Bird Love

The former "secret spot". This was one of many along the Sunshine Coast in the 1970s, due to poor roads/bridges and lack of development. I managed to catch a few excellent rides here last winter with a mate. There was even a whale spotted. The other side of the road is a National Park with signs at regular intervals warning of "Unexploded Shells" - a former artillery range during one of the numerous wars last century. This is possibly the oldest surf type photo I own, taken around 1975 when I got my first camera. My brother's Ford. Our single fin "shortboards" of 6' 10" (my longboard today turns better!). Carefree searches. I feel for the folks up North who have lost not only homes and livelihoods but precious memories as well 

Still Raining, still dreaming

somewhere above this perpetual rain lurks a bit of sunshine

Thursday's Child

Square Bandit Thrice

Bandit.

Single fin.

Coolum.

1970's 

Fuji 35mm trannie film

 Pentax camera in a plastic bag thing.

No rashie.

Summer.

What do you want from life?

The first time I saw snow was on top of the Grand Canyon last century. Coming from the hot sub-tropical land of Brinetopia, I don't know what was more awesome, seeing that dirty big red, yellow orange, brown, green canyon or the thick layer of snow contrasted against the blue Arizona sky like wedding cake icing. Around that time, I came across The Tubes, a band originally from Arizona who headed west like so many others to California.There, they released such ascerbic classics as "White Punks on Dope", "What do you want from Life?" "Don't touch me there" and "I was a punk before you were". Social satire in a punk visage - almost like a hybrid between the Mothers of Invention and The Saints.

"What do you want from life?

To kidnap an heiress

or threaten her with a knife?

What do you want from life?

To get cable TV

and watch it every night?

------

There you sit

a lump in your chair

Where do you sleep

and what do you wear

when you're sleeping?

-----

What do you want from life?

An Indian guru

to show you the inner light?

What do you want from life?

a meaningless love affair

with a girl that you met tonight?

-----

How can you tell when you are doing alright?

Does your bank account swell

while you're dreamin at night?

How do you know when you're really in love?

Do violins play when you're touching the one that your loving?"

excerpt from What do you want from life? by The Tubes 1978

Moffats Headland - this view currently for sale for several million $$$. Retro single fin available in a range of tints and fin options. Uncrowded waves no longer available.

Locomotive Breath

One for Judy and Laurie

"In the shuffling madness

Of the locomotive breath,
Runs the all-time loser,
Headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Thank God, he stole the handle and
The train won't stop going
No way to slow down."

from Locomotive Breath Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull last century at a place that's been demolished. Captured on a film emulsion you can no longer buy. That's a flute in singer Ian Anderson's hand. According to their website, they are still playing. I liked the live version on their 1978 live double album Bursting Out, seen below in cassette form. Still available on iTunes (though it's not all killer)

A Tale of Two Centuries

Tallebudgera - Gold Coast Early 1960's (Photo: Hughie)

DIY skateboards late 1970's (Photo: Gaz D'Arx)

Self portrait a couple of days ago.

Happy Birthday to me.

Hangin 5 With My Cry Baby

One for Seasick Steve Logan and his quest for perfect toes. Get well mate.
Trying to channel the spirit of the Flaming Groovies' Shake Some Action, a song that was played religiously every Friday afternoon on radio 4ZZZ to stir the young turks of Brinetopia into a frenzy of XXXX, mischief and mayhem. Rumour: the Groovies' love child is the Japanese Motors,,,

"Shake some action's what I need
To let me bust out at full speed.
I'm sure that's all you need
To make it all right."

Flaming Groovies Shake Some Action 1976

Coolum x Pete

Gooftfooter Pete was the first surfer I ever saw on a twin fin in Coolum. One day he gave me a go with the warning "Your life will never be the same." Thanks buddy,

Kiwi Bertleman

Once upon a time in an Auckland Bowl Kiwi Dean tore it up on his Dogtown lookin deck in the best Larry Bertleman fashion. (Photo: Greg Chichester)

On the other side of the Tasman, a couple of other goofy footers, Coolum Pete (left) and party boy Gaz took more of a DIY approach. This was probably because Gaz's father took to his deck with a circular saw one night after the Pig City constabulory caught us illegally skating down the street. Note: Gaz's home-made Hawaiian shirt...win!

International Goofy Week

I christen this week, International Goofy Week in honour of my goofy mate, Gazza who shouted the bar all night on the weekend to celebrate a big birthday. Thanks Champ!

One of our floorless (and flawless) camping surfari's when it was OK to drill a hole in your fin to attach a rubber rope. My pintail flyer on the far left. Gaz's orange Jim Pollard adjacent to the foam esky. Classy!

One night we were cruising around Mooloolaba being teenagers and nothing to do during the iron fisted reign of the Bjelkie-Petersen regime, checking out the surf shops, when we saw the keys to Jim Pollard's surf shop still in the door. Of course we rang him up and waited until he picked them up. Our reward, a poster each. I think mine was a crystalline backlit Pipeline. Whatever happened to Jim???

Bandit's Birthday

Aunty Clare christened my next oldest brother The Bandit

seen here on the left with my other brother GfG

waiting for the car ferry

to hit the South Wall at Ballina.

Another shot of Bandit below at Coolum

when shortboards still had one fin.

Happy Birthday bro!!

Mr Tambourine Man

Bobby Zimmerman Dylan belting out something like "Mr Tambourine Man" during the never ending Rolling Thunder Review era tour that strangely included Brinetopia. Note the huge fan behind him. None of your fancy air conditioned stadiums. This was at the local boxing hall. Now demolished. Home to inner city apartments and the ghosts of rock and roll.
Captured on good ole Kodachrome 64 but lacking the exposure latitude of modern emulsions or capture backs. I think the lens was a screwmount (yes) Vivitar 70 - 260 mm F4.5 with a x3 teleconverter.

Gone, one shipwreck

Another installment in our ongoing "Gone" series of images of structures, ship wrecks and other stuff that are no longer around - the Cherry Venture, blown ashore north of Noosa during big seas, very big seas going by the size of the human at the bow. Futile attempts to refloat were followed by removal of the salvageable machinery and then left on the beach as a tourist attraction until the briney air rusted it to a point of becoming a public safety hazard. Now gone (except on celluloid)
Summer 1975

Streets of San Francisco

I think this is the corner of Market and Post. Happy to be corrected. Just happy that we have jumped the digital divide to broadband!!!! Not that I'm going to stop shooting film - well Kodachrome maybe. But Kodak VPS160 definitely to continue.

Shameless Plug

The posts have been pretty thin lately because I'm still laid up with some sort of virus bug thing.

I don't do plugs for stuff (apart from charities I like), but had to plug the upcoming Switchfoot book edited by Andrew Crockett.

It's a tome by surfing standards - 368 pages, 1000+ images, 90 contributers - the other side of surfing, usually neglected by corporate media. Many of the images were captured in little analogue boxes using analogue film and manual focus lenses - hard to believe such a contraption existed?

And somewhere in there you'll find 2 pages of my work including the Huntington Beach Pier shot below. I'm honoured and stoked at the same time. Oh and I'm sure there's a few chaps in the book who'd meet the requirements for MOvember (plug, plug). Check out the preview at the following URL: http://www.switch-foot.com/switchfoot-II.php

Remembering to Movember

Look closely at these two 70's surfers and you'll note that they are both natural footers - one cranking a backhand bottom turn at Huntington Pier and one jamming on a 12 string. Look a lot closer and you'll notice they're sporting a "mo" or moustache.

This month is MOvember in Brineland and many blokes like myself and Goofyfoot Stephen will be adopting the 70's look and growing the "mo" to raise money for prostate cancer research and depression - two largely taboo subjects among the male surfing community. So get with the "mo" and raise some dough or donate on line.

MOVEMBER web is at:  http://au.movember.com/mospace/114215/

Coolum x Ilford

Continuing our monochrome theme this week, late arvo aussie seascape via an English film in a Japanese camera last century.

Red Eye

Late 70's dawn at Point Perry. The film emulsion on this slide is starting to deteriorate. Lucky we have all this modern digi-tech stuff to transform decaying images like this one into cyberspace.