My passion is surf photography.

In the area I live there are literally 100's of surf photographers. The city, San Clemente, is home to some of the most popular surf publications known to man. So I guess this is a pretty much a very competitive field. Surfing is big business here. To stand out or even get anyone in the biz to talk to you or look at your work is nearly impossible.

It's even going to be tougher for me. I specialize in Bodysurfing photography. An almost forgotten art, bodysurfing, is the most pure form of surfing there is. But in an industry driven by pro surfing, money, sponsors and advertising bodysurfing goes relatively unnoticed. It is however what I'm really into. I intend to push myself and take bodysurfing photography to a higher level. One of my main photographic influences is Ron Romanosky. His bodysurfing photography over the last 30 years is legendary.

I'll post a few examples of my bodysurfing work shortly. The previous pictures posted of the mens and women's open NSSA National Champs are more of what the surf industry is looking for. These 2 champs, Kolohe Andino and Lakey Peterson represent the future to the surf industry. When top industry executives look at these 2 they see $$$$$! When they see bodysurfing shots they think oh that's nice and yes I love doing it but....no$$$$$.

And as a footnote to this blog entry bodysurfing around the world is much more popular than most people know. In Brazil bodysurfing ranks up there with soccer and Jujitsu. Board surfing sports still might dominate overall but in a country like Brazil bodysurfing is a perfect fit. The athletes that do it are well respected too. France is another country were bodysurfing is very popular. Again though taking a back seat to the mainstream board surfing sports.

I share in a worldwide network of bodysurfers. The internet has made this possible. I am in contact with bodysurfers throughout my state of California, up and down the East coast of the US, Hawaii, Brazil, France, Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Chili, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, England, Ireland and Portugal. Not a mainstream activity but full of more stoke and soul than any other form of surfing. Some might even call it an underground movement.

So you kind of see what I'm up against. People appreciate bodysurfing but only think of it as a 2nd rate way to ride waves. When in fact it is the root of all surfing, surfing in it's purest form! And I intend to show the world this...