Light Trails

Are a very cool thing to photograph. Key is vantage point. Anyone can setup a camera on a tripod, but as Ansel Adams said best: A good photograph is knowing where to stand.

Big Waves, Sunsets, Long Exposures

Latest images from the killer winter waves in Newport Beach brought to you by Driftwood Photography Studios! Thirty second exposures makes for surreal looking ocean-scapes. Note the surfers dotting the lineup as they wait for head high barrels!

Great Day of Surf/Photography at Blacks Beach, San Diego

December 10th saw a great day of surf at Blacks Beach, San Diego. Over head surf, hollow barrels, blue skies. Great day to be alive. Pictures available at Driftwood Photography Studios' homepage driftwood-photography.com.

See more images in our FACEBOOK Galleries and our EPPICSURF Galleries!

Big Swell Hits Cali...Local Surfers Rip it Up, But Sadly Some Local Shit Heads Live Up to Reputation

Once again on reports of a WNW swell I ventured up to Palos Verdes. PV Cove, Indicator, Pipes, and Tubes all were breaking big, and the surfers/local crowd really friendly. A few even asked for my card and exchanged emails. Lunada Bay was quite the opposite.

As many mentioned they are apt to be, the locals at Lunada were very, very vocal about my camera. After a a few face to face sessions shouting at me, heckling, and a couple open ended threats, the 5 guys in their late 30's/early 40's called in local reinforcements. Once they started showing up...I decided I'd be better off leaving. Of course I waited another 20+ minutes for a lull in the surf, hoping to give the impression I was leaving under my own volition due to lack of quality. Waves were better at Indicator anyways.

I suppose 1 confrontation out of 3 visits is not so bad, but I got the strong impression that whenever the real swells hit, these guys are there, and they're probably the exact same schmucks who attacked that news crew in the 90s.

Most everyone else I crossed paths with today were nothing but amiable, so hopefully these guy's mentalities are not passing off onto the younger generation. That'd be a shame. I'll definitely be heading back there in the future, but maybe with a rental car next time, just in case...

Check out images from today's sessions from breaks where the locals WERE friendly on our:

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As the Rains End the Swell Builds...

Precursor to the swell to come, images from 30th Street, Newport Beach courtesy of Driftwood Photography Studios

The Utter Stupidity of Storm Water Engineering in Southern California

It is a wonder of engineering that the endless networks of concrete gutters lining the roads, highways, and parking lots of Southern California passed engineering review and were allowed to be installed anywhere, let alone on a mass scale.

During the dry season the concrete troughs (gutters) are a traffic hazard; bottoming out shocks; even scraping bumpers as cars cross them through intersections or into parking lots.

During the rainy season...water channels into the gutters, often flooding out of the channels into the street miring down the entire adjacent lane. Dirt and debris in the gutter cause the appearance of rapids in a raging river. On the highways the torrent of water causes lane closures, traffic, and accidents as drivers lose control in the deep waters and hydroplane/spin out.

Is this safe???