lamb-fish

dark side of the lens

South swell is pumping today in San Diego. Dawn patrol session this morning got me thinking of the hurricane action happening on the other side of the globe and how that must be stirring up some waves in Europe. I’ll be in Ireland in just a few days, a while this is not going to be a ‘surf trip’ I’m going to make a point to try to get some waves while I’m on the island. It would be a truly special experience to surf in the waters that my forefathers lived off of a century ago.

Here’s a few of Ireland’s finest in a beautiful cinematic piece showcasing some of the finer points of my fatherland. Cheers.

teahupo’o billabong pro

With the Teahupo’o Billabong Pro underway and one of the most massive swells the contest has ever seen on the horizon I thought it a timely opportunity to post a board Chris and I just added to our growing catalogue of our Birds Boards project. This is Kelly Slater’s board from the 2008 contest that didn’t make it all the way through the competition. The 10 time world champ didn’t win the contest that year, but still preformed with his legendary style and grace, breaking this board in the Semi Finals before getting eliminated.

Even this remnant has so much life and chacter. It’s traveled the world over and been some amazing places and done some even more amazing things under Kelly’s feet. One of the many tools of trade from the best surfer the world has ever known.

birds boards — first look

A first look at the massive project Chris Park and I are undertaking: photographing and archiving a collection of 400+ boards from the past 4+ decades. The boards are the personal collection Eric “Bird” Huffman, proprietor of Bird’s Surf Shed.

How sweet are these wooden keel fins?

birds boards

Kicked off an ambitious new project yesterday: my good friend and fellow Osprey creative, Chris Park, and I are going to attempt to photograph and catalogue a collection of 400+ boards. The boards are the personal collection Eric “Bird” Huffman.

A few decades after sucessfully opening and managing the four South Coast surf shops here in San Diego, Bird decided to “fly-solo” and open his own shop, Bird’s Surf Shed. More of a museum, than a surf shop, Bird’s Surf Shed is home the majority of Bird’s amazing collection of surfboards he has personally collected throughout his life. 

Chris and I were inspired by Bird’s collection, his passion for surfing and just being an all around genuine nice guy. After we both bought new FireWire boards from him (the El Fuego!) we got to talking about his creative needs. Starting off as a talk about his website, we spun off into his board collection and how awesome it would be to catalogue the whole thing and put it online, in a book, etc.. The potential here is limitless. We’re not quite sure how this is going to go, or what it’s going to turn into, we’re just stoked to be involved.

Here’s little behind the scenes look our first shoot yesterday in Chris’/Tim Maotoni’s studio. Check back for more updates.