Category Archives: Articles

Did You Have Fun? 😊

After seeing countless photos of epic barrels in surf magazines, I couldn’t help it anymore. I had to try getting one myself.

This was one of the first barrels I’ve managed to get a photo of. At the time, all I had was a Panasonic TS3, a waterproof compact camera. I remember this day as a rare offshore wind day at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, California. There was a weird sand bar close to shore and there was glassy barrels in waist high water. I immediately suited up and jumped in with my camera. It was the most fun I’ve ever had. It was so much fun trying to position myself just in the right spot, stick the camera inside the wave, and time it perfectly with a limited 1/3s burst mode. It was so much fun that my surfboard was left dry in the car!

I remember how stoked I was trying to capture this photo. Looking back, I can’t believe I even saved it! This photo is trash! 😂 If I saw this on the back of my camera now, I would delete this photo immediately.

During my first quarter in college, I printed this photo multiple times and presented them in my photography class. People loved it! 😳

“Wow this is such an amazing photo”

Me: “Really? It’s kind of blurry” 🤣

This photo misses all the technical checklist items: it’s not sharp at all, there’s motion blur, not to mention the giant water spot smudging the image. 🤦🏻‍♂️ None of that mattered to me at the time, because I had no idea what I was doing. I was simply enjoying myself and having fun.

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Did you have fun?

Oh yeah, that was so much fun! 😊

Then that’s all that matters.

October 13, 2017 | Photography & Art

What’s Real

What’s Real
Revelations I

There was a particular moment during my cultural excursion to South America that I distinctly remember. Our itinerary for two days was to stay at a beach hostel and visit the coastline of Nicaragua. As dusk prevailed, a potent thunderstorm brewed offshore and slowly made landfall. As I just started photography back then, I had an urge to document everything; I spent almost the entire evening taking long exposures on the balcony of the lightning, while everyone else was lounging, chatting, and ebulliently trying to knock coconuts off the trees. When I was trying to find an outlet to charge my camera battery, one of our group mentors approached me and said, “you know, without electricity, none of it is real”. In that moment I thought I understood what she meant, but the reason it continues to resonate with me is because of a clairvoyant feeling of how technology would become a dominant factor in the years to come.

As we get more and more involved in a digital life, e.g. computers, cell phones, the internet, and spending countless hours just sitting passively in front of a glowing screen, we never question, what is the purpose to this? We utilize technology to do things faster, we use apps if there was any hint of benefit, and ironically all this convenience may be slowing our brains down. Digital photography has allowed us to capture a seemingly infinite amount of images with little to no processing. Because of this, I always have been focused on documenting the experience. I try and capture every moment so I can re-live it later and have a record, but I completely miss out on the experience itself.

What was real in that very moment, which isn’t represented by the two dimensional photograph above, was the gusts of the wind, sound of thunder and rain, flashes of lightning, and my existence. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by superfluous media, I reflect back at that moment and what my mentor said, and remember to not live life through a screen, or spend life staring at screens, or trying to portray myself on a screen, because it isn’t real.

The only things that matter, the only things that are real, is my memories, my experiences, and the impact I leave in this world.

June 16, 2012 | Travel Stories

It’s all about the shot

It’s all about the shot.

On the road 6:47pm
A. Sit down at a restaurant, and enjoy a nice hot meal
B. Grab and go sandwich from the gas station and be set up for sunset

It’s all about the shot.

2nd snooze alarm 4:15am
A. Stay comfortably warm in bed, go back to sleep
B. Get up, pack the tent in the dark and head to location

It’s all about the shot.

2 hours left, halfway there
A. Fog rolling in, turn back
B. Go anyway, probably get skunked, no expectations

It’s all about the shot.

Every Friday:
A. Pack the car and pick a random location, wake up and go
B. Wake up, turn on the computer, and enter the internet rabbit hole

It’s all about the shot.

10:15pm Ideal forecast for dawn patrol
A. Go to bed
B. Stay up and play video games

It’s all about the shot.

It’s all about the shot, that’s all that matters.

“Dinner was usually served at the most magical time of day for photography, and I often returned to camp too late for anything but a few desolate snacks and cold tea” – Ansel Adams

Have Zero Expectations

When I look back at some of my favorite photos, most were unplanned and unexpected. I just happened to be there with my camera and magic happened. This photo fronting my gallery is one of my all time favorites. I wasn’t planning a photo trip that day. I wasn’t even planning on shooting sunset. I just stumbled upon the landscape and lucky had my camera with me.

I learned when I set my expectations at a certain level and it doesn’t go as plan, I’d go home very disappointed. One winter morning when I was living in Santa Cruz, I had high expectations for a particular spot further south. The night before, all the forecasts lined up. “See you in the morning texts” were sent and everyone was off to an early bedtime. The moment we got there the next morning, the fog rolled in and the wind turned onshore. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up at 4am to drive 2 hours to the beach for sunrise, and the second I get in the water the wind switches and I go home with nothing.

I consider most of my trips to be spontaneous. No planning, no preconceived notions, just going somewhere completely new and seeing what’s out there. If its good I’ll take photos, if not, then just enjoy being there. I often return to the same exact locations over and over again until I can recognize the patterns and hopefully, capture it during optimal conditions. Nature is unpredictable. Sometimes even when the forecasts line up, it won’t be good for some unknown reason the day of. I believe the unexpected photos are the best photos, and the only way to truly render your imagination into a photograph is let your mind wander and let your eyes see.

The best things in life happen when they are completely unexpected. I’ve learned to never get my hopes up for anything, because if you do, and it doesn’t happen, then you’ll surely be disappointed.

March 8, 2019 | Best Approach To Life