This is a photo that I snapped of surfer/shaper Tyler Hatzikian on a borrowed Nikon F film camera with a 500mm mirror telephoto lens with a fixed f8 aperture.
Tyler Hatzikian
Back in July of 2007, Jason Baffa and Mark Jeremias debuted their film, One California Day, at El Segundo High School to a packed house of people hungry to see some great surf footage. The movie delivered great surf footage in spades featuring surfers such as the Malloy brothers, Joel Tudor, Alex Knost, and Tyler Hatzikian. But it also gave a glimpse into the lives of the surfers themselves. We were able to see the surfers and their other creative outlets which gave the movie its intimate perspective.
Just prior to the start of the movie, I was able to shoot the following image of Jason Baffa and Mark Jeremias along with Tyler Hatzikian, Dan Malloy, Chris Malloy, and Keith Malloy. I shot the image using a Sinar P 4×5 view camera on Polaroid Type 55 P/N film.
From left: Tyler Hatzikian, Jeff Johnson, Mark Jeremias, Jason Baffa, Keith Malloy, Chris Malloy, and Dan Malloy
From left: Tyler Hatzikian, Jeff Johnson, Mark Jeremias, Jason Baffa, Keith Malloy, Chris Malloy, and Dan Malloy
That was 3 years ago. Check out what Chris Malloy, Jeff Johnson, and Keith Malloy have been up to lately. The world premiere of 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless was February 10, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. See the trailer here. It looks like an amazing film.
I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Damian Fulton about 5 months ago. Not only is Damian an amazing artist (I’m a huge fan of his), but he is one of the nicest guys you could meet. I’ve gotten to know Damian over the past several years because he is an El Porto surfer.
Damian lives a beach lifestyle, but it’s a beach lifestyle in one of the busiest metropolitan cities in the world (Los Angeles, that is). Damian’s surf art is all about the juxtaposition of beach life and the trappings of an urban environment. I wanted to capture that same vibe in a portrait of the artist. The red and white smokestacks in El Segundo appear in many of Damian’s paintings and I felt that doing a beach portrait with the smokestacks in the background would provide the visual tie between the artist and his art.
I shot the following image using my Sinar P 4×5 on Fuji Neopan 100 black and white film. I used Photoshop to combine the image with a scan of a glass plate negative to give it the old film feel.
Damian Fulton Portrait
Every so often, when I’m up in the mountains, I get this crazy idea in my head that it would be fun to go into freezing cold water (and I mean freezing). Back in January of 2005, I was up in Yosemite with my wife and some photographer friends. There was plenty of snow that particular month and we lucked into some beautiful wintery landscapes. I decided to do a crazy self portrait where I got into the Merced river. So after setting up the camera, I waded into the icy cold water and had my wife click the shutter a few times. The picture below was the result.
Freezing my nuts off in the Merced River
This is a portrait I took of Wave Dave, an El Porto surfer, standing next to his old Ranchero after a session at El Porto. He is a super nice guy, but he’ll never admit to it. He can get a bit grumpy about the crowds, but he does it in a way that makes you smile. And he likes to wear his surf trunks over his wetsuit. Gotta love Wave Dave.
Wave Dave
Just a few weeks after my wife became pregnant with our son, we took a photography trip with some friends up to Death Valley. It is one of our favorite camping destinations. We wanted to get some pictures of the dunes without any footprints so we decided to park pretty far from the normal parking spot for accessing the dunes. The dunes looked like they were about a 5 minute walk from the car. It took us over 30 minutes to arrive at the dunes!
We kept shooting until the sun went over the mountains, but by the time we got back to the car, the sky was almost pitch black.
This shot was taken with a Hasselblad using an 80mm lens.
Sand Dunes