During my frolic with the housing the other day I snapped a shot of Thom @thomkadera at the end of his surf. I’ve known Thom for ages ‘out in the water’, and thought he was a maths teacher. Even bought a board off him, only to have him buy it back a couple of years later. He loved it that much. Great surfer. Today I discovered he’s also a fine artist. Shades of an aquatic Fred Williams. If you know that giant’s work you’ll see the resonance I felt. The discoveries you make out the back, and in the shorey. How good is the sea?
Finally hit the water with the housing today. Hi tide Bells, maybe 4ft in sets but the sweep was murder holding position. After an hour or so of fighting the current I retreated to shooting the shore break as the good light started to happen - that burst of gold down the valley. This is a start at least. The guy had the biggest smile, bless him.
Many years back. I think maybe 1988. Waimea Bay in Hawaii. I may have surfed this day. My memories of the few surfs there were wide eyed and happy. In the frame is Ken Bradshaw taking off with James Jones looking on. James a really friendly guy, very helpful in pointing out I shouldn’t take off on the boil, and Ken, well he glared at me when I rode a wave behind him and said ‘that was fun’ as we pulled out. The place has enormous presence. Special times.
Digging around looking for stuff finds stuff. Back in 2012 I worked on a project called The Reef with the Australian Chamber Orchestra @australianchamberorchestra headed by Richard Tognetti @richardtognetti.aco as Musical Director. Cinematography was by Jon Frank, and I directed. Well I tried to. The stars were The Land, The Music, Derek Hynd as Surfing Director, and all the way from California, a brave young Ryan Burch @ryanburchsurfboards who didn’t know what he was in for. This is Ryan, gazing into the late afternoon western sun, golden, with his Lord Board. A rectangle of unglassed polystyrene. He ripped on it. And one day broke it. Here, it’s newly mended with Gorilla Glue just before another session. To paddle out at large Tombies he would slide off his board, throw it over the wave like a frisbee, dive under, and repeat. What a time we had. There’s so much more to the stories. So, so much.
Mid 1981 on the east coast of SriLanka. The shots I have from here sadden me as the village was struck twenty-three years later by the 2004 tsunami. I often wonder if these kids survived.
From the lost boxes of images. Bells 1975 with Movietone News shooting newsreels on film. Worth noting the ‘contest setup’ and crowds on the cliffs. Times have changed. I was just 21.
Over the past months I’ve been working with Jarosite @jarositeband to produce a small section of a much larger project that is, in a way, a musical history of our coast since the sixties. Featuring interviews with, and in some cases dedications to their memories of, people who have had an impact on the surfing cultural history of our home. The guys asked me to create a clip using my stills alone, to accompany their beautiful song, Moonlight. It features a place close to my heart, and all, bar a couple of shots, are taken from one spot only. Playing with the light, and the storms. There’ll be more from Jarosite soon. They are a special bunch indeed.
I was very pleased to see this shot of mine find a home today. Called The Black Wave because it is, but it brings a lot of joy to me and the (60th) Birthday Boy as he’s born and raised at this amazing spot. I enjoyed many the long deep and meaningful yarn out the back with his dad ( one of the originals who cut the road to Bells Beach in the late 50’s) in the 70’s and 80’s. Time flies in timeless places.
My hot water service exploded a few weeks back. Amongst the mess a box of slides from way back when. The south of France 1978 on the way to an adventure.
Netflix will cancel my subscription if I don’t turn it on soon. I thank artists Penny Green @snappylapper for allowing me to use her beautiful portrait of fellow artist Gillian Bencke @bencke lying in a rock pool somewhere near Newcastle. I’ve taken some liberties with proportions just because. Gil’s Dream. After an image by Pen.
Around twenty five years ago I took a snap, with a 120 film plastic Lomo camera, of my eldest, Joey. Had some proofs run as it was on neg film, and played with a charcoal scribble of it in a sketchbook, just for the memory. Ten days ago my hot water service blew up, and, in the melee under the house, I found a box of film. Among the decades of memories was Joey, picking up pebbles to chuck in the river. Finally I had it scanned. Might be worth a print. Definitely worth the memory. Happy days. ❤️
