Supersession

With the temperature in the greater southern California region reaching over 100 degrees for multiple days in a row, I was searching for anything to do to cool off. After sitting at physical therapy for a my knee watching Surflines live feed of Lowers going off with all the world tour surfers in town for the Hurley Pro which started on Sunday, I knew I needed to get in on that action.

The line up was one of the most talent ridden that I have every personal experienced. There was the young guys like John Florence, Julian Wilson, and Gabriel Medina blowing up as well as the veteran slayers like Freddy P, Mick Fanning and Christian Fletcher. Oh and some guy named Kelly was catching every set wave and throwing giant full rotation backside threes.

Escaping the Madness that is the US Open

Ah the US Open...a whirlwind of concerts, parties, thousands of the smallest bikinis a man has ever seen, a city rising from the sand complete with its own skatepark, and a surf contest thrown in to give its some legitimacy. I've tried to document the contest for the last couple of summers and I've tried every possible approach for someone who doesn't have any industry connections and can't gain a VIP access (though I've been working my butt off recently to try and make that happen). Its frustrating to have to deal with the daily morning overcast skys and the blown out chop that happens in the afternoon, making it hard to find a window to get a good photo. I only went a shot a few days out in the water on the northside, hoping to catch some of the competitors out practicing. Didn't get too much luck this year with waves, however. Slow, fat rollers on the high tide.

 The first day of the little swell we had, I shoot with my lens at 35mm opposed to the 16mm to try and give myself some forgiveness in terms of positioning. The current runs pretty strong on south swells and I tend to find myself doing laps in order to stay on the peak. This was one of the only decent shots of that day. I haven't shot in the water in while, so I was a bit rusty. Hopefully I can get some better waves and try out some different lens and techniques soon because the lens I'm using now is really more effective when the waves have a bit more size and fill out the frame more.