Westside... the place to be

Westie perfection all week

Summer and Autumn are our time. It's the time the swell drops enough, long enough for the iron sand to groom itself into scollops and holes along the coast. The gutters fill in and unlike east coast beach breaks which generally are short and snappy, we get sand formations which create 200 metre long rides, more often than not there are a lot of cutbacks involved, nursing the wave, waiting for a decent section to rear up. Barrels are rare, but not out of the realm of possibility. It's been a very late start, January was inconsequential, frustrating in fact, February was slow to start, faith was being tested. But here we are, two weeks into a run of offshores and fun. In full disclaimer, I've been surfing lots and not really capturing the best sessions. 

EPR revelling in the warm summer sessions

Dune Kennings finding ramps

Local fremlin Leia Millar smashing it in grom corner

Gabi Paul inspiring the next wave of Piha grubs

10 year old Indi Corcoran up from the BOP this week to compete on the Billabong Grom Series Finale this coming weekend at South Piha

Aramis Goodwin...literally floating a boat last Saturday during the Annual Keyhole Single Fin Comp

Blades of old

Bean, Mischa and Dune heading out to do battle. Check out the comp round up and more images on the Keyhole Facebook page HERE

Last week's full moon made for some crazy tides, that combined with our coast's sand accretion meant Lion Rock was left high and dry

Didn't this used to be the take off point when Old's Man's Peak was a wave???

From Lion's feet to the Nun

The Aotearoa Surf Film Festival 2020

Yes indeed, EIGHT YEARS! It is an honour to be one of the founding judges of the ASSF. Over the 8 years of selection I have seen some shit, like actual crap, hours and hours of it, hoping, willing the short films to have a glimmer of stoke. And then there are the shinners; the films that amp you up, the stories well told and inspiring, the diamonds in the rough. The whole concept of the ASFF is to foster new talent and encourage NZ filmmakers. And then showcase that work to you in the national touring roadshow. It's a good night out. 

The ASFF is the brainchild of Nick Stevenson, he's the driving force; Nick "I say it every year but we really have had a step up in the amount of film submissions from kiwi surf filmmakers, and the quality gets better and better. Likewise I think our film program this year was super competitive, some hard decisions on which came through but I think there will be something for everyone in the mix. Also we have freshened up the format so we are returning to many places we haven't been able to the last few years, so Dunedin, New Plymouth and Nelson, pretty excited to be returning. Our new Tour Manager Louis Murphy Harris will be holding down the fort on hosting/MC duties, he'll be on the road putting on the screenings each night and chasing waves by day, with a rotating crew of the rest of us tapping in to help. That is the heart of the festival and why we set it up, to get to every nook and cranny and surf community we can each year, also to sample a few waves whilst we are doing it. Pumped to see everyone at the festival!" 

The dates and tickets are HERE just scroll down the ASFF website. 

From The Galleries  

Selling out or buying in? I say buying in, the now classic Piha Bar Barrel shot is the official signature image of the 2020 Piha Pro... you are going to see it all over the show, and yes the copyright release was very fair :)  

Check out the image better HERE

Mangawhai Bowl Jam 2020...Bigger, Faster, Better

Check out the MBJ Facebook page HERE for even more photos, but here are some of my favourites from last Saturday. Some of them aren't technically the best skating shots, I selected some that have a cool backstory or I just like for random reasons. The Mangawhai Bowl Jam is the baby of Jesse Peters and this was the 9th Annual one. I've missed the last two 'cos of social commitments, but this year I was back on the staff and back in the happy place coping-side. It's a heavy day of shooting, 2500 frames taken, 3 litres of water drunk, you're sweating from 8am to 5pm ...and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Every year the Bowl Jam has grown. This year Jesse expanded the scaffolding terraces and still spectators were queuing up for up to 2 hours to get seating.

The view from the judge's tower and a sample of the beyond capacity crowd.

The man himself; Jesse Peters hyping the crowd and sharing the spono's love.

Two literal legends, Andrew 'Morri' Morrison and Dave Crab on bowl duty.

Morri's daughter Billie, one wheeler out of the deep end...just fricken gnarly. 

Krysta Ashwell, casual as, set up frontside grind. Missing a couple of Jams was enlightening, the level of spectators, the amount of competitors across all divisions and the heightened skills. The 9 years of the Mangawhai Bowl Jam is a graphic example of how competition raises the bar in every aspect.

The Blue Bullet! 12 year old Liam Haze, always a crowd favourite.

Timmy Thompson... barefoot, no pads... heavy.

Ramon Thackwell [Prez of Skateboarding NZ] and Dave Crab look on as Morri slides to victory in the over forty division. 

Wanaka's Chris Curran, Skateboarding NZ Secretary Smithing deep. 

Wellington's Chris Wood.

Mozza, 50 years old, and what the actual hell bro, half way through run of the day.

Dave Crab's signature Plant, always a crowd pleaser.

Me ol' mate Shaun Boucher made it back from the Goldie to compete again this year, but he didn't come away with a repeat victory. 

Bowman Hansen freaked everyone out with his speed and height again this year... but he didn't repeat his wins either.

It was Aussie dominated this round, Jakob Robinson won the Open and best trick.

Fellow Aussie invader Taniah Meyers dominated the Womens division ... and gave the Open a good knock for that matter.

But this Grom... Z-boy, Zedyn Boyd, stoked out the crowd heavily, he won the Juniors but his ohhh so close 540's had the crowd frothing.

So, so close to riding out! 

Here's the highlight reel of the day from Manual. 

Yeah Steve Nickolls! Sums up the warm vibes and rad times. Missed it this year? Get there 2021. 

Follow the Mangawhai Bowl Jam FB page HERE

From The Galleries 

Selling out or buying in? I say buying in, the now classic Piha Bar Barrel shot is the official signature image of the 2020 Piha Pro... you are going to see it all over the show, and yes the copyright release was very fair :) 

Check out the image better HERE

Make A Date

There's a lot going on... 

But before we get into that, here is some highly recommended viewing from Luke and Billy, the next episode of One and a Half Men after they spent the week at Piha filming the episode featured in last week's BLOG. Check out the new episode HERE

I fricken LOVE the Mangawhai Bowl Jams. The vibe is incredible, the skating is absolutely insane, do yourself a favour- just go it's so much fun. Check out the MBJ Facebook page HERE

And then in March out at the beach there's the 7th Annual Logger Heads. I've been the shooter for a lot of these now...maybe 5? Dunno... It's a bloody good day at the beach and it is grass roots surfing, have a go, every year there are new entrants just giving it a crack for kicks. The way Kiwi surf comps should be. Again there is a FB page for the event, check it out HERE

And then completely relatedly is the annual Fish Fry hosted and curated by none other than the legend Mike Cunningham the very next day over the hill at Waipu.... make a weekend of it. Check out some wild and weird surf craft, have some fun taking a board for a hoon, catch up with old and new mates. Check out the details on The Cove Fish Fry's FB page HERE

In the immediate future; if you are out West this weekend then this one's always good for a bit of vindictive fun. Like the time one of the cubbies ended up with a rollick puncturing clean through his forearm... ok maybe not the most savoury example. But with a good 6ft swell predicted for this Saturday there is bound to be a few good Over The Falls and wild broaches from the Budgie Smuggling Brigade.

 Some Other Product

It is always rad to see where your work ends up. Yesterday Stephen James posted this of the NZ Wave Print Set. It's right up there as one of the best instals I reckon. Love the use of different frames. Wanna do your own inspirational wall cost effectively??? Well...
Check it out HERE 

Surfed Out!

Summer is here! The ocean on both coasts has warmed up and there have been waves, in fact I bet right now you're squirming a way to get wet on the eastside. 

But last week was all about the Westside; Billy Stairmand and Luke Cederman came out for a stay at Piha and shot an episode of One & A Half Men. 

The glorious days were filled with semi dawnies... huge caffeine fixes and between the laughing some serious time behind the cameras. A perfect week!

Bill Byers, third generation stakeholder of the Bar

Bill, between sets

Aramis Goodwin dominating on his single fin foamy

Billy Stairmand finding right ramps

The 2020 National Champ, our very own Eliott Paerata- Reid inspiring the grubs

Bill Byers with a one/two combo... and pretty cool to see the old Primal thorn logo making a comeback

EPR's dad Jermal Paerata powering up

Shane Grimes, as always, smashing it

Things only got better as the week progressed

Billy Stairmand ... shot of the week???

The big man, Luke Cederman destroying the Bar

Bill Byers... not on the Bar..looks like it a bit, but it's the middle of the beach

Three worlds colliding

It was a busy week, it would be easy to assume when you look at The Raglan Surf Report and the spin off One & Half Men, that everything is pretty haphazard. Luke Cederman is ultra active, he's always looking for the next shot, a quirky, different angle or take on something. The effort put in is purposely downplayed. For this episode I had the absolute pleasure of getting the water footage. Check it out here >>>>

Luke and I also did a short podcast. It's casual, it is super uninformative and fun. 

You can listen to it HERE

The lads left on Friday, job done, memory cards filled and a ton of editing to be completed. But the waves kept on coming. On Saturday Keyhole Boardriders had our first comp of the year; The Twin Fin Classic.

The 2020 Keyhole crew with EPR holding The National Champ trophy

Dune Kennings, presiding Keyhole 2019 Champion death floating his original twin... the board his Dad, Lynden made him when he was 4

Despite the Dune death floats, it was the National Champ dominating Saturday's comp. EPR winning the event by a country mile

You can check out more CPL pix of the Keyhole Comp HERE 

Ok... who is going East today? 

From The Gallery

Ahh yes, scary to think this image is already 10 years old! The Bar firing, It was such a fun arvo, probably for those surfing too, but I got my photo-head on, in the zone, timing sets; watching cloud and sun dapples, waiting for the perfect second. The image has featured in books, T-shirts and of course walls. 

Check it out HERE 

Back In The Saddle

A Belated Happy New Yeahs To You! 

Me, what have I been doing? Two fifths of f@ck all to be honest. I'd like to say and show epic images of the east coast swell that just kept on giving, from before Christmas right through the New Years. I can't 'cos I wasn't there. I was [mostly] happily locked into hosting Christmas for the Whanau. The idea of battling holiday traffic after that just didn't seem fun, so I hung back and decompressed. 

Of course the photos you're looking at clearly show the converse of that statement. The gorgeous Ange and I have just come back from 4 glorious days on the Coromandel. There was still some swell around and I caught up with me old mate Digga for a fun session. 

Diggs in front of his new home in a summer Kiwi paradise

Terrible place to live… not happy at all

Catting up to the bow

Lip flare

The sort of Chrissy light show we all wanted... and probably had!

Digg's shove-it without the pop... bloody style bandit

Thigh high perfection

The Nationals are in full flight at the moment, and from the look of it Dunedin has been turning it on for the competitors. Check out Surfing New Zealand's Facebook Page and Website for daily updates.

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

...And we just reached the first big milestone, we're back in the black!!! Just before Christmas the book sales reached that point where Wazza and I can breathe a sigh of relief; THANK EVERYONE that's bought the book so far!
 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

Piha On Lock down

Last night on the coast

Whether we like it or not the 2020 Piha Pro is coming. In March, our small coastal village will be overrun with all the fixings that are needed for an international surfing event. So much so, that there is little room for the actual residents. Now, of course that's an extremely inflammatory and negatively slanted way to start a post. 
Last night under leaden skies and howling onshores there was the first Piha Pro Community Meeting held at Barnet Hall, North Piha. Some might say a harbinger for what's about to descend on us.

These are the pre contest meetings where the event organisers meet and greet the natives for the first time. Where they put their best foot forward and present the event in the best possible light to cajole the locals into submission. 

Barnet Hall wasn't packed; I would say there would have been about 50 attendees.  Everyone was surprisingly well behaved, Piha has a reputation as being a bolshy bunch. In fact there was a round of applause for the organisers at the end of the 2 hour meeting. 

Chris Simpson, former Tall Black and Event Director holding court

Here's my takeaways from the meeting; All of South Piha will be on shut down from March 6 to March 26. You will not be able to get a vehicle in unless you are a property owner in that area. Parking for South Piha will be at the Domain or spilled over into the Mill Camp [which is a kilometre away up Glenesk Valley Road]. To attend the event you will need to pre-purchase online a parking pass that will be $10.00 per day. If you are a resident you will need to get a Resident Pass to be able to go home. You can also obtain guest passes if you have visitors.  If you have deliveries coming out you will have to organise passes. How you get the passes to the visitors/deliverers prior is anyone's guess. You need these regardless of whether you or your visitors are attending the event. The Piha Road will have a check point at the Nihotupu Dam to enforce the pass restrictions- no pass, no entry. 

Welcome to 1984, knocking, knocking at your front door. 
  
The Piha groms are excited, they'll get to meet their surfing stars. Generally, I'd say Piha locals are enthusiastic the event. Maybe, just maybe it'll just be a month of minor inconveniences. 

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

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