Sunday, January 31, 2010

checkin' the surf.



this will be the last post
on surfing or skating for a while,
i promise,
my head is swirling
with creative ideas and fashion
but, we spend so much time at the beach
and i've got this new camera, so,
one more post and then i'll be back to design.
i promise.

* * *

today was a beautiful day at the beach.
we got there early. 6:00 am.
it was cold and foggy.

my son, alex, competed in short
and longboard
for his high school team.
the waves were big and powerful.
boards broke
and kids and parents cheered
as kids got incredible rides
and amazing wipe outs.


caught these kids checkin' the surf.

kids come from many different
high schools to compete,
this cowboy surfer was obviously
from somewhere inland.
i love the hat.


alex headed out {in yellow}.



ending up in 3rd place for shortboard
and 1st for longboard in his first heats.



finally, after 8 hours, he was exhausted.

we loaded up the car
full of kids and boards
and headed home.


Friday, January 29, 2010

one california day.


we watch a lot of surf flicks.
we listen to a lot of music.
at any given moment
you can walk by a room
and either a surf film
is playing.

one california day.
{a recent film about early california and how it relates to surfing}

sprout is an older surf film,
shot entirely on 16mm film.
this film features numerous pros,
each with a style all their own
and is shot in beautiful locals,
including, sri lanka, morocco, costa rica,
indo, california, hawaii, australia,
new zealand, south africa and mexico.


so whether you surf or not,
if you like vintage,
if you love fashion,
next time you
see a surfer magazine,


all photos from sprout.

one of my favorites is foam magazine
{fashion, ocean, art and music}.

pick it up,
flip through the photos,
maybe read an article or two,
watch a surf flick
you won't be disappointed,
hopefully, like me,
you will find it both
romantic and inspiring.




Monday, January 25, 2010

skate rats. {part two}.

as promised, the professional shots.








skate rats {part one}.


10 kids.
14 skateboards.
old banana seat bike.
vintage 1970's style.
moonlight beach.

my good friend andrew reilly
asked me to pull together
some kids and looks for
his 1970's dog town style photo shoot.

i hand-picked the kids
they're not models, they're my kids' friends.
all of them skate and surf,
and are adorable, i might add.

the sun was finally out
and the kids were happy to skate
for hours and be photographed.

here are a few shots {of mine}
from yesterday's fun.

my husband.
after making sure the boys got in
an early morning surf session
before the photo shoot,
happily made calls
and enjoyed the sunshine.

my son, alex. andy shooting.

brendan, shannon
and my daughter, mikaela.

the whole crew.

mikaela and shannon. antiqued.

brendan and shannnon. antiqued.

brendan.


andy working his magic,
backwards on a skateboard,
going downhill,
shooting 6 skate rats.

i'll post andy's shots soon.
check back,
you won't want to miss them.

Friday, January 22, 2010

rain. rain. rain.


we had lunch today
with our good friend steve.
he snapped some head shots
of my husband for his new website
{coming soon}
and a quick one
of me in my rain boots
holding amy, one of his chickens.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

coney island.







with rain, thunder, lightning and hail
falling like crazy
here in beautiful,
sunny san diego,
i am longing for the beach.
upon searching, i stumbled upon these
beautiful photos
from fine art photographer, depuis.

i've never been to coney island,
but for a few minutes today,
when i found myself totally absorbed
in the magic of these photos.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

the business of bliss.

i'm not sure if it's the unusual down pouring of rain
or the third week of january blues,
but this morning i woke up with lots of thoughts.

first, let me start by saying that i was up at 5:00 this morning.
i'm the type who can't just sit and watch TV,
i must be doing ten other things at the same time,
it was too quiet to clean or work,
so this morning, i picked up a book
i received for Christmas and read it cover to cover,
while flipping between four different local morning news stations,
MTV, CNN and downing three cups of coffee.

first thought, what should i do today that will help me get closer to my goals?
who do i need to get in touch with?
am i doing what needs to be done to make my business most successful?
recently i read a comment,
that simply stated
"if you're not making money at your craft than it's a hobby not a business".
this bothered me a bit, but, while i believe it's somewhat true,
i also believe that a hobby can easily be transformed into a business
simply by wanting it to be just that.
while i can honestly say that i am making money,
when i wasn't,
i knew that 'my hobby' was eventually
going to be more than a hobby
because i wanted it so badly.
the first decision i made was to call myself an artist.
this was huge. for years, friends always said,
"oh you're so creative, you should sell your work" and i would blush and say "no, it's just for fun". the day i decided to call myself an artist,
to work harder for myself than for others,
to make a plan, to write down a list of goals to make it a reality,
everything changed.

second thought, i have accomplished something on my list
{pretty good for the third week of january},
i have an appointment to show my work to someone
whose shop i love, like really love.
how am i going to present my work?
what do i need to do to make this appointment successful?
... what am i going to wear?

third thought, how is my social media life
connected to how i am growing as an artist?
how can i make my blog better, my photographs, my shop?
how much time should i spend blogging, tweeting
and how much time should i spend creating?

which leads me back to this morning's book, the book i read is called tara frey Blogging for Bliss, crafting your own online journal. a guide for crafters, artists and creatives of all kinds.
i highly recommend it.
being that one of my goals for 2009 was to start blogging
and one of my goals this year is to blog better,
this book is full of amazing and inspiring information.



these things i know: whether it's a hobby,
a hobby heading towards becoming a business,
or your very own business.
accept yourself as an artist, value your time,
jot down all the steps you need to take to expand your hobby or business, to take it to the next level, reach out to others in your community,
see what they're doing, ask questions
so you can live the life you've imagined.
when i speak with other creative types who are trying to grow their businesses,
i encourage them to be on twitter, to blog,
to use facebook, not so much to increase sales,
but to connect and be inspired by the creativity around them.
there are so many great examples
of people doing what they love.
the business of bliss.

so, as i re-focus and get back to my list of goals,

i'm wondering, have you read a book,
an article in a magazine, or made a decision
that's changing the way you feel about your craft?

what are you doing to stay focused on your goal(s)?

{please click on photos for details}.