the art of everyday existence.

Many moons ago now, a very good friend lent me a bodyboarding dvd after seeing me standing and filming on the pier for the first time. Putting it straight on when I got home my eyes were immediately transfixed on the screen. Images of perfect barrels, firework sunsets and mountains in the clouds hypnotised me. I was introduced to the incredible skills of Mr's Skipper, Player, Hubb and Rawlins. A life style and culture that I never realised could exist was shown to me for the first time. The film was called 'Against the Grain'

As I watched Ben and Mitch boosting the highest air forwards and reverses somewhere in the Canaries, the biggest clarity inducing lightbulb went off in my head.
From that moment on I spent most of my time watching and filming waves at home, on DVD's and looking at waves in all the magazines. Soon I realised that a certain name seemed to be appearing where ever I looked for inspiration. Every shot of some heaving slab, every lifestyle picture, every portrait seemed to have the same credit...Mickey Smith.

Not long after I watched the DVD and had started filming whatever sized swells rolled into home, a teacher sat me down for a talking to. I had been set a weekend assignment to film some cutaway shots for a horror trailer and had been given an hour tape that was already half full of other shots. However, as I had walked towards the reef to get what was needed, my eyes were distracted by a backlit wave peeling across the reef. Needless to say, there were no cutaways on the tape when I got to class on the monday morning.

Getting involved in that surfer lot, my teacher explained, would result in my wasting my life and never doing anything of worthiness. This has been echoed by many family and friends since. After leaving uni and spending plenty of time attempting to justify my filming I have often wondered if perhaps my teacher was right.

Then a clip started appearing here, there and everywhere on the internet 'Dark Side of The Lense'. It shook every single little doubt out of my mind. Most of you will have seen this by now. Mickey, with Allan Wilson produced something so incredible that it has won them accolades the world over. And rightly so.

"If there's no future in it, at least it's a present worth remembering"

I just hope at some point that teacher will see it.

Below is 'Dark Side of the Lense' as well as a talk from the DO Lectures. Everyone should watch them- the man talks a lot of sense.

xXx