Death of the DSLR. Is the future RED?
Today RED Digital Cinema Cameras issued a press release about their much talked about and hyped up Scarlet camera system. Looks like they’re giving the DSLR market a whirl as well. Aside from taking HD video, The scarlet’s “brain” unit as they are called, also takes quality stills. The “brain” of the unit is essentially an interchangeable sensor module, you can literally switch out between a feeble 4.9 megapixel to hefty 65 megapixel, even switch to a 261 megapixel panoramic back. Sounds sweet and dandy but, In my research it seems like people are on one side of the line or the other. On one hand you have the people who would give their first born just to get on the 1-2 year waiting list to throw down loads of cash-ola for this “revolutionary” product, on the other side you see people who are a bit more cautious to accept this DSLR “killer” as it has been called. Personally, I am not buying into this so soon.
Generally with all new product releases you have a very detailed tech spec sheet such as, ISO speeds, shutter speeds, flash sync, frames per second, you know, useful information. Not the case with the RED cameras, yes they do have some specs, but just enough to get your mouth watering, and if you have the budget why not, right?? But for those of us generally interested in this piece of equipment that threatens to render DSLR’s obsolete in one fail swoop, we’d like to see more information. Not raving applause from starry eyed gear fiends with cash to blow. I talked to a couple videographers about the red camera to get their perspective, They did generally agree that these are good quality video cameras, but from whats been said, that it beats 35mm film cameras and high end Sony cameras hands down with minimal evidence to back it up is a bit curious. A few movie clips here and test reels there was not enough to convince these seasoned videographers to make the switch.
As a photographer this makes me all too suspicious that people would put such blind faith in this case to a new DSLR that has yet to see the light of day. Yes, it is a cool feature to switch out sensors, you can even use Canon, Nikon, and RED lenses on the same body and bells and whistles to add out the wahzoo. Lots of flash and pizzaz around this one, but no meat on the bone, so to speak. Basically if this thing is going to put millions of neurotic control freak photographers out of biz we better have a good reason to run for the hills, instead of telling us the boogey man is real, does that make sense? Either way it will be interesting to see how RED cameras pan out in the long run. Hmm maybe it should come with these free pair of shades, I’d be sold!( Jim Jannard is both the CEO of Oakley sunglasses and RED Cinema. )
Smashed for a good cause…. Bid on Ebay
We are selling off TG’s masterpiece, the hammered G10 on Ebay. All proceeds go to Boarding for Breast Cancer. Own a piece of history! click here
New Sony BRAVIA comercial… where have I seen this before??
Back around 05/06 I stumbled across an amazing Sony commercial for their EU brand BRAVIA, It was titled simply “Balls” directed by Nicolai Fuglsig. (we’ll get back to him in a second.) It has to be the most stunning commercial I’ve seen to date for a mainstream brand. (its better viewed in High Def, not youtube quality.) The best part, no computers were used to add CG balls at anytime! What you see actually took place on the streets of S.F. Bravia commercials have always been massive productions, exponentially pleasing the eyes of their European consumer with each ad while never losing site thus keeping it creative and unique along the way. See more here.
Fast forward to 2008. Sony has extended their colorful BRAVIA branches to the Asia Pacific market. Seems fair enough they hire a production Co. from the region expect to sell to. Enter Bates 141, out of Singapore. This being their inaugural commercial for BRAVIA, a lot is riding on a project like this. One would think, all stops must be pulled, bars must be raised and need to squeeze all creative juices out to make a banger of an ad, right? Wrong.
Take a look at their ad HERE. Hmm, slow motion shots coupled with pretty, soft vocals and acoustic strings. Strange how that seems all too familiar. Just coincidence right, yeah… Until I started doing a little digging and found this little number. (click here) Strange, another ad with a domino theme, just another coincidence…sure. But I found it odd that the director of both the BRAVIA “Balls” and Guinness’s “Tipping Point” happen to be Nicolai Fuglsig! Wow, I find it hard to believe Bates 141 did not do it’s research, this is just damn embarrassing. Oh, I love how the Bates slogan happens to be: “Change Happens, When You Look At Things Differently.” Really Bates? Come on.
OH, P.S.! Half the domino shots were CG… Booooooo!
Fear and loathing of PHOTOGRAPHY
Many cultures long viewed photographs with fear, worrying that a piece of the soul disappeared when a photo was taken. Never mess with a man’s religion.
Those cultures that retain a belief in ’sympathetic’ magic (where something that was a part of the person, like nail clippings, hair, blood or even an article of clothing) could be used to cast a spell or curse. A part of the ‘victim’ is essential in creating a ‘voodoo doll’. As a courtesy, it might be nice to let these people own their souls. There are plenty of celebrities giving away their souls as paparazzi “Canon fauder”, get it? Canon….the cameras, forget it, I digress.
Some museums forbid all photography, even without a flash, for no other reason than fear. Clearly a famous painting is worth more than an unknown one–and just as clearly, the artist who painted the image probably wanted other people to see it. There is some evidence that over time the camera flash will degrade the properties of the art work. They may want to protect the right of children is the background of your selfsih shot as illustrated in the post from PhotoShelter. ” If you are on private property and are asked not to take pictures, you are obligated to honor that request. This includes posted signs.”
What a missed oppritunity to have the visitors shooting images of the art work to spread the word of the amazing work.
Even worse is the hypocrisy of serikotik1970’s on Flickr. It is obvious he broke the rules of the museum and poached a few shots because he felt entitled. He posts them to the Flickr site and locks them down so no one can “steal” them with out his consent. Oh like that is going to work, if someone wants something online it is way to easy to lift it. Wouldn’t it make more sense to properly tag the jpeg and like pollen on a bee, use the audience to spread your creative? You obviously have a need to be acknowledged or you would have gone so far as to put up a PRO Flickr account. I had to do a lot of extra work to get the image I lifted from your Flickr account, to link back to you so you can benefit from anyone in our studionemo audience that may want to work with you at some level.
Back to why I started this post.
The inspiration for this piece was a photo student inquiring about being “ripped” off by a website that used his photo with out his consent. He felt he was due compensation and maybe rightfully and legal so. If the same situation was looked at differently could it be a positive marketing situation, no money needs to exchange hands let’s face it the fee is so small and by the time Uncle Sam gets his 40%, it wasn’t worth the conversation). Could there be lessons in other industries that would could look at and adapt to photo to help our Fear of being ripped off?
Head into the food court of any mall and the Chinese place will be handing out free sample so of the Orange chicken on a tooth pick. They could charge a quarter for a bite size snack like the candy bar world does, however, they know that once you have the customer in your “web” then the stats go up that they are ready to purchase. With may other choice right there; a lot of energy is used to reel them in for the final sale. Could a web photo usage e considered similar to the Chinese free give away model?
Lets look at another similar industry, the music industry. With the MP3 the traditional business model of selling a physical CD has tanked. My friend and business partner at Pamplemoose, Dave Allen has this to say in a post on the Moose, A Five Point Plan to Save the Music Business.
“Free doesn’t mean no money: The music industry should not fear free. It needs to embrace it. The culture of the net is free or at least feeling free. But money can still be made from other sources: everything from advertising supported services, to brands paying for an association with the artists to newspapers paying for giveaway CDs”.
Back to the original situation. Can we look at this web usage as a form of “free” marketing that “reels” a potential customer in for a larger, smarter, business opportunity? The world is a changing market and if we as shooters don’t keep up and leverage new outlets then we get left behind and Darwin-ism puts in our place, out of business.
Here is a short tail to the long tail answer of do I give a photo usage away for free? Any photo posted to any website anywhere should be considered a marketing seed for your photography business. The old cliché goes, you need to spend money to make money, posting a jpeg is nearly free marketing dollars. The jpeg is out there with a hotlink to your website, meta data with your copyright that leads to your website and as a seed, it will populate across the web and lead potential customers to your website, your Chinese food stand. The big sales can be with custom prints, day shoots, and license fees for advertisement needs. The “free” sample actual can be considered as “free” promotions for your photo businesses. It makes sense to kiss the hand that feeds you and not bite it.
Sexist or just plain Sexy?
Big buzz of this photo making its rounds on the internet. People are up in arms, blah blah, saying this photo is sexist. I think of it as more distraction from actual issues that the “McPalin” team are not exactly facing head on. But really folks, who cares about politics when you have Miss Alaska ’84’s “gams” to look at? AUUUUUGGGAAAAA!
p.s. 5 bucks says the kid in the photo is more worried about the inflation in his pants than the market.
Model Mayhem… For “professionals” only? HA!
Man, I received a message from my boss TG this morning that said: ” www.modelmayhem.com Seems you guys might have something to say about this site.” Ok, F.Y.I. I really have wanted to stay away from bashing and otherwise hating on other peoples way of doing what they do, art is relative, blah blah, but I can bite my tongue no longer… Modelmayhem.com I’m talking to you. Well not the website it self, but more so the people the website has become populated with. I’m sure there is a small population of actual models and photographers looking to network and do legitimate work. Sadly, those few are vastly overshadowed by the sheer skull melting number of “models” that look like they never got a call back from that Suicidegirls.com casting call and waiting for their “big break”! Everyone knows showing your tits means your a professional model, any minute now ladies you’ll be a star! Don’t get rid of that latex jumper just yet!
Then we have the what even modelmayhem fondly refers to in the FAQ section as “GWC’s” or Guy with camera, here is their definition straight from the site:
What is GWC?
GWC is an acronym for “Guy With Camera.” It’s a derogatory term for an amateur photographer. And it has taken the intraweb by storm thanks to MM. It usually implies that said guy is only interested in photography in order to get hot ladies to get nekkid for him.
That pretty much sums up a good 98% of photographers on this site. Not to worry fellas even though the site calls your scam out, there will always be nieve young models waiting to take their tops off for your “art” (boner material) that will one day make them famous! Take a look around, it looks like a fucking soft core porn site, of poor photographic caliber might I ad. The saying “everyone is beautiful” should be taken with a grain of salt in this case. Phew! Well, If you made it through the vomit of text I just spewed, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Especially if your a member of gothicgirlsgivemeboners.co…I mean, ModelMayhem.
Digital Photographer Rant
TG found Adam Carolla’s ‘week in rage’ rant about digital photographers and the time it takes them to get the shot, pretty funny. Have our days gotten longer because we aren’t forced to get the shot in a certain number of frames? What do you think?
The bit about photographers starts around 3 min 15 secs.
Last Week in Rage 09.08.08
The Voo Dew Doughnuts get Props…
So, according to agoodreed.com our Voo Dew Doughnut idea was Rad!!!! Check out his post…
Worthy of PDN?????
I was checking out the PDN blog this morning and was really sad to see not one, but TWO articles about celebrity baby photos- the ubiquitous Brad and Angelina twins and Jessica Alba’s baby. I guess it spurns the question of whether a blog should adhere to any standards? Of course it depends on the blog, but a blog linked to a respectable photography publication looses points in my book for even discussing paparazzi crap. Am I wrong?
Ryan Sheckler - model athlete for the future of skating?
ESPN Magazine interviewed pro skateboarder / marketers wet dream Ryan Sheckler. I’m all for skateboarders doing their thing and making a name for themselves, but, when you recklessly whore out your name for a few (million) bucks you get my official douche bag award! Congratulations Mr. Sheckler, you play puppet to anything your agent and PR camp tell you to do, slapping your name on anything, and ruining skateboardings image in the process. Sweet man. Oh, I loved your latest article in tiger beat btw omg lolz <3 <3 !!!
Just a taste…
I’ve been off traveling for work and pleasure, so I’ve been neglecting my blog duties, but Kari, Todd, Alex and Trevor have done a STELLAR job of posting interesting stuff in my absence (and when I’m here, as well). I have so much to write about, I don’t know where to start.
I’ve been in NYC for the Le Book Connections event. I’ve got lots of photographers and agencies to rant about… but I’ll post in bits to keep you interested. I’ve also got great news to come on NY gallery shows, the lovely Dona and NYC street art.
Before heading to NY, I shot up north to Connecticut to visit my lovely Gram. Here’s me and Gram (obviously on an earlier trip, but we found some great old photos that I couldn’t pass up sharing). Highlight of the Grandma trip was definitely water aerobics at the retirement community!
Vogue Took The Photoshop Sledgehammer To Poor Gwyneth Paltrow.
I’m not bashing anyones trade here and I respect the skills photoshop retouchers have but really? when did it become know as photography to not compose a shot on camera and create cool lighting on set? to build a masterpiece from pieces of mediocre photography? EVERYTHING nowadays is photoshop…take the recent cover of Vouge with Gwyneth Paltrow for example…its seems as if they tried to make her and the entire set look as fake as possible! My god you guys, she’s gorgeous without that much airbrushing.
As a photographer I wouldn’t want my name on a “Photo” that is 99.9 percent photoshoped imagery. But wether you agree with me or not, check out Christopher Huet’s photoshop skills. Its kind of disturbing when you watch the process.
Miley Cyrus nude. This is a PR stunt!
“The superficial” ran a piece that came across Jeff’s desk here at Nemo. There is a coming of age story in here. When I was at BIKINI magazine/ Ray Gun (1992) we photographed Alyssa Milano nude in the desert and it was a huge deal. She was a child actor trying to avoid the child actor syndrome and striped for the magazine. It was mild. Her mother was there and knew about the entire shoot and I even wondered if she staged the shoot. Janet Jackson, Lindsay Lohan have all signed deals with the devil to continue their careers. Here we have Hanna Montana aka Miley Cyrus needing to make the transition as well. This is how Hollywood does it people. Her audience is growing and it is sad but true. Jodi Foster made the leap from child star to Oscar winner based on her reputation as an incredible actress. She did it.
Annie Leibovitz issued the following statement to People: “I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”
Apparently Disney, who owns Hannah Montana, was not aware of the photos until they appeared on Entertainment Tonight. You know how Disney cares about that wholesome image. They don’t want their young starlets flashing their goods until they’re good and insane. Right, Britney Spears? Now get that kitten out of your mouth. For the last time, putting hot fudge on it doesn’t make it food. You gotta use ketchup.
Kate Moss Liberation. By Hedi Slimane
Hedi Slimane is an ex-designer for DIOR homme, and is accredited for putting men’s high-fashion on par with women’s. Most noted is his the thin silhouette of his menswear, which has even made his way into today’s street fashion. Along with apparel design, his background also includes: furniture design, store design, fragrance and photography. Which brings us to today’s post. His subject is Kate Moss. Yes, we have all seen Kate do her thing for the past decade but, still, to this day, she with Hedi behind the lens, they make some compelling imagery together. Without further ado…
Time Piece by Plain T
Time, it does not exist. Right? Or at least it is about as real as state borders and longitudinal lines. Yet, this human construct is how we frame our lives. It tells us when to get up in the morning, when we can go home from work, or even when to eat. So it is no surprise that we as humans have been obsessed with creating functional and beautiful timepieces since time was of the essence.
And nobody owns the creation of time like the Swiss, and mainly the swatch group. We all remember the hay days of the Swatch Watch, (and if you don’t, please leave our site now) inexpensive plastic fashion watches with real Swiss movements! Swatch means second watch and it was hot to wear more than one at a time, 80’s teens could often be found wearing 2 to 10 watches at once. Artists like Vivienne Westwood, Basquiat and Keith Haring were commissioned to design special models for Swatch, which took them to a cult status. Now days the Swatch watch is mostly overlooked here in North America, but few realize how broad the Swatch group is. Within the Swatch family are names like Calvin Klein, Rado, Tissot, and prestige brands like Omega, Breguet, Longines, and Glashutte. Pictured above is a Longines skeleton watch, skeleton is an industry term that refers to the watches movements being visible to the wearer, as you might imagine this design is a watch makers favorite. So weather you have $50 to drop on a watch or $500,000 there is a model for you, even though your ¼ million-dollar time piece still wont guarantee you wont miss your lunch date.
Terry Richardson and Kermit photoshoot
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omuTyyulHAs&hl=en]
What do you get when you mix a provocative photographer, a reigning streetwear brand, and a certain chartreuse muppet? One not-to-be-missed show, that’s what. On March 3rd, Terry Richardson + Supreme + Kermit opens at Colette (Richardson has shot Supreme campaigns in the past), an photography exhibition featuring Richardson and Kermit, Kermit and a Supreme skate desk, someone dressed as Kermit dressed in Supreme…and just about every other combination of the three imaginable. No longer must you feel shame for being a Sesame Street fan.
Vincent Skoglund- Undefined
I had a chance to catch up with my buddy Vincent Skoglund. He recently reworked his website and you can see it here.
I see in your “BIO” section of your website you have entered your bio as “When not traveling, Vincent Skoglund lives in Stockholm, Sweden” I was hoping to get more of a background story about you. Where you grew up, things you were interested in as a kid, the first time you got busted by the cops, the first time you picked up a camera and decided in that moment you wanted to be a photographer.
I grew up in Falun about 2 hrs north of Stockholm on the countryside. I was, as a kid really interesting in drawing and painting. I also remeber that I wanted to be a boss or an artist when I grew up. I guess that being a self-employed photographer that is as close as I can get. I got busted by the cops when I did my first graffiti on a wall in a parking garage. There was only one window of a flat that could see us. That one flat hosed the chief of police in falun. So 3 cop cars busted us. That was pretty much it for my short-lived graffiti career.
Snowboarding has been a big part of your career. Could you make a connection to how snowboarding has help you evolve as a photographer?
Most of all Snowboarding has been a fantastic way of learning about people, the world and life in general. All the travels and new discoveries. This is what has had the biggest impact on me. Photography-wise, shooting as much as I did when I did snowboarding full time was really what made me evolve. I started young so it was like a life school. Also the commisions from snowboarding companies was so loose there was so much room to be creative. The brief would be like “Vincent, we love your photography just keep doing it”. It was also open for any type of photography, portraits, landscapes, action, life…
In the past 10 years, what would you say has been your most memorable snowboard trip/ shoot?
2 years ago I had a funny and hectic schedule. It was a trip around the world with back to back commitments of very different kinds. Something like this:
1. Paris opening of the Adicolor exhibition. 2 days.
2. Vermont. Shooting, read hunting, Shaun White at the US open. During the pipe contest. For Burton snowboards. 3 days.
3. Whistler, Shooting with Jussi Oksanen and Tadashi Fuse in the Backcountry. A really heavy sled mission since we got a few feet of fresh pow. 6 days.
4. Miami, Shooting tennis with Boris Becker. 2 days.
5. Hong kong, Opening of the adicolor exhibition and press. 3 days.
Adicolor- is an amazing body of work, can you give me a brief explanation of the assignment?
23 different artists around the world got invited to do a shoe and a tracksuit each based on a color. On a 6 week trip around the world I went to meet most of the artists involved in the adicolor project. It turned out to be a fantastic trip of inspiration and great people. Meeting the artists in the places were they work and were they get their inspiration. Since they all have different backgrounds, they have very different ways of being creative, that was great to see. Creativity is the red line that ties everyone together.
The comission from Adidas, was to make my own creative interpretation of the artists, places and the adicolor project in general. Very much a dream job that resulted in little bit more than 100 prints, that got exhibited around the world.
On the WeSC headphone campaign (girls plugged into a pineapple) you are listed as Photographer/ Art Direction. Could explain the new role of Art Director and what it means to you?
It is interesting for me to shoot ideas I am interested in.
The Burton Un-Inc portraits are amazing, the set looks very art directed and I am sure there are some stories here. Can you share a story about the Un – Inc work. (Romain and Gigi with puppies)
Thanks, I worked together with Lance Violette on that shoot. Really fun. We bounced some ideas back an forth a few weeks ahead of the shoot and came up with the night / day concept which is inspired by 60’s music covers and 80’s heavy metal covers. Then all the puppies and kittens shows up as well, with their owners. It was a fun shoot!
I get a feeling there is nothing in the world that scares you physically, mentally or creatively. The Svenska spel work has some amazing post production work, the JC work is a challenge in the lighting and action and Nike and Burton have you on top of a mountain, that I am sure is sketchy. How do you keep focus and creativity? Maybe a comparison between these very different shoots and how they are similar and different.
Lots of times on commercial shoots it is about improving what I got in front of me as much as possible. Making sure the angle, light, composition etc is as good as possible. Of course there is also a thought process before that is very important, to make sure that I do it the right way. I like to get to meet with the art director ahead of the shoot to take the ideas the extra mile and be as good as possible. JC and Svenska spel was well planned ahead of the shoot. With the Nike work we got locations that looked good, then it’s about making it something special. The Burton latest campaign I did for them was with a very snap / reportage approach. That was so much fun. Being in the right place at the right time. Try to get moments that convey the great and fun things about snowboarding.
It is funny how Art Buyers may put a shooter into a category. Categories may include Portrait, Lifestyle, Fashion and Editorial. In a good way I have no way of stereotyping your work, you pull it all off so well! When you think of your work and where you are heading, can you categorize yourself? What interests you in all these types of photography?
I am not really interested in categorizing myself. I like the idea that it is not so much about what you shoot as to how you approach it and how it feels when you look at it.
I hate to do the cliché question but I think it is still a good one for you, when you think of the future, 5 years, 10 years down the road, where do you see yourself going?
I am currently working on a few different personal projects. Having the first of the second solo exhibition with the series “Lightyears” in a few weeks. This exhibition will go from there on some kind of tour. A group show at the Art Basel in NYC as well, with prints from the “Lightyears” series. I am in also putting together a book about the snowboarding life and the people around it. Looking at what interests me at the moment I think I will be doing lots more series that will evolve from the “Lightyears” series. I will become more personal with my work as well.
Thanks Vincent for your insight! I hope to connect soon!
Peace.
tg
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.485341&w=425&h=350&fv=host%3Dpicasaweb.google.com%26RGB%3D0x000000%26feed%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpicasaweb.google.com%252Fdata%252Ffeed%252Fapi%252Fuser%252Ftrevoratnemo%252Falbumid%252F5176368609771883249%253Fkind%253Dphoto%2526alt%253Drss] from picasaweb.google.com posted with vodpod
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imy2V52P8Ao&hl=en]
Computerlove - Nemo Job Posting
Computerlove, an awesome creative networking site has not only got this great post as a tribute Rueters’ war photography, but is also featuring Nemo Design’s newest job posting for an Interactive Developer. Check it! 
Shaun White or Shauna White?
Shauna White?Pictured here in the latest issue of ESPN magazine (shot by Sarah Friedman), Shaun represents the action sports audience by posing with his board across his shoulders and a Carrot Top fashion get up? Seriously? This pose just kills me. Sarah, you’re doing some great work with athletes, by why did you pull the stock and unflattering shot of Mr. White? On your website the shots of David Eckstein, Calvin Johnson, and even Michelle Wie were more “manly”. The stock shot of sitting on the deck or even the gangsta/ jock pose would have done more justice with this shot.
www.sarahafriedman.com
Shaun- you’re are on a roll and be careful not to turn into a puppet of the media. Keep it real!
Shaded by Plain T
Getty Images
For those of us living above the 45th parallel, sun can be a relative term, but none the less summer approaches. The first piercing rays of the season will send you squinting into your bag in search of your favorite shades. Sunglasses can be a profound accessory that can bolster your style or tweak it completely. We wear them to protect us, as well as disconnect us from our surroundings. Pictured is one of fashions best-dressed males Marilyn Manson wearing a thick aviator frame in tortoise with a cognac colored gradient lens. Marilyn can often be seen red carpeting in the words of Corey Hart, wearing sunglasses at night. So weather you prefer an oversized pair of quilted Chanel, an iconic culture frame like Oakley Frogskins, or are looking to improve your golf game with Nike/Bausch and Lomb Maxsight contact lenses, just be sure to have them in arms reach when the sun makes its spring debut.
Photo Of The Day
I love this photograph by Kurt Iswarienko. I just watched David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (my new favorite film) again last night and it made me think of this amazing photo of Viggo Mortensen. It has a distinct cinematic quality to it.
No Electricity- HAWAII shoot
TUESDAY
We all met up at Panchos house to start setting up for the shoot around 8:00am, but there was a bit of confusion with the rental company. Seems they thought we were picking up the gear, and we thought they were delivering it. Luckily, Dona was on the ball and got them to drop off the stuff right to Panchos house in 45 minutes! Seems the driver was very familiar with the area, since one of Panchos neighbors, Lucas, is the head electrician on LOST and rents from him all the time. It didnt take us long to set up, and we were shooting Alex and Koa in our makeshift studio in Panchos garage. After breaking for lunch, we hit our first snag of the day…seems our next athlete (Yadin Nicols from Australia) left the island to follow an epic swell in California! After frantically calling the other athletes, we couldnt seem to find anyone else to shoot. Seems as if they were all “too busy” watching the finals of the Vans Triple Crown at Sunset beach. So we decided to shoot some cool water/texture shots instead. 
WEDNESDAY
Seems as if a huge storm ripped thru the island in the middle of the night, knocking out the power in all the North Shore. You would have thought Armageddon had hit! People were lined up outside Foodland (the only grocery store for miles) stocking up on beer. They were only letting people in 1 at a time and the line went thru the entire parking lot. We, being on a mission to shoot 4 athletes in one day, were not afraid! Coffee would have been nice, but nonetheless, we headed back to Panchos to keep shooting. Luckily the lights had plenty of battery power to get us thru the day. Like clockwork we shot Bobby, Kai, Pancho, and CJ and by the time we were done, we it was 6pm. We headed back to the hotel, and the only thing open for dinner was the buffet and it was quite crowded since most of the locals were there getting food as well. The power was finally restored, but it was late and we all headed for bed.
THURSDAY
The weather seems to be getting better, but because the waves are also getting better, its hard tracking down the athletes. With most of the studio shots in the can, we are waiting to meet up with CJ and Pacho to shoot some lifestyle. Stay tuned!