much of a secret that it was on the cards. For the last year it has been the chat over a post surf coffee at the Piha Store. Is it gonna happen, what will it mean for Piha? Is it a good thing? Isn't it gonna be sick seeing how Slater tears apart our waves? Isn't gonna suck that we'll be invaded for a couple of weeks by wave greedy pros? Me? I dunno, the jury is out... but I'm actually tending towards the selfish surfer in me.  

Here's a good report on it from NZ Surf Journal. 

Ric on Tv! 

Ric Christie hosted and absolutely starred on last Saturday's episode of Fresh, TV2. One of Fresh's Field Directors is Raglan surfer Olly Coddington, Olly is the man behind the scenes that put this ep together, including contacting me for all the archival images used in the show of Ric. I'm completely biased, 'cos I've known Olly since he was 13 and he's a GC, a bloody champion, but that said I reckon Ric did a bloody good job in front of the camera. Check it out HERE 

Olly Cods, smashing the Bar earlier this year. 

The Book Store

Wanna check out the Photo CPL Media books? Well the link is HERE 

10 years of Publishing Hard covers and no sign of stopping anytime soon :)