Surfing at Tourmaline Beach

I have always loved the water and the beach; one of the few native Californians, I just guess it's in my DNA. Last weekend I was finally able to do a surf shoot. Although I can't surf, I love watching someone catch a wave and ride it, finally diving into the water at the end after being one with that mini force of nature. Jason Coleman was kind enough to allow me to tag along early Sunday morning to document his journey. Although the actual surf shots were not great (which means we need to do it again!), I was pleased with the rest.

As soon as we arrived, Jason was scoping the water seeing where the best place to surf would be.



Then it was back to his vehicle to get his board and gear, returning to the beach for his morning surf.





Like any physical exercise, there's stretching to do...



meditation/prayer...



and then it's off to the waves.



Much of a surfer's time is spent waiting. And waiting. And waiting. When is that perfect wave going to come?



I wouldn't say the waves were perfect, but Jason caught a few decent ones. The mount:



...and the dismount.



We were only out there for about 45 minutes. Next time will be longer...with more actual surf photos!



And hey, breakfast was waiting! Gotta' get back into street clothes and head to town before everyone else wakes up on Sunday for brunch.



More photos of La Jolla at my main website.

The Nude Dude in Huntington Beach

Visiting Huntington Beach for the first time, I tried to see as much as possible during the less than 24 hours that I was there. My photo shoot took up most of my time, so that left very little for exploring. I was definitely in a "shoot now research later" mode. Walking along Highway 1 (aka the Coast Highway), I encountered this surfer statue. Click...click...click...move on.



When I looked him up online upon my return home, it turns out the sculptor, Edmond Shumpert, wanted the statue to have a classical appeal, so he made the surfer completely nude. Did I even notice? Nope. Apparently it has stirred up some controversy, but has remained riding the eternal wave since his installation in 1976. The irony: public nudity was banned here in 2006. Oops.

Plenty of real-life surfing still goes on, as you can see from these early morning sunrise shots that I captured as I walked around the pier.











More Huntington Beach photos at my main website.