Forgetful fish
terrified of the bird’s eye
Post card vision from Key West
leaky lifeboat
Rusting (oxidation) is a slower form of burning
…that you can be in control and magnificent in one moment and a complete goofball a split second later…all on the same wave.
Nikonos and Portra VC 400
A few tee-niny peelers from Shindokneesia
It took me too long to fix the water housing. The project involved me acknowledging that after so much hassle with housings, this one, the one that traveled so far and was supposed to work, wasn’t working either. Fortunately, I was able to identify exactly where it leaked and after some light research, walked thoroughly confused into the hardware store. Sidenote: I love hardware stores…they are so practical. Anyway, this is boring but some types of adhesives are good for metal, not so good for plastics…they can make the plastics brittle etc. Other types of adhesives are not really rated for below the water level sealing. So I just went with Amazing Goop. A mysterious substance that killed a few of my braincells and solved my aquatic camera problems for the time being.
We had some spectacularly clear waters the day prior to this one, and some beautiful waves. I was hoping for similar conditions on this day but of course it was half as big and twice as murky. But still, it was good fun and it was good to practice filming in the water again.
“People sure do get good at funny things.”
The old fisherman’s statement made me realize that I’d spent much of my life learning a completely worthless set of skills.
I loved soccer. I would spend hours alone in the yard, juggling a ball around and trying out tricks. This is exactly what I was doing when the fisherman made this observation…foolishly running about the yard, thinking I was pretty awesome…and with an effortless stroke, he knocked the wind out of my egotistical teenage sails.
He told me what he’d seen on television the night before: stupid human tricks of sorts…spinning plates on sticks or juggling kittens. Something. He kept going on about moronic people that have gotten so good at meaningless things. It seemed a little rude but I couldn’t debate it. I nodded my head quietly while having a miniature identity crisis. My skills centered around kicking inflated spheres and running for inhumane periods of time. This man fed people for a living. He had been going out to sea, exposed to the elements while doing manual labor, for decades.
I just listened and digested as the conversation eventually wound down. I went inside for the evening, one part bewildered, one part deflated.
Over the years, this encounter transformed from an awkward moment into a lesson in not taking absurd things seriously.
You can be pretty good or even the best at anything in the world and may even receive much praise for it. And yet somebody, somewhere doesn’t care and thinks you are ridiculous. And you are.
That shouldn’t stop you.
You are not the doer of any action here, O Rama, so why do you assume doership? When one alone exists, who does what and how? Do not become inactive, either, for what is gained by doing nothing? What has to be done has to be done. Therefore rest in the self. Even while doing all the actions natural to you if you are unattached to those actions you are truly the non-doer; if you are doing nothing and are attached to that non-doership (then you are doing nothing) you become the doer! When all this world is like the juggler’s trick, what is to be given up and what is to be sought?
— Vasistha
Actually, it’s a fixed gear. Video done for Drift Magazine of Derek Schmitt being crazy on a unicycle.
The image that happens before the first official photo. 16th Street.
Nicky High Five
These were not shot with an SLR so compositions came out slightly different than they were intended too. More of this later.
Water drops, dropping in..a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
Another composition mishap. I read this as I'm Glide Fad. Which is essentially longboarding. Chris loaned me this board for a few months while mine was getting shaped. He is a true steward of the logging community. If you fall from this board, it pops up into the air and tells you to Trim, Glide, Fade and then catches the next wave in without you. You get to have a long hard think on these concepts while swimming for shore. We had many good rides and wipeouts together. Thanks Chris!
