The other day I went outside

The New News

Was


Was


Was


Is


Is


Was


Is

Our new president \!!!/

This picture gives me so much hope and just makes me smile.



I took it off Matt's blog...which rips.

The Eddie

Every December for the last 23 years a ceremony takes place at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore commencing The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau surf contest. An elite group of the worlds best big wave surfers are invited to participate in the contest, which takes place only when the waves at Waimea reach a minimum of 25 ft (Hawaiian standard, the wave is measured from the back, that's roughly a 50 ft face). The ceremony is a beautiful event, which includes a blessing by a local Hawaiian priest and a paddle out where all the contestants form a circle in the water and prayers are made for everyone's safety. I was lucky enough to attend the most recent ceremony on Dec. 1, 2008, where I took these pictures.


Kahu (priest) Billy Mitchell

Rusty Keaulana

Chava Greenlee

Kala Alexander

security!

Suburban vernacular photography at it's finest

I love found photography and what the snap shot has to say about us and what people found important enough to document and immortalize. The wife and I are always visiting flea markets and thrifts stores where she finds vintage Gucci bags and mid-century furniture and I find old Polaroids of recent parolees smiling outside prison gates and families gathered around their 1970's Christmas tree that's been decorated like a cupcake.

I heard a quote the other day that went something like:

"We have a birth certificate to show that we were born and a death certificate to show that we died. Photographs show that we lived."

I would add to that "they also show that we wore rad shorts and idolized Eddie Van Halen."



This is my good friend Craig, who in 1985 smoked a lot of pot, grew a baby teenage mustache, and learned to play Eruption as if he were Eddie's bastard child.

Mark Healey...a different kind of yogi

Mark Healy is a big wave charger born and raised on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He is known for his fearlessness in conditions that would make the bravest of men piss their pants like scared children. He is a waterman in the truest sense of the word. He is a champion spear fisherman who hunts shark...alone...at night. He is also a champion free diver and can hold his breath for 4 minutes. We caught up on my recent trip to the North Shore where he demonstrated for me a breathing exercise he does before diving that prevents his lungs from bleeding. Look up "crazy as a shit house rat" in any dictionary and you'll find an image of Heals.