Serena Mitnik-Miller just had her art opening at Mollusk SF and her pieces are for sale through the shop. The work is gorgeous, what looks to be a combination of photography, painting and wood-block printing, with a presentation style to match.
For those of us that are geographically challenged, Mollusk has a nice photo gallery ’simulating’ the show, complete with piece groupings and wall-direction markings. Go to the Mollusk site and click on “art” (no deep link).
Case in point: stars aligned and we were lucky enough to be in LA for Maggie Marsek’s show at Shelter Surf Shop. I’m lying a wee bit, Maggie’s show was actually a large impetus for the timing of our trip. It was wonderful seeing her photos up-close and personal. Large, yummy prints made from real film. And it was equally awesome to finally meet up with Maggie and her man Rob (70 Percent.org). Rob and I have been talking back and forth, across the internet tubes, for a few years now and it was super nice to put a smile and a face to the legend.
Along with Maggie’s work, I was fortunate enough to meet Ryan Tatar (Shakas and Singlefins) and to peep his photographic work that coincidentally is also hanging in Shelter. I’ve written about Ryan’s work before.
I have to give it up to Graham at Shelter for being such an ardent supporter of local surf photogs. It’s easy to rely on established talent to coat the walls of your shop, but Graham is really pushing the edge. Finding new, untapped talent and giving them a podium to show their stuff. keep it up Graham!
To top off a very very cool night, I got to meet JP of Moonlight Glassing and Surfy Surfy fame. He is one of the most down to earth, humble cats I’ve ever met. Heart of gold. I resisted the urge to (over-enthusiastically) get him to sign my tshirt. I know the boards he glasses are shaped by other people, but his work is truly a work of art. Reading Surfy Surfy, seeing a visual diary of all the new boards coming through his family’s shop, coming in as shaped foam and leaving as pieces of realized art. It’s a daily education on classical surf craft form.
It was super nice to meet all these people from the surf blogosphere, putting faces to blog header graphics. Living in a small mexican town can be a wee bit isolating sometimes (offset by multiple uncrowded surf breaks) so it was nice to have a night of Tecates, photography and new friends all in the name of surf culture.
Thanks Maggie, Rob, Graham, Ryan and JP for a wicked night.
“We must be the change we want to see” b/w “Fuck whoever wrote that”
The first quote (a bit mangled) from Mahatma Ghandi. I can’t quite figure out where the second quote is from, but i think i’ve heard it somewhere before.
This is a return to ‘form’ of sorts. Photography-wise, I’ve been experimenting with knocking the contrast and saturation down, intentionally making the images more flat. I’m tired ‘a that. Also, these are two images from a larger forthcoming series on losing local breaks to unchecked real estate development here in Nayarit.
The top shot taken on a surf trip to Ostula Michoacan, in August of ‘07 and the bottom shot, taken at local mainstay Quesadillas. Visual cousins.
On a side note: some jerkwad burned the ramada down at Quesadillas, this past week. The one the bottom picture was taken through. Nothing that can’t be rebuilt with a little hard sweat and a machete, but definitely a random, unnecessary act of destruction. totally bummer.
Went searchin’, today, for any pre-cursors of the incoming swell. There’s definitely a lot of chop and the bay is looking super worked from all the air. But no real swell and any uptick is blown out in the massive wind. Conversely, the kiteboarders are having a field day. All along the beach in bucerias day-glow parachutes whiz above the tree tops.
I tried to stop in at Pools/Albercas, one of my favorite breaks - that only works with the summer storm systems, to check the access situation (there’s been rumors) and much to my dismay, there is a new security gate that denied me access to the road that passes near the break. I was under the impression that A. The road is built on top of a river bed, what would be designated as “Federal Zone” (hence illegal to put in a gate or deny access without laborious and costly, federal permits - which I highly doubt they have) and B. The road itself was not deeded property of the condominium association that owns the Punta Del Burro property, so it would be illegal for the association to deny access to the road. We’ll have to do some due diligence.
This gets to the heart of a serious problem happening all up and down the coast between La Cruz and Punta Mita and one that I’ve been reticent to write about. Access to our handful of surf breaks is slowly being choked off one by one, as is the access to each of the local swimming beaches. People point fingers and say that it’s the Gringos, but I don’t think it’s that simple.
The past four years has seen an explosion of land development along this coast. Land exchanged hands, plans drawn up, permits filed and now building is starting to happen everywhere. Relatively rapidly, access to sacred surf breaks are being choked off by developers and homeowners associations, who don’t want people accessing the beaches from what usually amounts to lot boundary lines and semi-dry riverbeds.
This is a heavy and laborious subject and requires more than a simple post, so I guess I’m committing myself to a series of posts that will in all likeliness just graze the surface of the unintended problems real estate development is creating, in the bay.
For now, I’ll point you to Vida Cadu Cada, the blog of a recently enacted local civil association whose raison d’etre is to work with local, state and national authorities to secure access for surfers to these sites. I’ve kinda signed on, to help with the english speaking contingent.
Why? cuz kitties are cute. that’s why. that and the fact that Ana can surf a short board better than you. She shreads! Put gnarly surf chicks together with kitties and it’s photo gold, my friend. works every time.
With impending swell on the way, I went for an 8:30am checkup. not too early to catch the morning session (and accompanying traffic jam of earth moving vehicles, buses and pick up trucks stacked to the gills with albañiles - all on their way out to Punta Mita to make luxury houses for the richie riches). and not too late, before the rays start to bake you alive and the wind whips the water into a blown-out, frothish frenzy.
Assuming there’d be at least some kind of swell, I over-shot and brought the shortboard. Rolled up to “the spot” to find 16 longboarders with occasional two to three footers. With nice, glassy conditions there were some nice waves coming through, an uptick from last week, but nothing chewable for a 6′0″. I surveyed the scene for a while. Some longboarder chick was rockin’ it, inna fine style. Amazing leg work, subtle and steady. Just as a I grabbed the camera, she headed back to shore.
Back to the break at 6:00pm with the wind whipping everything into fine white foam. This time the 6′0″ worked nicely on the slightly larger set waves, but with no real power in ‘em, they’re what I’d call “lazy”. I still had fun and being back out the shortboard was a nice change from the waterlog, good paddle practice for any incoming swell and nice to work out those shortboard legs.
Last week was spent trimming ankle slappers. But sometimes you just need a taste. Not a local to be seen in the water. A ghost town populated by visiting surf families with multiple surf instructors.
Survey sez: major swell approaching. Depending on who you ask, it’ll arrive here Wed or Fri, I’m betting on Wednesday. Spent this weekend repairing mis cuatro tablas. Each board with varying degrees of dings, bruises and gashes. The fish had a nice run in with a visiting mini super grom whose soccer dad was video taping him, as I ducked the wrong way and his skagg put a nice 6 inch gash into my rail. The super-light ATL 6′0″ had a nice little nose ding, with foam showing, probably from out-of-the-water damage. and the longboard had a year’s worth of gouges and scrapes, it ain’t called the “waterlog” for nothin’. I ran out of catalyst along the way, so funboard repairs are left til next round (the learning board). I’ll have to restock up next time I head to the states. Finding ding repair kits in Mexico is not easy, you can thank homeland security for that one. We guard our kits, here, like our first born.
The past week has been dead, dead, dead. Undeterred, I’ve been slogging my 9-oh log jammy out to various spots. One foot, two foot, three foot. It doesn’t take much to have fun. I’ve been relishing in the small wave action. Maybe not the longest sessions on earth, but perfect for grabbing a few nice rides, heading back to familiar shores and snapping off a few captures in the late afternoon gold.
If it doesn’t pick up soon, a trip to La Michoacan may be in the near future.
It’s getting hot, folks. I mean like, hot hot. Summer is on the way and sitting out on the water for 2 hours, mid-day/afternoon just isn’t so smart. So I’m going to start conditioning myself for the dawn patrol. not necessarily to fight the crowds, rather to fight the heat (and the burn).
Photos from an afternoon excursion up to Punta Mita. waves were knee-high to a grasshopper, but this thirty-something buck managed to grab a nice long ride or two. I had a great conversation with Joe Doggett and his buddies, a rag tag crew of inveterate surf junkies who make an annual pilgrimage to Mita. They completely schooled me on Punta Mita surf history and for that I am grateful. You can look forward to a post on Punta Mita surf lore in the not to distant future. Thanks Joe!
Anclote, Punta Mita. also known as the “Mexican Malibu” for its long, mellow, soft shouldered wave. A longboarder paradise. The destination of choice for old guys who are following Mexico’s gold road of fabled surfing spots. It’s a welcome change of pace from the local grom stables of Burros and Sayulita. Lulls in the sets are filled with surf mythology laden stories of yore and each wave is an opportunity to share a ride with an old friend or new.
Roberto + Barbara - two kids that own a local Bucerias surf shop
Call me a noob, but I had no idea you could still custom order boards from Gerry Lopez. I was in the water yesterday, talking to Lobo and that’s exactly what he did. He’s riding a sweet 7′6″ Cheetah with a serene light blue-green tint. super tight.
We spent last weekend in Quintana Roo and came back to stories of people seeing sharks at La Lancha on Saturday. Whoa.
We’re jumping straight from winter in to summer. The water has warmed at least 3 degrees (c) in the past 2 weeks. No need for full wetsuit anymore and all of the accumulated seaweed is dying in vast groves and washing up on the beaches. gonna start smelling real nice in a week or so.
Rode the 9′0″ San Miguel, yesterday, and I can’t seem to get up to the nose. but did grab a head high peeler. very fast and about 2 feet back from the nose, both feet pointed forward. Still got the ropey hands over the head steez though. can’t keep the hands from going up.
I get tons of great ideas, floating out there looking at the horizon, the problem is that I forget all those good ideas, the minute I sit back in front of this computer. It’s a problem.
I hit a small deer last night on the way home. She jumped out ran along with the car for a split second and then collided with my fog light. she bounced off and tumbled. I went back to see if she was hurt but she had gotten away. I feel terrible. but I guess it comes with the (rural) territory.
A-Side Studio combines beautifully subtle graphic design, illustration and photography. Their work is tight and laced with surf/skate inspiratory vibe. They art-directed a new surf culture related book project coming out called The September Project:
During the month of September in 2006 two dozen creatively driven surfers took residence in a house on the west coast of Ireland. The September Project documents the collective experiences of this place and time by means of photography, illustration and words.
plus lots of good goofy skate/surf/design snaps at their blog.
Meet The King of Burros. We call him “El Lobo” (The Wolf). I’m not exactly sure why he’s called El Lobo, but it fits him perfectly. El Lobo has the monster longboard and when the waves are heavy you’ll always find him sitting 100 yards in front of the usual line-up. When you see him paddling up to the break, you know your average wave count is about to take a nose dive. Yet, he never gets too much grief from the local groms and even though he’s thwarting your attempt to grab waves, he’s not doing it with any malice. He’s all smiles all the time with never an over-the-shoulder glance. He’s just doing his own thing. Respect.
Update: In the comments, Mark points out that El Lobo is actually Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink, one half of international recording artists Willie and Lobo. Their music is described as “Gypsy Boogaloo violin and flamenco guitar” and their songs were used in the soundtrack to surfing documentary Blazing Longboards. You can find all ten Willie and Lobo albums on iTunes here.
Saturday night I was hunting around Flickr for a surfing-related group to add my photos to. There are plenty of groups on surfing, surfers, big waves, hawaiian surfing, surfer chicks etc… but after extensive searching I couldn’t find one whose focus was more about surf culture in general, in and out of the water (and on the way to the water and stopping off at the taco stand on the way home and climbing over that barbwire fence with the do not trespass sign). So I decided to create a new group.
This group is dedicated to all things surf culture related.
There are plenty of groups for surf-mag inspired surfing shots. you know the ones. aggro, big wave action shots, groms tearing up the lip, bikini shots etc… Those kinds of shots have their rightful place in the pantheon of surf culture, but this is not the place for those. This is the place for the more solitary and meditative aspects of surf culture. I’d say alternative surf culture but it’s not really the alternative (alternative to what?), more like the side that isn’t shown as often in top-shelf surf mags. A counterbalance to the showier/competitive side of surfing. “The journey is the destination” and this is all about the journey. With that said, any action shots that have especially aesthetic qualities, feel free to add ‘em.
Pics don’t even need to be surf-specific, as long as they are consciously or unconsciously informed by the process of sliding water hills, staring at the horizon while floating and shaping wave riding craft. Pics that are derived from:
journeys towards mythic spots, trim, surf culture influenced art, wave sliding equipment, haping bays, five/ten toes, fancy footwork, blur, color, motion, F2.8 / F22, film stock, old school methods, beautiful losers, quivers, hulls, sleads, single fins, eggs, quads, tris, logs, longboards, shortboards, new / old school fish, finless , surf mats, shakas, displacement, fins, custom graphics, spray paint / stenciled graphics, cigar bands, hand-lettered, hand-drawn, left points and right handers, close outs, rivermouths, pelicans, dolphins and all manners of surfing forefathers, sunrise/sunset, crowded / vacant lineups, jungle treks, no trespassing signs, barbwire fences, ruthless urban development threatening sacred surf breaks, inspired transportation for long and short hauls, all manners of collected / directed energy moving through water, new / old wax, duck diving shots, split view half-in / out the water shots, aerial shots, corduroy lines, beards n mustaches, gath helmets, custom mount tube pov shots, signs and signage, old dogs n new tricks, new doggies n old tricks, new doggies n new variations on old tricks, local shapers, portraits, bottom turns, all manners of waves occupied or not, art galleries and installations, interviews and media hijinx, walking the plank, perched, doubles etc…
As I was going about inviting my flickr friends to the group and searching out some good content to lead by example, it occurred to me that everyone in the group should be able to curate. Everyone should be given the opportunity to add interesting photos to the group, that they see while trawling the infinite flickrverse.
I’ve given each member admin (curator) privileges, in the hopes that this group can become a collection of amazing surf culture related imagery, more than simply a place to dump sequence shots and such. You can read more about the curator aspect of the group here.
I trawl tons of surf blogs a day and if 1/100th the amount of awesomeness that shows up on these blogs makes it to the group, it’ll be worth it.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between surfing and “surf culture” recently. I don’t mind the showier/competitive side of surfing, it definitely has its place in surf culture. But for the most part, the surfing that I know (especially when done at times other than rush hour) is a solitary, meditative, relaxing experience. Lately I’ve been trying to capture that essence to show a different mode of surf culture especially with regard to the scene here in Nayarit. And somehow transferring that vibe/ethos/prana to other contexts, not necessarily surfing specific but definitely informed by thought processes learned by spending too much time floating on the water while looking towards the horizon. ya dig?
A new documentary called Surfwise is coming out. Looks pretty good:
Like many American outsider-adventurers, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz set out to realize a utopian dream. Abandoning a successful medical practice, he sought self-fulfillment by taking up the nomadic life of a surfer. But unlike other American searchers like Thoreau or Kerouac, Paskowitz took his wife and nine children along for the ride, all eleven of them living in a 24 foot camper. Together, they lived a life that would be unfathomable to most, but enviable to anyone who ever relinquished their dreams to a straight job. The Paskowitz Family proved that America may be running out of frontiers, but it hasn’t run out of frontiersman.
Lee Rogers has some pretty nice looking surf-culture related photographic works in a nice clean site. also peep his graphic design section. more surf/beatufiful shots up on his flickrstream.
Life’s A Beach has a great blog post on Reef’s use of thonged models in their ads: REEF = Surf Sexploitation? I don’t know if it’s “sexploitation”, in screaming all capitals but it sure is annoying, low-brow, totally pointless, unnecessary and worst of all heinously art-directed (ok, slight irony thrown in for comedic non-sequitor, flame away!). Perfect examples found here.
I’ve hated Reef’s ads since they started using thonged models (with no faces) to sell their products. I feel doubly bad because well, I really like their products. Surfer Mag’s Curious Gabe chimes in with video interviews, bringing up the moral issues surrounding the reef ads. I’m not gonna conjecture as to why they position their products this way but Reef should take marketing and art-direction lessons from Swell and stop treating their customers like rowdy frat boys. But then again, maybe that’s who their target market is…
File this under the “I did not know that” category: Reef is owned by VF Corp. a large conglomerate, who also own Vans and The North Face along a bunch of other brands I wouldn’t be caught dead in. Oh well, time to start seeking out alternative flip-flop companies. Sanuk are pretty dope right?! and Vans too? oh well.
On a different note: I’ve hated these ads for so long, I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve read anything online regarding them. And I did notice in November’s issue of Surfer Mag that Reef’s got a new “Redemption” campaign that is green-based and non-thong focused. Maybe intentionally or unintentionally Reef is trying to salvage their brand positioning.
James Danzinger (of the Danzinger Gallery in NYC) has a blog and it’s wickedly good: The Year in Pictures. In a recent post, Danzinger gives a run-down on some of Tom Adler’s surf-culture related work from books on surfing’s golden years by photographers Ron Church and Don James to Swell’s impressive branding and identity. If there were ever an art-director who I’d love to work under, it’d be Tom Adler. His work is inspirational. A friend of mine gifted me Adler’s Ron Church: Surf Contest book and it’s an absolutely amazing time capsule of surf-culture history.
I’m really feeling the photography of Patrick Trefz. He’s the director of two recent surf culture related films:Thread and Bicycle Trip as well as photog for every surf mag you ever bought. His photos are gorgeous and if he had a “click to buy” button on his print page, I’d have clicked it already. [via The Ryde/blog]
Jeff Canham has some really wicked art/design/painting/signage. He’s the guy behind the Mollusk store signage and the art-director for Surfer mag from 2000 to 2005. I especially dig his art series, paintings on plywood.
Hi, my name is Ed Fladung, I'm a recovering web-designer who moved to Mexico about 4 years ago. Learned to surf, got married and bought a nice camera. This is my weblog/photoblog. It covers broad subjects like becoming an ex-pat, surfing, photography, graphic design, music, art, architecture, living in mexico, all things Apple and WordPress related, etc... You can find more about me here. I hope you enjoy.
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