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Monday, April 25, 2011

Fine Art Weekly Name This Photo Contest

It's tough picking which photo to post for our Fine Art Weekly column. Tougher than we though it'd be to do this weekly art component to our blogs. Not for lack of material. There are a lot of great photos to chose from, but why chose one photo verses another?

A lot of outside factors are often considered.

For example, the winter ski/snowboard season is winding down all over the country. Most places it's over, but there are still a few places open. It snowed in a number of mountain resort towns last week. The Wedge is firing here in Southern California signifying the start of the summer surf season. The Follow the Light surf photography grant submissions are coming due. The Nike Lowers Pro down at Trestles and we're busy lining up work. We've been watching our favorite photographer's new show on the Weather Channel.

Torn between surf and snow, water and land, broad landscapes and detailed elements, color and black and white...This week we give you an un-named photo. It's coastal, but not your standard ocean shot. Definitely a fan favorite.

We're going to do our first fan contest: Name this photo! Come up with the best name/caption to this photo; if we use it win a signed print on Driftwood Photography Studios! Leave your submissions as a comment on any of our blogs (bloggerwordpress,tumbler) or our facebook fan page! (Minimum 20).



Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wave Art at the Wedge

The Wedge is firing! As the 2011 big wave season starts at the Wedge in Newport Beach we bring you this fun backwash shot taken today from the Wedge itself!


Next week's Fine Art Weekly will post Monday (only a couple days from now) to put us back on schedule!

*dwp-studios

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fine Art Weekly: Thinking of Waves

We're late in posting this week's installment of our Fine Art Weekly column...been swamped! But it's a good thing to be busy, especially in this economy!

We at Driftwood Photography Studios have been ultra busy gathering votes for our entry in the orangecounty.com cover photo surf contest. Perhaps you've seen it? Voted for it? Please keep voting through May 6, 2011! (It's super quick and easy to register/vote...and you can vote up to 10 times per hour! Click Here).

SO, as we've been putting so much attention into this contest/the photo, we thought we'd chose an empty wave shot from the same session as our cover entry image came from. We callit Behind the Curtain. Enjoy!


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Not surprising, biggest line is at @nomnomtruck and well worth waiting for!
Not surprising, biggest line is at @nomnomtruck and well worth waiting for!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Vote Us onto the Cover!

Fans and Friends:
We need your help! Please vote for DWP-Studios for the OrangeCounty.com Spring Cover Shot Surf Photo contest! It's super simple to do, and we would greatly appreciate it!

Click on the link below to cast your vote!
(http://orangecounty.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=30282&s=7777944)

Our photo is of Newport local/NHHS alum Bobby Okvist floating the lip at Blackies in Newport Beach on a beautiful, sunny Orange County day. It doesn't get much better than this!

Bobby's made a name for himself dropping the biggest of sets at the Wedge and for his progressive style of surfing. Who better to be on the cover than such a standout, local OC surfer like Bobby, shot by your favorite photographer!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Save the Frog House!


To: Newport Beach Planning Commission

I am writing on behalf of the Frog House, in what I believe to be a most serious injustice.  The Frog House has been in continuous operation in the same location since the 1960's, and should not be forced to close its doors.  It is without a doubt a staple in the local surf community, and furthermore a landmark as well.


Orange County is known throughout the country, even the world, as a surfing mecca.  Huntington Beach and Newport Beach alike are it's center.  You'll note that the US Open of Surfing is just down the road in Huntington Beach.  Even more noteworthy is the very same field of international professional surfers come to Newport Beach to surf before, during, and after the US Open.

Shops like the Frog House built the foundation on which events like the US Open stand; are even in Orange County at all.  Countless surfers (locals, tourists, professionals, up-and-coming standouts alike) have at one point or another relied on the Frog House.  They are engrained into the local culture.  It is indeed shops like the Frog House which have bolstered the tourist and beach-related industries which make Newport Beach what it is.

Yes there is a harbor; yes there is an abundance of homes within steps of the beach.  But shops like the Frog House were there in the beginning; helped shape what Newport Beach as become.  Without shops like the Frog House, we're just another city along the southern California coast with the same amenities.

Newport Beach has HISTORY.  Newport Beach should be PROUD of that history.  The Frog House is indeed INTEGRAL to that history.

Indeed it is unfortunate that through a loophole and/or lack of enforcement of zoning regulations, an over-abundance of drug and alcohol rehab facilities have taken up root within the intended residentially zoned neighborhoods.  It is also understandable that the City now wishes to stringently enforce it's zoning codes to ensure commercial enterprises, like drug and alcohol rehab centers, do not overrun our community, nor that they infringe on the overall harmony of the community.

But the Frog House was around long before these elements infringed into the residential zoned tracts.  The Frog House was built and operating before the land it is now on was rezoned as residential.  They are directly adjacent to existing (and please note NEWER) commercial enterprises.

This should be a simple decision.  The Frog House is a pre-existing land use from before the residential rezoning occurred; since before the recent effort to remove the nonconforming drug and alcohol facilities.  They should have been granted a variance based on their pre-existing usage long before they were thrown into the same lot as these nonconforming drug and alcohol rehab centers.

I recognize it is too late to grant them exemption from the act which now has them fighting for their life.  We cannot undo the past.  But please, do the right thing, grant the Frog House the necessary zoning variance now.  Lets not forget, they are a long standing, pre-existing usage from before any residential zoning was mapped.  They ARE Newport Beach.

Please vote in favor of KEEPING the Frog House.
Regards,

benjamin c ginsberg
driftwood photography studios
p: 714.699.4DWP
c: 617.775.3457
Considering a medium format camera setup...

#photography art camera

Wedge Monster

Summer is drawing nearer and nearer, and it's almost time for the massive shorebreak known as The Wedge to start firing in Newport Beach, CA. What is the Wedge? It's what you get when a massive wave refracts off the local harbor jetty creating a 25-foot high Monster.

In honor of our rapt anticipation of this freak of nature, we give you our latest Weekly Fine Art photo: Wedge Monster.

*dwp-studios

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The line outside of 85°C Bakery on Jamboree...worth it for done quality Chinese pastries!
The line outside of 85°C Bakery on Jamboree...worth it for done quality Chinese pastries!

Friday, April 1, 2011

New art on display/for-sale @stratumins in their costa mesa ca location! Come in to view/purchase during reg business hours
New art on display/for-sale @stratumins in their costa mesa ca location! Come in to view/purchase during reg business hours