WIpeout Fest 2018

Headed up to Wipeout fest 2018 in Cherating last week. It was a really great trip. Headed up with a bunch of friends, and it’s always good to have a good group of friends to enjoy the event. I do wish I could have surfed though, but the conditions were pretty bad, so all I could do was watch the surfing class.

The music line up was pretty great though. Had a great time just chilling and dancing during the party at night. It’s surprising to me how civil everyone was. I’ve been to my fair share of beach parties and usually everyone gets wasted, starts throwing up everywhere, starts messing up the beach, and all that crap. But in this case, everyone kept the beach clean, no fighting, everyone was just having a good time. Hopefully the Wipeout fests in the years to come will have the exact same vibe. Definitely looking for next years Festival.

#Surf #wipeoutfest

Liquid Eye

Few months ago, me and some friends were down in Bali for our yearly surfing trip. On that trip I wanted to focus more on surf photography more than actual surfing. What I didn't realize was how much I actually enjoyed it. There was something  about being to able to capture those movements and watching the surfers that was just.... mesmerizing. Maybe mesmerizing isn't the best word, when I think of a better word I'll let you know. Maybe entertaining? What do you get when you put entertaining and mesmerizing together? That’s the word I’m looking for.

 But fast forward a few weeks after that, I decided that I really wanted to get more into surf photography. So far I've only been shooting on land, and I wanted some gear to be able to shot from in the water. I didn't like what I was finding online, all the water housings I found were more for divers and underwater photography, and also pretty damn expensive. After a bit more research, I found the Liquid Eye water housing system. I instantly fell in love. It was perfect, built specifically for surf and water sports, but can be modified for underwater as well. Now with surf season coming up I’m super excited to give it a try and get into the water and get those up close and personal shots.

No weird locking systems, just good ol fashioned L key locks. Means to accidental opening of the housing systems.

Comes with the trigger systems that makes it perfect for surfing!

Phuket and Renextop surf competition 2018

So last week me and Izz went down to Phuket to try and get some surf in. The tickets were cheap, the accommodation was cheap, so we thought, why not? Tried to get more people to come and join us, but everyone had stuff going on. So it was just us.

Coincidentally, we choose dates that were at the same time as the Renextop surf competition. I was pretty excited about that since I've been wanting to shoot for the longest time. Unlike many people, I actually love Phuket, I've been going there since I was a kid since my dad used to work there.  I was quite familiar with all the roads around the entire area, so I wasn't worried about getting around. 

For surfing, I didn't actually surf much, the first day was terrible, a storm was coming in as we arrived, so the waves were extremely choppy, the wind was blowing like a fighter jet was parked right outside the beach. Made it impossible to stay balanced. Izz, being the ever so strong man, just wanted to surf, "Fuck the conditions" he said. Well, he didn't actually say that, but I knew that was what he had in mind. He just wanted to surf. 

The second day was much better, I decided to to surf that evening after watching day 1 of the surf competition down in Patong. After taking photos of everyone surfing I was itching to get in the water. 

I didn't surf much the rest of the trip cause I was always down by the competition site, and the drive isn't exactly that close by bike. I really wanted to surf the last couple of days, but I couldn't for a couple of reasons, first, I was sick the last day, and second, the last couple of days, apparently there was a crocodile swimming around the area, so they had to close the beach. I thought that was weird, since they didn't bother closing the beach the next morning, and they also decided to leave the beach open that night without having caught anything. I was just sure that it was the lifeguards maybe being lazy and wanting to go home. Izz didn't take it to happily, he really wanted to surf. I told him to channel his inner Sarawakian and surf with a knife, but I guess he was too scared?

Anyway, overall I had a great time, but I really wish I could have watched that last day of the surf comp. Anyway, pictures are down below. Enjoy! 

Surf Photography

I remember when I started learning to surf, I would do so much research on it. From how to be a better surfer, to the best places to surf. The one thing I never thought I would really enjoy was surf photography. Make no mistake, going through the images of all those really cool aerial shots would get me really hyped, but it would get me hyped for surfing, not the photography. Of course there was a part of me that went "I wanna get that shot too, and then put it as a profile picture and look really cool", I think that goes the same for everyone who starts surfing, or any sport to be honest. So I did what many people did, I got myself a go pro. Now working with a go pro has it's pros and cons, you can get some really crazy shots with that thing, but it's limited in what it can do. 

When I went to Bali this year, I didn't think too much about wanting to shot surfers. All I knew was that I wanted to shot something. I prepped my gear, and got myself to Bali. I didn't know where to shot, so I just went to the beach we normally go, and just shot there, I got up at 6 am, all my stuff packed the night before, got myself to the beach and set up. After that first session, that was it, I never thought I would enjoy myself that much shooting other people surf. It was like they were putting on a performance, sometimes really amazing ones,  sometimes they were just really funny, and I was there to capture it all. From then on I knew this was something I could actually pursue in a more serious way. 

Here are some of my more favorite ones. You can view the rest in the surf gallery. 

Draw me like one of your french girls. 

That feeling when someone drops in on your wave. 

One of the best longboarders I've seen. 

carving the wall.

Nose rider. 

The new website.

So I've FINALLY managed to create and work on this new website. I say finally, but in reality, I just didn't know how to create this website. Not actually putting it together, but 'how' as in what this website should be. Is it a travelling blog? Is it a personal page? Is it a professional page? Is this my portfolio? What should go in it? I was asking all those questions for the longest time that in the end, I just thought, Screw it! Just make one and figure it out along the way. 

What did I decide in the end? Well, I decided that it can and should be about all of the above. It is my portfolio. It is going to have my actual work. It is going to be a bit about my personal life and what I've been working on. All the things you see here will be a representation of what I do. I'm still new at a lot of this, but it's a start. 

Looking forward to more postings and more up coming stuff. =) 

Cheers!!