Marissa + Tom – Half Moon Bay Wedding

Anytime I can reference a Lord of the Rings quote to someone, anyone, and especially at a wedding, I just know it’s going to be a good day.  I won’t go into details, but it involved a past bride and the fact that I was now Todd the White.  I had flown through space and time, evolved if you will, and she had no power over me.  We all laughed a good laugh, and I went on my merry way taking pictures as I do.

Marissa and Tom’s wedding was blessed with a typical Half Moon Bay day, which is slightly overcast and cool.  A win win for brides in dresses and photographers trying to avoid harsh light.  The Pacific Ocean was also right next door, and that’s a win for everyone involved.  Any day at the beach is a good day, right?  And so it was, on this fantastic beach day that Tom and Marissa merged their two lives and will go forward as one.  I consider myself lucky to witness and photograph such happiness, coupled with the right amount of free spirit and goofiness.  May the good times continue to roll…

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2014 Mavericks Invatational

Our weather has been fantastic the last few weeks.  Shit, the last few months have been great for the SF Bay area.  So of course when the swell and the talent showed up, we’d get some haze in the air and crappy light for the morning location I had scouted.  But after editing the photos and changing most of the surfing shots to black and white, they sort of fit the bill.  Mavericks is cold and shitty most of the time.  The for horn blows a consistent rhythm that neither ebbs nor floods with the tide.  And even when it’s pumping, it’s a hazardous, grind you down, “I don’t give a fuck about you” place.  It’s killed people, and will continue to do so as long waterman challenge it.  I think there were at least two two-wave hold downs, even as the guys were equipped with on-demand inflatable vests.  There’s so much power and water moving out there, the concept is hard to grasp until you see it in action.  A pretty good example, if you’re a non-surfer, is to look at the 2nd wave shot.  Look at that barrel!  That’s a 40ft face pitching out over a shallow reef.  Tons and tons of water.

When I quipped on Facebook to Peter Taras, the  photo editor at Surfing Magazine about getting me on a boat, he fired back, “Get some photo-journalism stuff before the main event, and I’ll run it.”  Cool and ’nuff said.  The dock was pensive at O’dark thirty.  All the big names of big wave surfing were prepping their gear, selecting boards, slugging coffee, and getting in the zone.  No one could see how big it was, but everyone knew the swell was pumping.  Just how pumping was the question.  Be your own judge.

See you out there.

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Are Your Wants Really Your Needs?

My wife’s side of the family likes to razz her about a few lines she has said over the years – one of which is pretty famous. When she was young, she said to her mom, “Mom, I need this,” pointing to whatever current trend was sweeping the pre-pubescent population of girls at the time.  It could have been the Easy Bake Oven, or Barbie’s new Pink Corvette with super sexy and extremely heterosexual Ken Doll.  The point is, she needed it.  And when her mom replied to her, “Jennifer, you don’t need that.  You just want it.”  Jen thought about this for a moment and then shot back, “Yes, but my wants become my needs.”

Jen, wanting me to stop taking pictures of her.

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