So much has been going on around these parts (New York) in the last month and a half allowing me close to no free time making it especially difficult to stay on top of posting. As much as I love keeping my website and blogs up to date, it really does take some premeditation to keep all the different angles covered and to make sure each post follows suite from one blog to another, from one site to the next and from social media outlets back to Red Dawn Productions. Posting individual photos to Facebook, Twitter or Google+ is good for some instant gratification in the form of feedback but, in the long run it spoils shots that could be composed into bigger and better things such as online articles, photo features, galleries and for the best shots, published in print.
This shot is a good example of saving photos for on-line publications. Originally used by Surfline as slide #11 in Part III of the Hurricane Irene feature it was selected as the cover photo displayed on the main page of Surfline.com. It’s always nice to have your photograph displayed on the home page of a site with such an intense traffic flow, and at the forefront of a feature covering such a hyped up hurricane (Irene). The week after the shot was used for the Hurricane Irene story, Surfline used this shot again in the Mechanics of Long Beach feature, even though it was taken in New Jersey, they used it to explain how a swell might look in NJ when LB is seeing some solid South-East swells. I actually scored several (seven to be exact) shots in the Mechanics of Long Beach feature that was released right in the middle of the Quiksilver Pro New York WCT event. As you could imagine that was very exciting being that most of the professional surfing world had their eyes on New York at that given moment and my photographs were featured during that historical event. Speaking of the Quiksilver Pro New York, I grabbed some shots of what is being called the most innovative surfing event of all time. Even though it was about 4 weeks ago to this date that the all-time final went down in Long Beach, the resulting photographs will remain time-less to us New York surfers.
The contest setup was a sight to see in its own, they had a Quiksilver store literally constructed on the beach at National Blvd in Long Beach, the competitors tent had a locker room similar to those in the NBA and NFL and an entire hotel (The Allegria) was rented out for competitors and staff involved with the venue. Long Beach gained an extra city block directly on the beach during the 1 and a half week contest waiting period. Whether the contest was on or off there was still hundreds even thousands of people walking around at the beach on Quiksilver Ave. I happened to have classes the entire week of the contest and spent a solid number of hours in transit between campus and camp quik, but was rewarded with shots I managed to score in the rain of some free surf sessions by the likes of Julian Wilson, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Owen Wright.
Another standout during this particular free surf session was Brazilian Alejo Muniz who was in top form and would later go on to post his highest score on the ASP world tour to date. Muniz is one explosive rider and New York really brought this to light(even on a dark and rainy day). It was awesome to be able to shoot these guys rain or shine, though we happened to be lucky enough to receive an absolutely beautiful fall day with classic Long Beach waves in the 6-8 foot range with light offshores and about 80 degree air with near 70 degree waters.
Another surfer capable of doing miraculous things on a surfboard like taking down a 10x time world champion by the name of Kelly Slater is Owen Wright. Owen Took the entire contest by storm, and for those of us who were watching the heats as well as before and after, it was no surprise this 21 year old aussie took down the king, netting 300 grand in the process.
With such a loose laidback style, Wright had all the right moves in his bag of tricks and certainly proved worthy of challenging Slater to the 2011 World Title race. After loosing to Kelly in Tahiti at Teahupoo a week earlier, he overtook King Kelly in the largest surfing competition of all time. It will be interesting to see how the rest of this year turns out as there are plenty more upsets to come in the second half of the tour. (More shots coming to the site soon, Quik Pro Finals, Taj Burrow, Kelly Slater, Owen Wright, Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Katia etc.) Stay tuned. FULL FEATURE HERE
Posted on October 7, 2011
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