Surfline......
Local
Weather
Santa, trying to talk his
way out of a ticket... Yesterday
in Newport
______________________
There was rumors it did, and there were rumors that it didn't.
Does the Canon Mark 3 fit inside an SPL Canon Mark 2 waterhousing...
Below is proof that it does.
Charlie, Heels over Nose... The "Follow
Cam". Monday
in Newport.
Early Warning!
A couple weeks ago my wife was hit by her board, and ended
up at Hoag. The veterean ER doc that sewed her up there said
that one of the busiest days of surf injuries that he'd ever
seen was during those 2 offshore days in Oct. "The E.R.
was full of surfers", he said. Undoubtly from boards
spinning around like projectiles in the wind.
And now there is, yet again, talk of another epic swell.
If you haven't heard about, you undoubtly will. So prepare
to ignore your responsibities, get the big wave stick ready,
and make sure your health insurance is up to date... because
this could be a biggy.
Add a little backwash, to add a little hieght...
Offshore in Newport
&-508.jpg)
Blackman, foot on the floor, and gunning for the exit,
yea he made it...
in Newport.
&-745.jpg)
I'm one of the few surfers on on my block that hasn't gotten
hooked on Stand Up Paddle Surfing. The nieghborhood crew is
giddy when they talk about it! I'm told it's one of the funniest
things ever. In fact my next door nieghbor has 2 of the monster
boards that he ordered and had shipped to the Mainland from
Hawaii.
For a slideshow of "The Rob Machado
Experience", a surf event for groms that was sponsored
by Hurley, and chaired by Rob Machado last weekend... Click
the link below...
The Rob Experience
NHHS student, &
Atwater team rider Cannon C., taking a chuck out of 5-4.
Yesterday in Newport.
"What are they feeding
those Doheny kids!?
Brian Doheny, Mens' Recrecrational
Champion... at the Oakley Newport Pro.
When I first started shooting
surf photos, I ran into then Quiksilver marketing guru Danny
Qwak in the water and told him I'd started taking surf photos,
and asked him how to go about submitting the images to magazines
and advertisers. He laughed, and then became serious as he
told me not to bother until I had at least 5 years of shooting
under my belt... So over the last 4 years I've never bothered
submitting to print. Yea, a few of the big glossy mags came
to me one time asking for something I had, and an advertiser
or 2 contacted me for stuff they'd seen of mine on Surfline...
but outside of that, I've never made the push to send my blurry
images out to the bigger glossy mags. But, after paying my
dues the last 4 years, and shooting everything from foggy
1ft. blown out Newport, to firing... other places, I think
it sort of time that our local crew's photos start getting
sent out.
At ASR, in the water, in
emails, and on the phone... People ask "Where are the
photos from that really good day last Tuesday". The photos
were sent out to a few publications instead of immediately
putting an album together.
It's got to be the hardest contest in the U.S. to work, shoot
and when the surf goes to garbage in the afternoon, to surf.
The U.S. Open of Surfing held last weekend in Huntington.
Click the links below for photos and editoral of both the
Mens' and Womens' action.
2 winners on Sunday... @ the U.S. Open of Surfing...
Thanks goes also to Cameron Ogden for helping me out with
the event on Sunday.
(Photo by Cameron Oden)
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
Statements, Impressions,
Thoughts, and Lessons Learned.
The 4th Year.
If you run a surf photo website that
loses money year after year, prepare for your tax man to
lecture you about it.
You know you're getting into surf
photography, when you start dreaming about perfect surf
lighting conditions, instead of perfect surf conditions.
If you wear a 4/5mm fullsuit when
shooting water, you won't be able to duck dive waves, and
you'll get shoved back to the beach like a little rubber
duck.
The Daily Hotshot pissed someone
off this year. And I'm sure it will one day piss someone
off again.
If you shoot photos of a secret surf
spot with dozens of other photographers, and your photos
are released first, you rightly will be blamed for your
photos, but you also will be blamed for everyone elses.
The person who will harass you the
most about those photos, will be the guy who the locals
of the secret spot don't even know.
I have the photos to prove that there
are lots of secret spots in Newport... and nobody will ever
see them.
One day Newport's Kaliegh Gilchrist
will be the first female surfer to ride big Wedge, and there
will be a stampede of digital photographers stumbling over
each other to shoot her.
I'm still amazed at the number of
surf photographers, that don't surf.
If you don't read the instructions
of your new waterhousing equipment before you submerge it
into the water, you will flood it.
If you do flood your new waterhousing
equipment, you will scream a lot of obscenities.
Without Laylan at the Register, D.
S. at Norwell Films, and the crew at Surfline, nobody would
know or care about this insignificant website.
Shooting water flash photography
can blind you.
Surfing water flash photography will
blind the surfer.
If you put together all the camera
equipment you need, make all the necessary contacts up and
down the coast required, and arrange the necessary time
off work, so you can chase big winter swells...the big winter
swells will never come.
If your internet server goes down,
and you tap into your neighbor's wireless internetso you
load your website, eventually he will find out.
To everyone who emails me with their
crazy get rich quick schemes, that involves NewportSurfShots.com
joining their website... go away, because the answer will
always be no.
Traveling with surfboards is easy!
Traveling with surfboards and photo equipment is a total
pain in the ass!
If you take a pro surfer who loves
to fish, on a fishing boat to shoot surf photos. The pro
surfer will want to do nothing but fish.
"Bones", Daniel, and Joey
will one day be replaced by Strider, Tyler and Trent.
If you hang a sign advertising your
website on the side of your home on the 4th of July, and
forget to take if down immediately... the city will be pissed!
It's obvious when looking at the
photos on this website, that I've never taken a class in
photography.
Newport photogs Cameron Oden and
Matt Doheny will become famous and successful photographers.
and I will not...
I still really, really hate clouds,
but I'm learning to deal with them.
See you out there for a
5th year...
(Photo Cameron O.)
__________________________
As my family sleeps, I sit here on
a desolate Mexican beach checking the surf at sunrise, and
wondering how the heck am I going to go from this solitude,
to covering the craziness of the U.S. Open of Surfing next
week. Yeah, the circus starts today in Huntington and runs
through next weekend. Click the link below for more info.
2007
U.S. Open of Surfing
Solitude...
in Mexico
______________________
One afternoon we surfed a little
bay with Ex-pat John P's kids, and had a blast! The kids
are the happiest little guys you could ever meet! Pablo
9 and Marco 5 charged their little local break on their
old yellowed \
]=['P:L./iom><? ,e below).
The next day Clay stoked the kids by giving them each a
board of his. The little guys were unbelievably excited,
and guaranteed they were the envy of their crew when they
paddle out at the local surf break.
Pablo and Marco, Future
Stars of Mexico Surfing...
______________________________________
2 flew home Friday, 3 left
in their truck for Puerto Escondido, and then 3 more flew
home on Saturday. NewportSurfShots.com's attempt at trying
to surf, shoot and run this website during a surf mission
is over, sorta. My family has flown into Mexico, and I'll
be posting a few more "Daily Hotshots" of the
surf mission from down here this week. Check them out if
you get a chance.
Eddie Elles is an H.B. grom that
surfs really well and is a really great kid. He asked to
be on this Mex. surf trip so he could get into some giant
surf... and while it wasn't the huge stuff we had planned
for, he went for everything that came his way... everything.
"Traveling with our crew
has been super sick, everyone has been super mellow and
really compatible. I've been traveling for quite a while,
and Mex is a great place. I've traveled with some of this
crew before, and right off the bat I wanted to be on this
trip. Next is Africa in two weeks with the Huntington Beach
high surfteam. Thanks for the mom and dad sponsorship. Hopefully
the friendships between this Mex crew can develop more...peace!"...
Eddie Elles
Eddie Elles making tracts...
in
Mexico.
_________________________________
5th grade Newport Heights
Elementary school teacher Mark Africano
"Over the past week my brother
and several of my friends have been in Mexico surfing heaving
beachbreak and perfect points. There's nothing better for
the soul than traveling with friends and family, getting
waves and learning about a different culture."
See you next school year. Buenos
Dias... Mark Africano
_______________________________
Two of the groms with us down here
in Mexico paddled out at this random unsurfed beachbreak
to shoot water. They each broke their board on their second
wave.
Damaged Goods... in
Mexico
______________
H.B. grom Clay Crandel... Last Monday
in Mainland Mexico...
_______________________________________
Another 4th of July has come and
gone...
For editorial of the day. Click the
link below.
Newport
Goes Off!
Newport's gone
to the dogs. check below
Never Drink & Drive
check below
and
2 girls for every boy...
4th Of July in Newport
_______________________
NSSA Nationals 2007
This year's NSSA Nationals has come
and gone, and Lowers is now back to it's crowded, busy and
chaotic self. A lot of interesting things went down at this
year's event, here are a few impressions.... Nike turned
the beach into a bit of a circus, Coco Ho ripped and will
one day be National Champ, as soon as Carrisa Moore retires.
Surf coaches need to teach how to avoid interference. Kolohe
Andino hates to lose! The boys division groms have just
as much fun playing on the beach together, as they do competing
together. Frequent Newport surfer Konoa Igarashi needs a
wider board so he can fit more sponsor's stickers on it.
Newport's Kaleigh Gilchrist could have done well, if her
entry had not arrived after the deadline. The Hawaiians
are extremely supportive of each other, and rip... all of
them! And I don't care how good of a surfer you are, Carrisa
Moore surfs better than you!
For links to editorial of last weekend's
NSSA Nationals, and a humorous pictorial of the Volcom Women's
Surf Team on a cloudy, crappy and cold spring day at 54th
St., click the links below.
NSSA
Mens'
NSSA
Womens'
Volcomettes
in Newport
Guess which competitor he's rooting
for? Newport's Mike Doheny... @ Lowers
_________________________________
Exceptional local surfer Kaliegh
G. competed on the prestigious "Surfing America"
team recently in Portugal... and the team came across a
few words of support.
Kaliegh, feeling the love...
in Portugal
____________________
It's fun to get dropped
in on, sometimes... the
"Board Cam"
___________________________
You
know you're becoming a big league clothing label when...
Each season your clothing
line gets bigger and better.
More and more stores start asking
for you clothes.
People of all ages start wearing
your clothes.
You put on events that everyone wants
to attend.
You're able to hire a surf team manager
for your ripping team.
You're able to put together
one of the best skateboard teams around.
You're respected in the surf industry,
and people like doing business with you.
New F54
surf team manager Leon M....
in Newport
-------------------------------------------
Dads
4 years old: My Daddy can do anything!
7 years old: My Dad knows everything.
8 years: My Dad does not know quiet everything.
12 years: Dad doesn't know very much.
14 years: Oh, Dad. He's old-fashioned.
21 years: Dad, that guy is so out of date!
25 years: Dad knows a little bit, but not much.
30 years: I must find out what Dad knows about it.
35 years: Before we decide, we must get Dad's opinion.
50 years: What would Dad have thought about that?
60 years: My Dad knew everything!
65 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.
Anonymous
From NewportSurfShots.com
Quiksilver's Russ Reno,
and his daughter Rylee
Hanging 20...
in Newport
__________________________________
In the age of digital
surf photography, where there are surf photographers don't
surf... It's good to meet one that does!
Cullen Otsen is 27
years old and has been a local Newport surfer since the
age of 9. His younger brother got hooked on photography
and is now a Navy Special Warfare photographer working with
the Navy Seals. Cullen got into photography as a hobby so
he could shoot friends surfing, and now finds himself shooting
a lot of good days instead of surfing them. Look for this
surf stoked photographer to be firing away at local sandbar
near you.
If you want to shoot good surf, you
gotta be happy with surfing bad surf...
Local photog Cullen Otsen, making
the most of bad surf.
Photo by Chris Brooks, Shaper,
Anthem Surfboards.
__________________________
Model Behavior...
in
Newport
_______________
SurfSide Sports surf team
member Chris LoMenzo... wishing the other teams good luck
at the Quiksilver Surf Shop Challenge.
____________________________________
I was asked to shoot
PipeMaster Champ Jamie Obrien giving surf lessons a few
weeks ago, but decided to pass, as I was burnt out from
having just finished the VQS Championships. The next email
I got though told me the shoot would only last a couple
hours, was only a couple blocks from my house and was for
the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation... I was in.
Jamie and his dad
were flown over here specifically for the event by a pharmaceutical
company. The
company is trying to promote
a saline based nebulizing aerosol for Cystic Fibrosis patients...
and Jamie, Newport's Cordell Miller, and Brad Ettinger went
beyond the call of duty to make sure everyone had a great
time.
After the event
I tried to get Jamie to go and shoot Lowers, but all he
could talk about was the FlowRider in San Diego... and I
heard he spent a lot of time down there, and was launching
himself all over the place.
Also while in California,
Arnette,
which includes team manager Brent Bearden (Newport's "Beandip"),
used the opportunity to sign Jamie to the their ever expanding
team. Look for the PipeMaster to be sporting cool Arnette
shades in the future.
Jamie's Shadeless
Shaka... in Newport
________________________________________
The guy driving this
truck was coming home from an evening of selling shells
in Ensenada, when a driver of a 16 wheeler fell a sleep
at the wheel of his rig and crossed the center divider into
this guy's lane. The guy in this truck had to swerve into
oncoming traffic to avoid a head on collision, and ended
up going over an embankment. Our car was sitting one parking
space away from where this truck landed. Moral of the story...
Always get Mexico car insurance, because even if you don't
plan on driving your car around Baja once you're down there,
your car can still get nailed.
Wipeout...
in Baja
______________
I've haven't tried surfing
with a camera in quite a while. I figured the camera and
waterhousing I've been using the past year was just way
to heavy! Recently though I gave it a go... and surprisingly
it kinda worked.
Mike
Parsons, running away from the "Board Cam"
_______________________
If you have a story that
contains a little Newport history. Feel free to send it
over for the Hotshot.
Andy, River... &
the Opel
Back in the day, as "Echo Beach"
mania was starting to wane, River Jetties came more into
focus. A lot of the Schroff, Wavetools, Line-Up and Newport
Surf & Sport teams, as well as talented neighborhood
surfers Dan Taylor, Scott Rabb, Terry Stewart, and a large
crew of really good CDM surfers called the break home. One
of those talented CDM surfers was Andy Jeffs...a polite
grom who I frequently took to Trestles, where he ripped
apart the long walls.
Andy's sister back then had a cheap
used car for sale. An ugly rust colored 2 door Opel on it's
last leg, and I struck a deal for it's purchase. An hour
before I was to pick the car up however, a trash truck backed
into it, and turned the ugly little Opel, into an ugly wreak,
but it still ran... So for the fire-sale price of a couple
hundred dollars, it was mine.
Now because the little Opel was such
an extremely ugly car, I decided to spice it up a bit. We
got some masking tape and black paint, and sprayed a huge
Porsche emblem on the hood, and painted "Porsche Test
Vehicle" on the sides... and the little Opel was ready
to roll.
"Back in the Day" there
was no turn around at River, no parking lots, no grassy
knolls, or playgrounds, or bathrooms... and the premium
parking spaces were in the hard beach sand on the side streets,
that are now paved and metered. And because the little Opel
was so, little, it easily squeezed into one of those prime
spots, and so was always parked there. It wasn't long before
the little Opel started being used as a surf look out tower...
friends would jump up on the hood so they could see far
out to the waves. It really didn't matter though, the hood
was already caved in... but when someone (Junior) started
always checking the surf from the top of the roof. Well
the little Opel couldn't take it, and the top caved in.
Mid summer, I ended up winning a
couple bags of goldfish at the O.C. Fair. And the next morning,
with the bags of fish still in the car, someone came up
with the idea that we make a pond up on the roof of the
little Opel for the fish to swim in. The headliner was removed,
the crushed roof was deepened, fresh water was added, and
presto, there was a fish pond on top of the little Opel.
The fish actually seemed to enjoy their new tank... until
I got home. It didn't dawn on me that the sun would soon
heat the roof, the pond's water... and cook the fish. RIP
little ones.
At one time Balboa Blvd. was just a 2 lane street, in fact
there used to be nothing but a 4 way stop sign at the Superior
and PCH intersection a long time ago. Sometime in the 80's,
the city captured the first row of houses on the East side
of Balboa Blvd, and widened it to what is now a 4 lane road
with a median. Prior to that widening, there was a house
around 45th and Balboa that was thrushed into the news when
underground oil started leaking up into it. The property
was owned by local surfer David Snieder's grandparents,
and the home had to be leveled, and the property sat for
quite a while as an empty dirt lot.
I liked the little Opel, and was
leaving for Mainland Mex for a month, but didn't really
have anywhere to store it. So I parked her in a corner of
that empty dirt lot, left one of the windows rolled down
so it looked like someone was about to return to her, and
prayed she would still be there when I returned... She was
not. Long live the ugly little
Opel.
Little Andy Jeffs, all grown
up and still ripping. Last
week, in
Newport
___________________________________________________
Click the link below and see what
Newport's Shorescrew have been up to lately...
Shorescrew.com
Master of Shorescrew, Lugo, just
returned from a 2 week trip to Indo that Gravis sent he
and Moysa on. That's "2 weeks of open bar and good
waves" he says... Damn, the sacrifices one makes to
work in the surf industry!
__________________________________
________________________
___________________________
Freebies
$100,000 in cash prizes,
skateboards, beach cruisers... plus a motorcycle, were won
last weekend at the VQS Championships in Newport. There
was also a ton of free goodies tossed into the crowd. Hats,
sandals, clothes, hardgoods... Just about everyone left
the beach with something.
And then there was the giveaway
of all giveaways. 50 yards south of the contest area, as
gear was being thrown into the crowd, someone just outside
the surf zone started waving a brand new board! It only
took a few seconds for it to register with the crowd, and
the race was on! Two guys hit the water first, and swam
neck to neck the entire distance to the board. Below is
the photo finish.
A shark nipping at these
guy's heels couldn't have gotten them to swim any faster.
Volcom board giveaway...
in Newport.
_________________________________________________
No, happy to have competed in the
VQS Championships... in Newport
__________________________
The Battle has ended,
@ the VQS...
_______________________
Recent Hotshots
Monday
through Friday
For nearly four years now the "Daily
Hotshot" has been produced each and every day. Weekends
are particularly difficult to get something new up however.
The Daily Hotshot has been thought up and loaded to the
website on weekends from hotels, from campgrounds, from
out of the state, from out of the country, and even from
a hospital room.
The "Daily Hotshot" will
always continue to chug along, but will now be a Monday
through Friday feature. Please keep checking back daily
during the work week for more out of focus photos, boring
dialogue, and really useless information. And thanks for
the continued support
City workers installing
NewportSurfShot.com's new ladder to shoot from...
@ Blackies.
___________________________________________
Hopefully
these guys don't surf... in
Newport
____________________
Super
Wednesday @ The Wedge
For a short slideshow... Click
albums, Click the album "Super Wed. @ Wedge"&
Click "Watch the Dotphoto Show".
The Foam ball... chasing another
victim... @ The Wedge.
________________________________
.jpg)
Locals... Every
surf spot has them!
_________________________
The
Southern Hemi of the Decade & The Drama
Building Tuesday
Tuesday morning, April 10th, I flipped
on my cell phone early and found it already full of messages.
I ran to get my camera! West Newport was feeling the initial
pulse of 2 solid opposing hemisphere swells. Troy Ekert's
double barrel, Tom Rezvan's drive from behind, and Chad
La Bass's deep pit, that everyone stopped filming when he
pulled into, and then gasped at as he came flying out of,
were some of the highlights. As for the swells, the southern
hemi just kept building!
Super
Wednesday
Unless you're a paddling champion,
West Newport was pretty unrideable at day break. "The
Point" was a giant 4 block long wall of water. And
the Wedge... well when the Wedge has 20ft faces, and there's
only a few in the water, you know it's heavy. It wasn't
so much the size that was limiting the crowd, it was the
NW swell push and morning sickness wreaking havoc on the
shape. The word was that Timpton got the barrel of all barrels
the evening before.
Timmy Turner was the first to show with a board that morning,
he got one bomb, and left. Pat Towersey on his 4 fin, and
"Barney", who broke the fin out of his board before
he even caught a wave, showed up and wowed the crowd. If
you wanted to surf in town on Wednesday, and didn't have
Laird Hamilton skills, then 44th to the Newport Pier, or
the East Harbor Jetty were your best bets.
"The wave"
I can't talk about.
75
plus cars, 20 plus video and still cameras, and a pack of
pros mixed in with ripping locals told you how good "the
wave" was. In high school, I'd had a place in the line-up
in the area, and as I looked at all the cameras lining the
beach and the cliff, I knew this media circus would not
sit well with the local crew. I shot for a couple hours,
and headed to work. And, as I drove north I noticed a surf
magazine photographer shooting line-up shots from up far
atop the hill, and it became obvious that this rare fickle
wave was about to be thrust into the limelight.
"The Website"
and "The Wave"
After 10 hours of shooting, and 8
hours at my real job, I got to spend until early the next
morning editing photos, damn I wish I was a coffee drinker!
"The wave" was the biggest surf news on the entire
coast, and the biggest surf news website, which I often
shoot for, wanted photos of it. They expected photos of
it! One way or another they were going to get photos of
it, and if I wasn't going to supply them, they would easily
get them from someone else. No names of "the wave"
was the agreement, and photos of "the wave" were
sent.
First out, First to blame...
A photo I shot of Atwater team rider
Spence Pirdy standing tall and charging "the wave",
was one of the first images of the swell out of the gates
... And two emails bitching about the release of it came
flying at me fast and furious. Hopefully they also took
the time to lash out at Surfermag.com and the Daily Pilot,
who later named "the wave"!
I contacted a couple locals in the
area, guys I'd surfed with years ago... If I hadn't supplied
photos, some clown less responsible would have, was my response.
I vowed not to release my images identifying "the wave"
to any magazines... to rally for them if I ever heard of
a webcam being planned there, and to help hold the ladder
so it could be dismantled if a webcam ever is. Additionally,
I'm planning to put together photos of the day for the local
crew... if you're one of the them, you'll hear about it.
Surf photography, it's too much fun...
Welcome to "the
wave"
______________________________________________
Check back throughout the week for
a Story, a Movie, and a Slideshow of last week's action.
It's not nice to flip
off Mother Nature... in Newport
______________________
Barney jumping off the Wedge jetty
was pretty interesting, it's not exactly like jumping into
the surf at 28th St.. Plus those boulders are huge, and
tripping into one of the deep crevasses can easily happen.
As a kid, we used to go down there on the lowest tides of
the year, and crawl around the boulder spaces and find tons
and tons of lost swim fins. On the CDM side Woody Woodworth
and his friends would lose a surf mat that they rode off
the end, and the thing would bounce along the boulders,
and disappear into one of the spaces... Word is Barney jammed
his finger on the rocks, and dislocated it.
________________________________
Another epic wave that day...
Somewhere in Newport
(Above photo copyright Tom
Cozad)
_______________________________________________
.jpg)
Philip Cousteau filming for "Animal
Planet" behind him, seals playing in front of him,
and sharks lurking somewhere below...
Newport's Joey Head handles
it all with style...
____________________________
Tackling some really solid
winter surf...
(Photo Copyright, Tom Cozad)
__________________________
Why shooting photos with
natural light will always be better....
Artificial Light....
Natural Light...
in
Newport
____________________________________________________
We were back at it again recently,
learning how to blind people...
11 year old Colin M., all
lit up... @ sloppy 5-4.
Photo
Oden/Cozad
_____________________________
Good days...
in Newport
______________________________
A few weeks ago Cameron O. and I
set out to test our external flash unit for the first time.
Shortly after swimming with it, the flash stopped working.
And when the housing was opened back on the beach, "glug,
glug glug"... ocean poured out of it like a pitcher
of water. Now I'm not an electrician, but I do know that
water and precision electrical equipment don't mix. Yea
the flash was dead, we'd killed it!
Flash forward 2 weeks to last Saturday,
after regrouping, we gave it another try. This time our
efforts paid off, and we're now on our way to producing
some pretty cool external flash images in the future. Thanks
to those of you that gave up your afternoons to shoot with
us.
Jenner H., caught in a flash...
at Sunset in Newport
(Photo by oden & cozad)
_______________________________________________
5-4
in Motion
________________________________________________________________________
Analog's
Geoff Moysa... getting up close and personal with a Lower
Jetty... In Newport
_______________________________
Cameron Oden is a local
photographer who's been shooting primarily wedding and lifestyle
photos for the past few years. With his recent purchase
of a new 500mm lens however, he's now moved into the realm
of surf photography. In talking with the young photographer
recently I discovered he also had an interest in external
water flash photography.
So Cameron and I decided
to go in on a external water flash set-up together. It's
a two man operation that'll consist of one of us swimming
the flash around the line-up, while the other one triggers
it from a camera. Will it work? I have no idea. Look for
the flash to be in the water soon. And if you'd prefer not
to have the stobe fired at you while you're surfing, please
let us know, and we'll focus in on blinding someone else.
In response to the emails I'll get
asking what set up we got... Here it is.
A Sunpak 555 Flash, a SPL
Waterhousing, and 2 Pocket Wizard Remotes.
"Ready to Blind Newport"
____________________________
2007 Reef Calendar Model....
hardly
Brainless
and Bottomless
in Newport
_____________________________
Why wear a helmet when shooting
water in Newport?
Reason # 411
One foot overhead...
@ 5-4
__________________________
Evening Glass Off ...
in Newport
__________________________________
You'd have to be 6 inches tall for
it to hurt you...
___________________________________
Chris
S., Sliding into Newport
____________________________
The O.C. Register
A big thanks to Laylan
Connelly for the write up in the O.C. Register last week.
If anyone else had penned the article, it undoubtedly would
have been placed somewhere between the Obituaries and the
Personal ads. And to the editor who was responsible for
putting a photo of the NewportSurfShots.com guy on the front
page of the Register newspaper. I hope you didn't lose your
job...
________________________________________________________________
SurfShot Magazine
Surfshot
is a surf magazine based
out of San Diego. The freebee publication is put out for
San Diego surfers, features San Diego surfers, is distributed
only to San Diego surfers, and relies primarily on San Diego
advertising dollars for it's existence. Last week word came
down that SurfShot Mag will now be "accepting and running
Orange County content". This is a pretty interesting
move on their part... and will undoubtedly open up additional
avenues for local Newport surfers to gain exposure.
.jpg)
San Diego big wave charger
Scott Chandler... charging big waves at Todos.
(Photo Copyright T. Cozad)
_________________________________________
The
holidays are long over.
Now back to work!
__________________________
The Pro and the Amateur
One thing NewportSurfShots.com
hopes to focus in on this winter is shooting giant swells
at various offshore California reefs during the big wave
season. However I have yet to find the 4 seater waverunner
I'm looking for in which to shoot from. So as it stands
now...
This is surf photographer Rob
Brown's brand new big wave surf photography rig for the
big surf season...
A 36' pilot console that is 11'10" wide. Powered by
twin Super Charged Mercury 275 Verado outboard's Boat. It
can be trailered wherever it needs to go and is permitted
by Cal Trans for wide load. The boat is an all weather support
vehicle with FLIR (forward looking infra red) as well as
72 mile Raymarine radar for night use. Hull holds 340 gallons
of fuel and has an approximate range of 600 miles. AND...
...this is NewportSurfShots.com's
current surf photography rig for the big wave surf season...
6'11 Sakal that is 20" wide, with curved fins, and
a 3 pound wicker basket for carrying precision waterhoused
camera equipment. The vessel is a Polyurethane Foam, 4 oz
fiberglass, all weather vehicle, and has an approximate
range of 10 miles, or until your arms give out.
_______________________
Digital... Blowing
Up
I
guess this sorta squashes the belief that NewportSurfShots.com's
digital images can't be
blown up any
bigger than 11"X14" in size.
Pat T., boosting... @
Jack's Newport
_________________________
Taking a short walk
to the pier...
The "Board Cam"
@ Blackies.
__________________________________________________________
How did Grant "Twiggy"
Baker win The Maverick's Surf Contest? By throwing himself
over the ledge of beasts like this time after time...
(photo copyright Tom
Cozad 2006)
_________________________________
Say good-bye to the
surf of December, 2005...@ Todos
(photo copyright NewportSurfShots.com)
_____________________________________________
One Up, and One
Going Down... @ Mavericks
(Photo Copyrighted
NewportSurfShots.com)
_____________________
This insignificant website has been chugging along now for
4 years. And like the last years before
I've
Then I heard about a guy in Huntinton that
distributed photos to people on the internet H.B.Pier.com
It's obvious when looking at the photos on this website,
that I've never had a class in photography.
The Daily Hotshot finally pissed someone off this year.
I'm sure it will happen again. Daily Hotshot will piss off
others this year.
If you shoot photos of a sensitive local surf spot, even
though there are dozens of other video and still photographers
doing the same, don't release them!
The one person who will email you, leave a note on your car,
and call your home to harrase you about releasing the photos,
will be the guy that isn't a local.
I have the photos to prove that there are many other secret
spots in Newport... and there's no way anybody will ever see
them.
You know you're into surf photography, when you dream about
perfect surf lighting conditions, instead of perfect surf
conditions.
If you wear a 4-5mm fullsuit when shooting water, you won't
be able to duck dive waves, and will get pushed to the beach
like a little rubber duck.
Newport's Kaliegh Gilchrist will be the first female surfer
to ride the Wedge, and a stampede of digital photographers
will stumble over each other to shoot her.
I am still amazed that there are surf photographers that
don't surf!
If you don't read the instructions of your new waterhousing
equipment before you submerge it in the water, you will flood
it.
If you do flood your new waterhousing equipment, you will
scream lots of profanity.
Without Laylan at the Register, D. S. at Norwell Films, and
the crew at Surfline, nobody would know or care about this
insignificant website.
Shooting water flash photography can blind you. Surfing water
flash photography will blind the surfer.
If you run a surf photo website that loses money every year,
your tax man will lecture you.
If you put together all the camera equipment you need, make
all the necessary contacts up and down the coast, and arrange
time off work so you can chase big winter swells in California...
no big winter swells will never come.
To everyone who emails NewportSurfShots.com about their crazy
get rich quick schemes, that involves this website joining
thier website... the answer will always be no.
Traveling with surfboards is easy! Traveling with surfboards
and photo equipment is a total pain in the ass!
If you take a pro surfer who loves to fish, on a fishing
boat to shoot surf photos. All the pro surfer will want to
do is fish.
"Bones", Daniel, and Joey will one day be replaced
by Stider, Tyler and Trent.
If you hang a sign advertising your website on the side of
your home on the 4th of July, and forget to take if down immeditately...
the city will be pissed!
Newport photogs Cameron Oden and Matt Doheny will one day
famous, successful photographers. and I will not...
I still hate clouds, but I'm learning to deal with them.
com
Hi vacationers!!
We got here about 5:00pm - had stopped in Shafter to see Minter
Field ariport ( Bill's first job & later cadet training)
He met a docent that was his same age with similar experiences,
so we stayed quite a while, while they reminensed.
Mauri was fine & glad to see someone. She is very friendly.
She & Molly had their tumbles & chases. They get along
well. Mauri will even initiate a tumble with Molly. She attacks
& hangs on to Mollys fur for a free ride!! They are fun
to watch. She is able to hold her own !
Thanks for the "top". I do like it & it fits
perfectly. I'm wearing it now!
I've located Tom's car & will move it.
Thanks for the garage. Getting fancy with the code box, huh?
Yes, your fuchia will get watered.
We won't bother your TV. The ones in the living room &
office is enough.
Thanks for everything. We went to Las Fajitas for dinner &
margarita. Bill said to tell you he likes your choice &
especially the margaritas there.
Probably won't see you Sun when you return, but hope you're
having a great time & I plan to come back down around
Aug. 1 & stay for several weeks, if I get the painting
I want to do for Kathy before then. I will have to be back
the end of Aug to start alterations. I have promised to baby
sit Nikki for Denny & Marci Aug. 13 - 17th as they have
back to school orientation & there is no child care during
that time. Marci was not going to go - but I know how important
it is, so I volunteered to baby sit. It will make a big difference
to start the school year on the right foot. Nikki is easy.
Anyway, I'll firm up plans later, but that's a given.
Surfing for Dollar$
It used to be that as a young amateur
surfer you could not win money in a surf contest... and if
you did place in the money round of a pro event, and you accepted
it, then you were immediately considered a Professional surfer,
and barred from competing as an amateur. What you could do
however was donate the money to your school, or surf organization
and still retain your amateur status. If you did go for the
money however, and you want to regain your amateur status,
you could do so by not accepting prize money for one year...
Confusing no? I was! The primary reason for all of this was
because surfing was trying to break into the Olympics, and
those were along rules that had to be followed.
Today though there is none of that!
Any surfer, at any age, can accept prize money for surfing
an event. Click the link below and check out how Quiksilver's
"King of the Groms" event last Monday handed out
cold hard cash during every heat!
Surpassing a crew of international
groms that included Kalohe Andino, John John Florence &
Luke Davis to name a few... Newport's Victor Done set Huntington
Beach ablaze yesterday and walked away with 2nd place at Quiksilver's
"King of the Groms" Skins event held at Goldernwest
St. Good luck to all the local surfers who now have their
sights set on Nationals this week.
Victor, carving another money
turn... in
Huntington
Monuments Rick Downs... "Silhouette"
(Photo: Cameron/Cozad)
Will SurfSide Sports beat Froghouse this year? Will Jack's
trounce both of them? Bragging rights will be passed out,
tomarrow at 54th St. at the Quiksilver/Surfer Magazine Surf
Shop Challange.
SurfSide Sports surf team member Chris LoMenzo...
Wishing the other other teams good luck... in
Newport
Gone to Baja... the "Hotshot"
will resume again on Tuesday with another boring story...
Andy Jeffs, River Jetty...
and the Opel
___________________________________________________
7 Days of swell coverage... let's give
it a one day rest!
Different Swell, Different
Day, Different Wave...
"Bones", Boosting
By The Boulders... in Newport
Building Tuesday
Tuesday morning, April 11th, I flipped
on my cell phone early and found it already full of messages.
I ran to get my camera! West Newport was feeling the initial
pulse of 2 solid opposing hemisphere swells. Troy Ekert's
double barrel, Tom Rezvan's drive from behind, and Chad Labass's
deep pit, that everyone stopped filming as he pulled into,
and then gasped as he somehow came flying out of, were some
of the highlights. And the swells... well the southern hemi
just kept building!
Super
Wednesday
Unless you're a paddling champion,
West Newport was pretty unriddable at day break. "The
Point" was a giant 4 block long wall of water. And the
Wedge... well when the Wedge has 20ft faces, and there's only
a few takers, you know it's heavy. It wasn't so much the size
that was keeping some out of the lineup, it was the NW swell
push and morning sickness causing havoc to the shape. The
word was that Timpton got the barrel of all barrels the evening
before.
Timmy Turner was the first to show
with a board that morning, he got one bomb, and left. Pat
Towersey on his 4 fin, and "Barney", who broke a
fin out of one of his boards before he even caught a wave,
showed up and wowed the crowd. If you wanted to surf in town
that day, and weren't didn't have Larid Hamilton skills, then
44th to the Newport Pier, or the East Harbor Jetty, were your
best options.
The
wave I can't talk about.
60 plus cars, 20 plus video and still
cameras, and a pack of pros mixed in with ripping locals,
told you how good "the wave" was. In high school,
I was lucky enough to have a place in the line-up in the area,
and as I looked at all the cameras lining the beach, the cliff,
and in the water, I knew that this media circus would not
sit well with the local crew. I shot for a couple hours, and
headed to work. And as I drove north I saw a surf magazine
photographer shooting line-up shots from up far up on the
hill, and I knew that whether anyone like it or not, this
fickle wave was about to be thrust into the limelight.
"The Website"
and "The wave"
After 10 hours of shooting, and 8 hours
at my real job, I got to spend until early the next morning
editing photos, damn I wish I learned how to tolerate drinking
coffee! "The wave" was the biggest surf news on
the entire coast, and the website I often shoot for, wanted
photos of it. They expected photos of it! One way or another
they were going to get photos of it! "The wave"
was the biggest story on the coast, and if I wasn't going
to supply them, then there were a dozen other photogs that
would. No names of "the wave" was the agreement,
and the photos were sent.
First out, First
to blame...
A photo
I shot of Atwater team rider Spence Pirdy standing tall and
charging "the wave", was one of the first images
from the swell out of the gates ... And two emails bitching
about the release it came flying at me fast and furious. Hopefully
these two freinds of each other also took the time to contact
Surfermag.com and the Daily Pilot who hours later named "the
wave"!
I contacted a couple regulars from
"the wave", guys I'd surfed with years ago... If
I hadn't supplied photos, some clown less would have, was
my comment. I vowed not to release images identifying it to
the magazines... to help prevent a surf webcam from ever being
placed there... and to help hold the ladder to remove, and
dismantle the webcam if it ever happened. Addtionally a high
resolution photo from the day is going out to the local crew...
if you're one of them, you'll hear about it.
Miss surfing the swell of the decade,
make close to minimum wage shooting photos of it, stay up
for days editing surf images, deal with irrate locals, repond
to rebrating email. To the legands of wanna be surf photogs
who are now lining the shores with their digital camera. Surf
photography is so fun and rewarding?
The Southern Hemi of at least the Decade... and Drama.
Building Tuesday
Tuesday morning, April 11th, I flipped on my cell phone
to find it completely full of messages @ 7am. I ran to get
my camera! West Newport was feeling the initial pulse of 2
solid opposing swells. Troy Ekert's double barrel, Tom Rezvan's
drive from behind, and Chad Labass's deep pit, that everyone
stopped filming as he pulled into, and then gasped at as he
somehow came flying out, were some of the highlights. And
the swell... well the southern hemi just kept building!
Super Wedensday
Unless you're a paddling champion, West Newport was near
unriddable at day break. "The Point" was a giant
3 block long wall of water. And the Wedge... well when the
Wedge has 20ft faces, and there's only a few takers, you know
it's heavy. It wasn't so much the size, it was the NW swell
and morning sickness screwing with the shape. The word was
Timpton got the barrel of all barrels the evening before...
Timmy Turner showed, got one bomb, and left. And Pat Towersey
on his 4 fin, and "Barney", who broke a fin on one
of his boards before he even caught a wave, wowed the crowd.
If you wanted to surf in town that day, and were'nt super
human, the 44th to the Lower Jetties, or the East Harbor Jetty,
were your best options.
The wave I can't talk about.
60 plus cars, 20 plus video and still cameras, and a pack
of pros, mixed in with locals, told you how good "the
wave" was. In high school, I was lucky enough to have
a small place in the line-up in the area, and as I looked
at all the cameras lining the beach, the cliff, and in the
water, I knew that this media circus was not going to go over
well with the local crew. I shot for a couple hours, and headed
to work. And as I drove off I noticed a surf magazine photographer
shooting line-up shots from up on the hill, and I knew, this
fickle wave was about to be thrust into the spotlight, and
this was not good!
Surfline... and "The wave"
After 10 hours of shooting, and 8 hours at my real job, I
got to spend until morning editing photos, damn I wish I drank
coffee! "The wave" was the biggest surf news on
the entire coast, and Surfline asked for photos of it, they
expected photos of it, one way or another they were going
to get photos of it... and if I was'nt going to supply them,
their were a dozen other photogs waiting in the wing that
would. No names of "the wave" was the agreement
I made with them.
First out, first to blame...
My photo of Spence Pirdy standing tall and charging "the
wave", was the first to hit the major surf media... unfortunately
I have an email where people could tell me what they thought
about that. Two emails bitching about the release of "the
wave" photos came fast and furious. I'm only hoping they
also took the time to email Surfermag.com and the Daily Pilot
that named "the wave"!
I contacted a couple people that chesish "the wave",
guys I used to surf with many years ago... Surfline was going
to run photos of "the wave", the best spot on the
Califonia coast that day, whether I supplied them or not,
was my arguement. More importantly I promised I would'nt release
identifying photos of "the wave" to the mags, to
the powers that be, I would strongly suggest that a surf webcama
never be place there. And I'd help hold the ladder to help
dismantle a surf cam if it ever occured. Finally a high resolution
cd of photos of "the wave" that day will be going
out to the locals. If you're one of them... you'll here about
how to get.
"The wave" it's tide, swell and wind sensitive.
It's difficult to check, it has no parking, it has a small
take area, locals that know that area like the back of thier
hand, and it will probabley never break like it did on April
12th again in my lifetime. "The wave will take care of
itself.
To much drama for one week...
Philip Cousteau filming for "Animal Planet" behind
him, seals playing in front of him, and sharks lurking somewhere
below...
Newport's Joey Head handles it all with style...
When I was a kid there
was a guy in the nieghborhood called "Rick the beach
bum". At one time he was a Newport Policemen, but got
fired for punching another Newport cop. He was a pretty interesting
guy, and spent most 90% of his day hanging on the bayfront
beach in front of our house.
In 1972 the movie Jaws
came out, and it scarred the heck out of everyone that saw
it!! And with the release of the movie, came all kinds of
crazy reports of of shark sightings from up and down the coast.
Us kids in the nieghborhood were pretty spooked too, and we
started looking at the ocean and bay waters in a whole nother
light.
We'll Rick thought the
hype over the movie was pretty funny. And one day he came
up with a plan to freak all the swimmers in the little channel
in front of our house out. His plan was to take some styrofoam,
carve it into the shape of a shark fin, paint it gray, get
some piano wire, that would sink, and attach it to his waist...
and then casually swim from one end of the channel to the
other.
