Winter Dusk

"The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to"- Lao-Tzu

Happy Friday...

Another snow day for me!!! NY continues to get pounded with snow and wind.

Regretfully, I haven't been shooting much as of late. I am not sure why but perhaps its a combination of the cold weather and the fact I every time i head to the beach the conditions have been pretty extreme (very windy, cold and snowy). hoping to gear up for another binge of shooting soon. I miss the warm light of Spring, and Summer.

On another note- I am honored to have been asked to be part of a photography book that focuses on the lo-fi. aesthetic. The book is being published this Spring and will feature an interview with me and about 8-10 images.

Two monks and a women...

One of my favorite Zen stories- a lesson about "letting go"

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her.

The senior monk carried this woman on his shoulder, forded the river and let her down on the other bank. The junior monk was very upset, but said nothing.

They both were walking and senior monk noticed that his junior was suddenly silent and enquired “Is something the matter, you seem very upset?”

The junior monk replied, “As monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”

The senior monk replied, “I left the woman a long time ago at the bank, however, you seem to be carrying her still.”

origins unknown

A Question, a thought..

Have you asked yourself today, "What are you thankful for?" My list grows longer every time I think about that question.


This photograph is from my first post on salt stained eyes. It was also one of my very first photographs I exposed after about an 8 year break from image hunting.

Insight from unexpected sources.....

"There is more to life than increasing it’s speed."- Gandhi. This quote was passed on to me this morning from a very insightful teenager.

This photograph was exposed last February. Given my lack of recent work I thought I post up an older image. Hoping for some waves this week!

A New Day Dawning...

I exposed this photograph a few weeks ago at first light. It reminds me of the wonder of things to come and the simple beauty of an everyday moment. The photograph also puts me in mind of the new beginnings I have embarked upon on and is reflective of the deep sense of gratitude I am experiencing for the things I have in my life and my new found ability to perceive and accept those things more clearly and mindfully.

On another note, I am anxiously awaiting the new addition to the family as my brother, Martin and his wife, Shara are set to deliver a new child this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with them today.

surprising winter fun yesterday..

Got lucky and caught a completely average non-memorable surf yesterday. It was still a pleasant surprise given the marine forecast and "swell-nofo.coms" reports. Semi-side shore winds, and some sideways snow always keep you in mind of the Winter. Got to catch up with some friends and get a few fun ones on the Cherry Simms21. I am so grateful for my time off and the ability to spend some good time with Pjay and Avery. Enjoy the simplicity of it all....

wishful thinking..

This is a photograph from last winter.  No such luck this week... figures I am on vacation and surf forecasts are very bleak. another coating of snow this morning but still flat!!

Rediscovering Atget...

I recently have become re-interested in the camera obscura (pinhole camera). While out testing out one of my pinhole cameras at an old abandon church (photo above), I started thinking of one of my favorite photographers, Eugene Atget.

For me Atget is where all modern photography starts. His straight forward documentary style is the beginning from which the likes of Walker Evans, Josef Sudek and William Eggleston evolved from. 

Atget's work is so primitive and but so on point with regards to the clarity of vision. He intuitively understood how the camera truly sees.  Below is a little excerpt that describes Atget's life and work.    While I believe the photos presented are not best examples of his work the writing captures what was so special about his work. 

The life and the intention of Eugene Atget are fundamentally unknown to us. A few documented facts and a handful of recollections and legends provide a scant outline of the man: He was born in Libourne, near Bordeaux, in 1857, and worked as a sailor during his youth; from the sea he turned to the stage, with no more than minor success; at forty he quit acting, and after a tentative experiment with painting Atget became a photographer, and began his true life's work.  Until his death thirty years later he worked quietly at his calling. To a casual observer he might have seemed a typical commercial photographer of the day. He was not progressive, but worked patiently with techniques that were obsolescent when he adopted them, and very nearly anachronistic by the time of his death. He was little given to experiment in the conventional sense, and less to theorizing. He founded no movement and attracted no circle. He did however make photographs which for purity and intensity of vision have not been bettered.  Atget's work is unique on two levels. He was the maker of a great visual catalogue of the fruits of French culture, as it survived in and near Paris in the first quarter of this century. He was in addition a photographer of such authority and originality that his work remains a bench mark against which much of the most sophisticated contemporary photography measures itself. Other photographers had been concerned with describing specific facts (documentation), or with exploiting their indivisual sensibilities (self-expression). Atget enconpassed and transcended both approaches when he set himself the task of understanding and interpreting in visual terms a complex, ancient, and living tradition.  The pictures that he made in the service of this concept are seductively and deceptively simple, wholly poised, reticent, dense with experience, mysterious, and true.

good memories...

I am missing summer big time these days... Got the week off but it seems the Ocean is taking a vacation too  :(

I love this memory of Avery and me. Classic Coney Island styles. Nothing beats the Coney Island Aquarium and then a trip through Astroland for some grifting good time

Hou Koers

These photographs were sent to me by a guy named Arjan Grooters. He is doing some very cool lo-fi stuff from the North Sea in the Netherlands. So stoked to talk to a salt stained brethren from a place so far way. check his blog: www.houkoers.blogspot.com his stuff is way cool.

Some more random Russian LC-A shots

Here  are a couple of random x-processed LC-A shots from the fall into winter '09- '10. I really dig this camera as a small, grap shot type camera- inferior optics, wide angle lens- great for the lo-fi. freak

Got quite a bit of snow over the last two days (off from work- so nice). Got a little blizzard surf session in last night- fun against the grain, east angle rights coming in- serious off shores and blinding sideways snow- makes you happy to be a surfer!! Hoping to score a little session in today as the tide drops. Loving my John Cherry 7'2 Simms 21. Seems to have the characteristics that I like in a long fish and a displacement hull  

the doors of perception

This photo is one of many that I exposed on Sunday. It a photo of the entry arch to an old and  abandon church that is not too far from my house. The place had such a weird vibe, walking around it- I definitely felt the presence of  a lot adolescent activity that certainly goes down there at night, but a tremendous sense of stillness was also evident. I liked it there!

We all find our own kind of church whether it be to solace of friendships; the vastness of the ocean; the moment by moment awareness that occurs in the green room;  a stoic cathedral;  a Zendo, or the stillness of our own mind..

Flight of the Seabirds, Scattered like Lost Words...

"Cassidy" is one of my favorite Bob Weir tunes...

kneeboarder...

I shot a roll on my LC-A awhile back... never really gave have the film much thought or attention. I kinda like this shot of Skudin and his kneeboard though.

a revisited negative

This photograph was posted here sometime in late 2008 or so. Since I am in a bit of a photographic rut. I have been re-examining so old negatives, This is one of the few Diana shots i have of actual surfing. more often than not surfing pics end up too blurry (yeas I said too blurry) of the surfer is to far away from the lens to capture a worthwhile phot0. I plan on spending more time swimming around with a make shift water housing and a Diana in the upcoming Spring and Summer months.

Hoping for some weekend swells as a little low is set to pass by creating a little ese swell--- we will see though

Coughin' Up Buicks

They don't make colors like this anymore..

Just made the transition over to a Mac from a pc with an updated version of photoshop-bye bye photoshop version 7. 

Roof Top Coop

11 ft Malibu Foil II Pintail is precariously strapped to the roof of a 'Benz.

I am in a serious photographic rut. The combination of poor winter light, a seemlessly endless flat ocean and extreme wind chills are not exactly conducive to hunting down shots.

Liquid Salt Magazine and Salt Stained Eyes

I was really honored to be interviewed by Glenn Sakamoto for his magazine Liquid Salt.

The magazine that captures the surfing experience from extremely varied perspectives. I always look forward to whats coming out next. So weird being interviewed about my work and sharing what makes surfing so important to me. Hopefully the interview comes across well. Below is the link to the interview.

http://www.liquidsaltmag.com/2010/01/jack-brull-a-sense-of-stillness/#more-2784

I will be developing some pictures from the Felice Brothers Show I attended friday night. If ya get a chance check them out- an unreal band in the ragged glory of americana kinda way