last week i noticed there was a big cold front coming through for the labour day weekend. i knew this would bring surf and cold temperatures. unfortunately the wind was more west then north which made things big, burly, and choppy. i shot some photos each day as the front moved through.
saturday was the biggest day, with the provincial police trying to shut down the beach due to the amount of swimming drownings this year in big waves. we went out later on saturday with some eerie skies, then noticing a giant waterspout a few kilometers down the beach. after a beer night at the local pub with all the local, and out-of-town surfers, sunday was a better, cleaner day. we spent the majority of the day at the beach fighting the rip-current and catching some waves. i was hoping to get up this morning for an early paddleboard session for day 4, but it was flat. it’s all good though; fall made it’s appearance pretty fast, and that means surf season has arrived.
i recently got a new 9’6” fish stand up paddleboard with a quad fin setup. i got it made by Bob from Fishstick Surfboards in Toronto with the sole purpose of riding waves with it. a week ago i got out on it for the first time, along with my new gopro HD camera. i’ll be posting more videos of recent surf sessions soon
my friend Zac and i went up to the bruce peninsula a couple weeks ago for some camping, stand up paddleboarding, and snorkeling. we woke up at dawn, went down to an outlet we scoured on google maps, attached our gear to our SUP’s, and took off down the cliffs. we anchored our boards on some rocks and dove in. the water is notoriously clear there, and has sinkholes more than 400 ft. deep. if you go bring a suit, cause it’s definitely not warm there.
here’s the photos from the morning, as well as some other randoms from the same area shot 2 weeks before.
there was a bat sleeping under a mat i had on my deck - i didn’t know this and moved the mat. it was about 9am, very sunny and bright, and it was going absolutely nuts. it landed in a nearby tree so i started shooting photos of it. the bat didn’t like this because i was close. it snarled it’s fangs at me, and immediately after i shot this photo it flew straight at me in attack mode. i obviously flailed my arms around like a little girl, but i don’t care.
….since i’ve posted anything. i’ve been surfing a lot since i got home from panama, but not taking any pictures of it. lake huron has been real good to me so far in 2010. i figured i’d try to make up for it and shoot some photos this past weekend during a big wind storm that came through.
the long-lens shots are from saturday when it was an absolute washing machine out there. a couple guys were out surfing, but i wasn’t that desperate. you can see the size that was generated by the 60KM winds. the fisheye shots are from a stand up paddle session we had sunday morning; catching the cleaner leftovers from saturday. the water is warming up…already 39°F!
for my second weekend in Panama, i went to the San Blas Islands. i had read about this area in a travel magazine 5 years ago, and promised myself i would go there one day. this place is the whole reason i came to Panama, and it didn’t disappoint. San Blas was the epitome of paradise. i had always dreamt about being alone on an uninhabited tropical atoll in the middle of no where - and 3 weeks ago my dream came true. i sailed on a yacht for a few days exploring, and snorkeling by myself on remote reefs. i saw tons of fish, beautiful coral again, and some species i had never seen. with bath like water temperatures and miles and miles of reef, the snorkeling was the best i have ever done.
to be sitting on a 30 square foot island with just a few palm trees all to yourself is priceless. this was something i will never forget
i recently went on a trip to Panama. it was the first time i had ever traveled solo, so i knew it was going to be an adventure. i had a lot of fun, met a lot of people, and saw things i had only dreamt about. these first shots are from Bocas Del Toro, and a couple from Panama City. Bocas was nice, but it rained for 6 days straight, out of my 7 there. Panama City was a pretty cool city; and i’ve been to a lot of large cities. i ended up seeing Metallica while i was there, which was great. they had never been to Panama City before, so the electricity in the air was thick. definitely an amazing experience. this also gave me an opportunity to try out my new PT-E06 waterhousing. it took a while to get used too, as i had never shot underwater photography before. i still have a lot to learn, but it got me so excited about doing more underwater shoots in the future. i think it’s my new fav style of photography
anyways, here’s the first set of photos from my first week….
death threat & trapped under ice @ poor alex - feb 12th
i saw death threat and trapped under ice last friday in toronto at the poor alex theater. the show was put on by stuck in the city and turned out to be amazing. i hadn’t seen death threat since 2003 and trapped under ice are always amazing. unfortunately i messed up most of my TUI shots so that’s why they’re B&W and over-exposed. duhhhhhhhhhh
i was driving along a beach here and saw a big ice cave from the road. the ice is thick, and the water is shallow there; so i climed out to the ice and took some snapshots of it. the cave was big enough to sit a couple people in.. and i thought it looked pretty cool.
i snapped some photos on saturday at frozen rail jam, in some serious dumpy light. i was waiting to finally shoot something with this fisheye. a lot of good snowboarding & skiing went down and the amount of groms killing it impressed the hell out of me.
