Category: Photography

0809 Trip Day 18 | Maui

I had got a bunch of editing done yesterday morning. After we headed back towards Paia. Julien headed out to Tow with Eraldo and Gerald. I hung out at Lanes and Hookipa. I took a nice nap on the beach and then Jon Modica and Greg Norman showed up.

The surf was large today, although my large is not a lot of these guy’s large. It was easily twice as big as the day before. They were calling it 6-7 foot Hawaiian. I wound up spending the rest of the day there shooting from the lookout watching the massive waves roll in. Without anywhere to store my gear I couldn’t head out.

I waited there until dark for Julien to come back in from towing. I meet up with Frank Forbes (the guy in the Standup shots from a couple days ago) again. He invited me to come to his house and then head out early in the morning to ride. I took him up on the offer so hopefully we’ll score something tomorrow.

For all the pictures for Day 18, Click HERE

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 13, 2009
0809 Trip Day 17 | Maui

I’m not even going to tell you how we started the day today… after the coffee shop and some work we headed to Hookipa again. I hung out on the beach for an hour or so watching the surfers and relaxing. The tide started to drop a bit and the waves started to get better. I put the waterhousing together and swam out. The break was still packed at Hookipa.

We grabbed one shot at Hookipa before we had to move to a different break as it was too crowded to Standup there. We swam down to Lanes which looks a lot closer than it really is. Already at Lanes was Frank and Brian. I shot with the three of them for a couple hours.

The tide was really dropping out and the reef was getting uncomfortably shallow. To add upon that, twords the end of the session we had about 15 set waves hit us in a row. Duck dive after duck dive I made it out, somehow unscathed, while the boys were having a much tougher time on the inside with those big boards.

After shooting for a couple hours, the swim back to Hookipa was not the most enjoyable. Back on the beach exhausted and striping myself of gear I hear, “Hey do you shoot in Hatteras?” I look up and laugh, its Elliot Leboe of ACL Productions headed out for a surf. It was good to run into him again. We headed into town for a little and then again on the way home we stopped back at Lanes to shoot a couple sunset pictures.

For all the pictures for Day 17, Click HERE

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 12, 2009
0809 Trip Day 16 | Maui

Day 15 was started the same as the last few days (I’m hoping one of these posts will start a little different). We headed up to Haiku to meet up again with Danny of D Surfboard Repair so that Julien could give him the exact specs for glassing his new Rawson Tow Board. I was able to get off a couple cool shots in the finishing and glassing rooms.

From there, we headed to Ho’okipa. The waves really didn’t look too great and it was way more crowded today because it is the weekend. I decided to shoot while Julien headed out on the SUP. I hiked around Ho’okipa a bit. After shooting and watching the grommets rip up the mushy waves, we headed to Morris’ house to work on one of the SUP boards.

We then went to the grocery store where I think there is at least a dollar markup on every product. On the way back home we stopped by Lanes so I could grab a couple sunset shots. As we were back on the road passing Ho’okipa Julien spotted a couple Humback’s out past the break. We pulled over to try and grab a shot.

We finally made it home with the ice half melted. Julien finished getting the ski ready for the up coming swell. I pulled out the strobes and setup for a couple portrait shots. After running completely out of light we headed in and called it a night.

For all the pictures for Day 16, Click HERE

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 11, 2009
0809 Trip Day 15 | Maui

It was a late start today. We made it to the coffee shop for a while; again we ran a few errands. We then had to stop by Morris’ house to pick up a board and do a little repair on another. Then we headed to Hookipa for the rest of the day. I rode a JL Vixen while Julien rode one of his SUPs. The waves went much better than the other night but it was still nice to get out in the water for a while. After I couldn’t paddle anymore, I got out and took a couple shots since I hadn’t shot all day.

For all the pictures for Day 15, Click HERE

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 10, 2009
0809 Trip Day 14 | Maui

I bet you already know how we started the day out…? Yes the coffee shop. But i actually got up a little early to take some pictures and scored a couple good ones. After the coffee shop we headed to DHL to pick up a couple new Standup Paddleboards that got shipped to Julien. We didn’t have a lot of room in the bed of the truck before, now were just pushing it.

We headed over to Kite Beach for a little. Julien put his new boards together and I took a couple shots. The conditions were not great. It was pretty off shore and not much of a wave, of course I didn’t bring my binding the one day we could have rode flat water.

We then headed to Mauricio’s place. He let me borrow his 11’ Jimmy Lewis SUP, and then drove us up to Hookipa to do a SUP downwinder. We paddled out just before sunset. We spent about an hour at Hookipa on the left break catching a couple fun waves. It was blowing at least 20 knots which made things a bit more difficult.

As the sun backed behind the mountains, the full moon started to glow stronger as we paddled down the coast. It was paddle by moon light the rest of the way to the beach near Morris’ house. We grabbed the truck, returned the SUP and headed home.

For all the pictures for Day 14, Click HERE.

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 9, 2009
0809 Trip Day 13 | Maui

We started the day off again at the coffee shot getting some work done. I got to run into David and Rachael Hastilow at the coffee shop. They recently moved to Maui as David took up a new position at Cabrinha. We then ran across the street to Neilpryde shop to get fins and a sled for the ski.

It was back to Waiehu for another kite session. I swam out with the camera and Julien rode a 12m and surfboard again. There were a couple other guys at the beach this time. They were very nice and really good riders as well. Julien scored a couple good waves. I was out swimming for over an hour then headed back to the beach as I ran out of shots. I was going to go out for a session but the tide really backed off, and it became extremely shallow. We packed it up and headed back.

On the way home we stopped by Lanes to check out the kiters, surfers and windsurfer that were out riding. The waves really started to pick up by the end of the day, as the wind continued to blow. After that we headed around to the next turn, Hookipa, to watch the surfers. There were a ton of surfers out, it was still a bit disorganized but some were getting some good rides.

For all the pictures for Day 13, Click HERE.

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 8, 2009
0809 Trip Day 12 | Maui

Today was my first full day on Maui. What better way to start out the day than going to a coffee shop. Julien and I spent a couple hours getting some work done. Then we headed around Maui getting some errands done such as permits for the Jet ski etc… Julien then took me to Kite Beach to check out the scene, but there was no wind yet. The riding area was much smaller than i had thought.

We then cruised up to Waiehu again. It was windy enough to ride. But first we had to do a couple modifications and testing to a new design Julien is working on. Once that was done, he headed out on a 12m Liquid Force Havoc and a brand new out of the box LF Rawson Quad. I geared up with much thanks to Jerry Chalk, for loaning me his water housing. I swam out for about an hour and a half and practiced a bit with the housing. The waves were a bit smaller than yesterday and the wind was still straight on shore, but still was a good session.

After the session we headed back to the house to relax, download images and charge batteries. Later that night we went cruised back into town to grab some sushi and beers with Brazilian big wave legend Eraldo Gueiros. We called it a night after that and headed home.

For all the pictures for Day 12, Click HERE.

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 7, 2009
0809 Trip Day 11 | TVC to OGG

Travel day 2 started out early. I arrived at 6am to TVC to take a quick half-hour flight to Chicago. Then it was an hour layover. I did find that it was nearly impossible to find a power outlet to charge my computer for the 14+ hours of flying I had to go

Update (10am): So I made it to LA. Oddly the movie on the previous flight was Nights in Rodanthe. It was kind of weird to see Hatteras all the way to LA. The movie didn’t really do it for me but it was good to see the banks again.

Update (3pm): I made it to Maui, baggage and all! Julien Fillion picked me up in style in a local looking pickup. We headed straight for Waiehu to go kite. We pulled in and there was Lou Wainman. It was good to catch up with him again. They were out testing some new kites. Julien and I headed out in the waist to should high BLUE waves for a session. It was straight on shore so I rode a 12m a bit overpowered.

After that we headed to a surf shop of one of Julien’s friends. There I saw the new Standup Journal, which had one of my shots of Brandon and Trevor in it. After that we headed to Mauricio Abreu’s House and then to a Mexican place for some grub.

For all the pictures for Day 11, Click HERE.

0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 6, 2009
0809 Trip Day 10 | Traverse City

We met up with my Uncle today. It was off on another snowshoeing adventure. We all packed into a car and then drove out to Ransom Lake. We parked then walked down to the trail. The trail took us down to the lake. From there we headed east around the lake, and then circumnavigated the lake taking pictures along the way. The hike took us about 3 hours. It was a great adventure as its was sunny with blue skies all day and not too chilly either. It would be a great hike in the summer or fall as well.

For all the pictures for Day 10, Click HERE.

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0809 Trip Log:
Day1, Day2, Day3, Day4, Day5, Day6, Day7, Day9, Day10, Day11, Day12, Day13, Day14, Day15, Day16, Day17, Day18, Day19, Day20, Day21, Day22

January 3, 2009