The Final Countdown / November 12, 2024 by craig levers

Holey Heckers!!! It's been a trip, last post was just before what we knew would be a biggy, Stop 4 on the Unbound Book Tour, Rambo's home grounds, Wild Flour, Mount Maunganui. And the Mounties did not disappoint.

... then it was off the Raglan. Sam Mathers kindly hosted us at his Gallery... and with Rambo and I thought it would be a pretty intimate evening. We were wrong, the Raglan crew showed up in force, after the Mount, Raglan has been the second biggest stop. It was sick, as with the Mount so many good buggers came along, and for the first time on tour, the food platters were picked dry [Thanks Luke Cederman]

And Deeeeen... Whangamata, at this point I kind of need to point out how crazy lucky we have been with the weather, every fricken venue we have scored balmy evenings and Whanga was the same. It was a bit more mellow, but certainly not in a bad way. We were hosted by Liam at Salt District Brewery. Again a perfect venue for the style of evenings we wanted to put on, low key, grass roots, casual and fun.

Next stop is the last stop. And neither of us have any idea how big or small it will be. Wednesday evening from 6pm until 9pm we'll be set up at White Studios, 30 Burleigh Street, Grafton, Auckland. AND being the finale Rambo's lost the plot...not really. He is running a competition over on Instagram, Tag a mate in on the post and you will be in the draw to win one of the big framed prints we have on display at White Studios. Of course you have to be there to claim it, if you aren't then we re-draw. The mate even wins an A3 unframed print. Tag a mate on the post on Rambo's insty HERE

Everyone is welcome, come on in for a gander of the book, and the exhibition of images from the book, big. The Gizzy Golds and Liquid Deaths will be chilled and there's even Rambo's handcrafted food platters.... free beer and food, what's not to like! You can buy a book or print on the night and get the author to signed it for you.

IN Other News

Big news, but still book news, Rambo was interviewed by Duncan Garner on his podcast. And man, I reckon Duncan is probably Rambo's biggest fan. It's a really good interview, as a guy that has interviewed a fair few crew in my time, I really noticed that Garner had researched and read the book in prep' for the chat. It's quite big thing getting on such a big nationwide poddy.

You can listen to it on Rova HERE

It's really good.

The Home Towner / October 30, 2024 by craig levers

Crystal Cylinder - epic venue and solid turn out

Rambo and I are getting all battle hardened and limbered up. We are now three deep into the Unbound book tour. Verdure, Lyall Bay being our debut outing, Crystal Cylinder, New Plymouth stop 2 and Sunshine Brewery, Gisborne the third. I talked about how good the debut at Verdure was HERE and it really was.

And Then Gizzy ...

Sunshine Brewery, our epic beer sponsor also hooked us up at the Taproom

Pretty much spot the legends in these images

All loosened up and ready, this evening's tour stop is Rambo's home town, the Mount. We don't know quite what to expect, will it be carnage or crickets? Probably somewhere in between. But all I can say is... If you're in the Mount or near, come along for a beer or water on us, wait not ON us, from us. Come have a squizz at the book and the print exhibition. We do have books for sale and signing and deals on crate prints.

Here's the remaining dates including this evening at Wild Flour

5pm - 9pm Wednesday 30th October 2024
Wildflour - 5c Hull Road, Mt Maunganui
@wildflour_

6pm - 9pm Monday 4th November 2024
Sam Mathers Gallery - 536 Wainui Rd, Raglan
@sammathers

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 6th November 2024
Salt District Brewing
101B Winifred Avenue, Whangamata
@saltdistrict_brewing

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 13th November 2024
White Studios - 30 Burleigh Street, Grafton, Auckland
@whitestudiosnz

Come join us!

The Opener / October 23, 2024 by craig levers

You'd have to be a pretty cool cucumber not to be a tad nervous about the debut evening [or any of the tour stops for that matter] but last night Jack and Harrison at Verdure Surf in Lyall Bay, Wellington did us proud. The lads cleared the space and then Jack even jumped in and sorted the photo hanging for us- sooo stoked, he was making the wall holes and not us. Although this is far from my first book bash rodeo, even knowing what's required, it never ceases to surprise just how much work goes into hosting an evening. Rather than list off the chores... it's full on actually nearly work.

Jack, Rambo and Harrison, readied for the evening ahead

On the level, Jack's hanging and Rambo's photography- a deadly combo

Thanks to the legends at Sunshine Brewery and the crew at Liquid Death, we'll loosen your purse strings AND keeping you hydrated

Legends... Rambo and the man aka Bryce Wison

An admission; one of my tasks on the tour is to get the pap shots, and last night I totally dropped the ball, I could've got way more people in, been way more intrusive, but I kept falling back on my other assignment, manning the eftpos machine... to be fair, the best excuse. Long and short; debut book evening done, Verdure was the best place to have the starter, good crew, laughter and a fair few books and prints slung.

Tomorrow night, Thursday Crystal Cylinder, New Plymouth. If you're in the Naki, come on in!

Here's the Dates

6pm - 9pm Thursday 24th October 2024
Crystal Cylinder - 109 Devon Street West, New Plymouth
@crystal.cylinder

5pm - 8pm Monday 28th October 2024
Sunshine Brewery - 49 Awapuni Road, Gisborne
@sunshinebrewery

5pm - 9pm Wednesday 30th October 2024
Wildflour - 5c Hull Road, Mt Maunganui
@wildflour_

6pm - 9pm Monday 4th November 2024
Sam Mathers Gallery - 536 Wainui Rd, Raglan
@sammathers

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 6th November 2024
Salt District Brewing
101B Winifred Avenue, Whangamata
@saltdistrict_brewing

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 13th November 2024
White Studios - 30 Burleigh Street, Grafton, Auckland
@whitestudiosnz

Come join us!

If You Can't Rock'n'Roll, Don't F%cken Come / October 20, 2024 by craig levers

Firstly how fricken good is the artwork Rambo got made up for our book tour! And somewhat tying into that is my verbose and quite false statement in the email title. 'If you can't Rock'n'Roll, Don't f%cken Come.' This of course refers to the infamous Quiksilver champaign and poster... I'm not going to explain it, you can google it.

I'm so frothed, tomorrow is the big drive down to Wellington, the start of our Unbound book tour. The Troopy is semi packed, loaded to the gunnels with boxes of fresh books. Part of me wishes going on Tour would be very Rock'n'Roll. A bit Spinal Tap [again, google it] The reality is it couldn't be more opposite ... it is a book tour. And it's still going to be a lot of fun.

Come join @ramboestrada and I for a few cheeky brewskis and the chance to rub your eyeballs on his debut book, Unbound: Vol 1.

There will be large format prints from the book on display and available for purchase.

If you’re keen, Rambo will happily scrawl his signature on your copy, left-handed smudges included, free of charge! He’ll also be showcasing some of the gear he used throughout the project, and since we love nerding out about equipment, feel free to come armed with any questions.

It’s set to be a series of laid-back evenings, swapping stories and celebrating our local surf culture. We’d love to see you there!

Here's the Dates

6pm - 9pm Tuesday 22nd October 2024
Verdure Surfcraft - 7 Rua Street, Lyall Bay, Wellington
@verduresurf

6pm - 9pm Thursday 24th October 2024
Crystal Cylinder - 109 Devon Street West, New Plymouth
@crystal.cylinder

5pm - 8pm Monday 28th October 2024
Sunshine Brewery - 49 Awapuni Road, Gisborne
@sunshinebrewery

5pm - 9pm Wednesday 30th October 2024
Wildflour - 5c Hull Road, Mt Maunganui
@wildflour_

6pm - 9pm Monday 4th November 2024
Sam Mathers Gallery - 536 Wainui Rd, Raglan
@sammathers

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 6th November 2024
Salt District Brewing
101B Winifred Avenue, Whangamata
@saltdistrict_brewing

6pm - 9pm Wednesday 13th November 2024
White Studios - 30 Burleigh Street, Grafton, Auckland
@whitestudiosnz

Come join us!

Digga's Spread / September 18, 2024 by craig levers

This time last week pre sales went live for Unbound Vol 1. It's a big milestone in any book's life, and man did you guys like the pre-sale offer. It's the book + 4 A4 prints from the book included.

The reason my posts are all about it is because I'm the very proud publisher of Rambo’s first solo book An Aotearoa Road Trip: Unbound Vol 1. And it’s a whopper, weighing in at nearly 2 kgs with 304 pages of text, the hardcover book is 295mm x 210mm.

I also got to help with this spread, it was a full hospital pass. On a hot, humid February day, Rambo and Daniel Davie decided to haul over 150 boards out onto the lawn of the old Davie family home in Whanga. I volunteered my good mate Luke Darby and myself for a few hours help 'it'll be fun' I said to poor Luke... 7 hours later the four of us lamented about the task we'd just done. See, you can't just pull out all the toys, you've got to put them back too. And you can't just leave two mates high and dry with the job only half done right?! Four dirty, sweaty, hungry units scoured the mean streets of Whanga at 9pm for a feed.

Was the image worth the effort? F%ck yes. When was the last time you saw a portrait like this, let alone that every board is connected to the late great Bob Davie and it's not even every board in Daniel's growing collection. Is it a collection or still a quiver? Dan has ridden every board, he can describe how every one of them glides and swoops.

Yesterday Rambo posted about Dan's feature in the book. The post went nuts. You can view it on Instagram HERE

This book is the best NZ Surfing coffee table book to date, better than the South Seas [and I’m allowed to say that- I wrote and published the South Seas book] a third bigger than any other NZ surf book project… that’s what the Surf Shop owners are saying.

As stated up the top Presales are now open and we have incentivised the crap out of it. If you take up the Presale offer you get 4 A4 prints worth $120.00.

Check out the book and buying options HERE

Unbound Presales Open! / September 11, 2024 by craig levers

Last night pre sales went live for Unbound Vol 1. It's a big milestone in any book's life.

I'm the very proud publisher of Rambo’s first solo book An Aotearoa Road Trip: Unbound Vol 1. And it’s a whopper, weighing in at nearly 2 kgs with 304 pages of text, the hardcover book is 295mm x 210mm.

Rambo and I have known each other since the '90's. Back in the late '90's his video footage helped hugely with a NZ Surfing Mag video I was the producer of. It was called S.O.S. [NZ Surfers Overseas] and to be brutally honest, the video was terrible... but Rambo's Raglan footage was priceless. More recently Rambo was the lead photographer on best selling book projects like the South Seas.

He's the surf photographer that shouldn't need introduction, he eclipses all the Kiwi surf photographers' Instagram followers, in fact I think if you added all of ours up together he still has more followers. While he has worked the Insty game hard, his success is because he really is that good. As a salty ol' dog, it's inspirational to work alongside such a machine.

Rambo and I have been talking about his solo debut book for quite a few years, I think for a long time I'd end every conversation with 'well, when ya ready bro!!!' But it's the last 18 months that it has got to the pointy end. To witness Rambo's stoke and dedication to chasing swell is frankly, daunting. He'll consider dropping tools to drive 8 hours [even the cheeky 18 to the Catlins] then while the rest of us mere mortals will go 'yeah- nah, it could be good but...', he goes.

And that's the difference, Rambo Goes. He gets skunked sure, but he's also there to score.

And that is what Unbound is, it's a celebration of going, exploring the ends of our gravel roads, maybe getting frustrated and then keeping on until you get the gold.

Rambo has masterfully scaped this volume by sharing his never before seen NZ lineups which are interspersed with in-depth interviews and often quirky tales from the road. Arguably the Kiwi world famous surf photog transcends to story teller with this weighty slab of book…. this is no 30 minute skim.

Behind the scenes, Rambo opted to craft the layout and design himself, normally a red flag for any publisher, it’s of note how beautifully the author has laboriously, often laterally, paired the images on every single spread.

As stated up the top Presales are now open and we have incentivised the crap out of it. If you take up the Presale offer you get 4 A4 prints worth $120.00.

Check out the book and buying options HERE

Bizza 4 Eva / July 19, 2024 by craig levers

This is a hard one to write. I don't want to inject myself into the narrative and this unintentionally be about MY loss, but yes I have lost my little browser, a grom I've been surfing, shooting, laughing, scheming, publishing and hanging with for the last decade. Bill 'Bizza' Byers, the absolute Prince of Piha and leader of the Feral Muppets. The loss of Bill, July 4th, has sent a tsunami of grief through Piha, the wider west ['cos one thing is for sure Bill was a westie] and the NZ Surf Community.

For the last fortnight Piha has been consumed with the most incredible out-pouring of grief and love. Most of the crew knew by 8am on the 4th that Bill, barely 19, had taken his life. The news spread fast. Dion Pike-Taylor and Kye Bedford messaged in the Keyhole Boardriders chat that they'd be down on the sand dune at midday. The sand dune; the far south end of South Piha, the hang out for Keyhole and support central during comps. The loudest and perhaps most intimidating zone for the uninitiated. Who could have known what that simple message and gesture would become.

It was so fucking gnarly, I guess we were all in shock. Lots of man-hugs, members of the club coming by, sitting, looking out to Bill's playground, the surf yes, but also the sand. See, Bill was really a bogan in a surfer's body. Dion recanted that just the Sunday before, on the crowded afternoon, Bill had ripped along the beach on his 350cc bike, boosted over to the gap and then another circuit of the beach before disappearing into the valley. This was Bill, the recurring theme over the last fortnight was, you heard Bill before you saw him. As the afternoon of the 4th tore on into evening, and I do mean tear, the revolving cast of Piha locals grew on the dune, sombre, in shock, not knowing what to do but being there seemed right.

A sidebar; It may seem strange to some that Keyhole Boardriders had such a strong presence around Bill's passing. When Bill was 14, there was nothing he wanted more than to join Keyhole Boardriders. His uncles were all founding members, the surfers that inspired him like Dune Kennings and Elliott Paerata- Reid were/are staunch members. But Keyhole has an R18 policy. We augmented the rule in the early 2000's to side-step Helicopter parents. Bill showed up every contest, he helped with the set up, manned the BBQ, helped with pack down. He did this every club contest for two years. We had an executive board meeting about Bill, it was a fun evening, and there were some very valid reasons not to induct Bill. The next morning it was me that rang Bill, he was in the car with his Dad Maurice on the way to his Uncle Warren's wedding. I tried to keep a stern tone, no drinking, if we caught him with a beer he was out, he was so stoked. He was so proud to be in Keyhole, and he'd earned it. He went on to represent the club as our junior the year Keyhole won the Hurley Boardrider's Cup. Every board he had bore oversized Keyhole stickers. As he was proud, the club was proud of him and his surfing achievements .... and this is Keyhole, we were proud of his Westy-ness too.

Back to the Dune. The Feral Muppets took over and so they should have. I'm not 100% sure if the term is the official name for Bill's extended friendship group, but I do know Bill loved it and ran with it. He was the glue, the ring master and as his best mate [he had lots of best mates] Victor stated at the funeral, the instigator of some incredibly dumb ideas...that they all did. On the 5th the core of Bill's friends were starting to assemble on the Keyhole dune, which, from this point forward is known as Bizza's Dune. Who'd have known how the next 10 days would pan; Bizza's Dune became the meeting point, a round the clock vigil for Bill for the entire week. The kids did it hard, many sleeping on the dune. Keyhole members fell into the roles of support. I won't name names 'cos I'll miss someone out, there were some lead members that did incredible overt actions over the week, but I feel like every member did something. As did the wider Piha community. Firewood was delivered, shelter, food and refreshments flowed. Piha's Karens and Kens went quiet.... the kids cut loose, the beach got torn up with rarkies in Bill's honour.... and maybe much to Bill's horror, not a single mention on the Facebook Community boards. The surf was good too.

Last Friday... well that was something. The paddle out was the biggest Piha has hosted. While Keyhole funded and organised the day and kai, again there was a huge outpouring of help and assistance from so many in the community. The Tasman went flat for Bizza, well, west coast flat anyway, he would've found a punt section or a mal wave. The day was perfect blue bird from dawn to well, well past dusk. The photos tell the story here. These drone images were kindly made and provided by Joshua McCormack, he reached out prior to ask if it was appropriate that he come out a shoot. Naturally he was welcomed. He gave the images freely, which then we posted on Keyhole and in turn got reposted hundreds of times. Thank you Joshua.

Bill had been struggling with depression, his family knew, his close friends knew. They all tried to help. Since the 4th there have been so many conversations about what if this, or what if that, so many what ifs. If's don't help.

What happens now is that horrible void, where Bill's closest, still grieving, assume everything has gone back to normal. It hasn't, we haven't, we carry him in our hearts. We may have returned to pretending to be normal, but Bill is very much here. I'm no consular; check in with your buddies, if you're feeling down tell someone... fucking tell me, ring me, text me, email me. You are not alone.

The Swell That Kept On / July 3, 2024 by craig levers

After the non-surfing USA trip, the idea of a quick Eastside strike was/is a no-brainer right! The froth levels were at full capacity, and as we all know, that's a dodgey place to be. It inevitably results in disappointment from over frothed expectations. [That's a sentence only a surfer could grasp] And last week was that. The east swell peaked on Monday night, some lucky souls scored prime river-bar conditions. Tuesday dawn... not so much.

Good, like actually really fun, but just not the hype

Former WSL surfers Ace Buchan and Micro Hall were in town for the launch of the Auckland Surf Park venture, well, one of many media days really, last week's one was them announcing that they'd got resource content for the Silverdale property. Billy Stairmand was hosting them and I'm not going to pretend I played it cool, I fanboyed out. Always been a fan of Ace's clinical backhand and Micro's savvy heat intelligence, combined with excellent surfing of course.

Da boyz... slightly freaking out at how cold last week was

Micro, on a loaner from Billy and probably winning the heat straight off the bat with this one

Bill, just maybe surfing the best I've seen him

and his old boy Mark... can't use a cliche like finding shade on a day like this!

Perfection ... at 2 foot, maybe 3...probably 3

The swell seemed to fade with the dropping tide. I was reading it as the Low would drop past the East Cape and the swell window would close. Seemed logical, and that seemed to be what was happening. So I called it and bailed home, how wrong I was. The Low moved out off the Cape and stayed put. The Coro picked up the next day and continued to have good waves for the rest of the week. There's a funny as feature up on Surfline now about it HERE

And Ace, Mirco and Billy??? Well they went on to do their media obligations...actually Bill went on a tear, he did the Surf Park thing, then switched into Olympian mode, doing multiple radio and TV appearances based around getting the team uniform. It's of note how much mainstream media the surfer is receiving because of the Olympic push. It's also of note how comfortable Bill is getting in that setting.

FROM THE GALLERIES

This photo is my first ever commercially used image from 1991, it was used in Tracks Mag and later became a best selling T-shirt print for Hot Buttered. It's old, it's classic, that's quite a weird status for the guy that took the photo. I still remember the day and the consideration I put into the composition- mainly I remember how pumping the waves were. This guy just got commissioned for a 1200mm wide canvas. The OG, still valid, it's pretty cool. You can check it out HERE

Viva Las Vegas / June 28, 2024 by craig levers

Been a minute huh? I've been busy holidaying and haemorrhaging fun dockets. We went to Vegas BABY! And I have to say, as a first timer to Sin City, I fricken loved it. Maybe not loved enough to bother going back, but I reckon it's a bucket list thing, a been there, done that, don't need to go again.

It wasn't a photo mission. The gorgeous Ange's godson was tying the knot in Oregon, so on the way to the wedding we took the detour. I had an agenda, to make the pilgrimage to the newly opened Punk Rock Museum in Vegas, three storeys of well curated curios dating back past 1977. It was amazing; the old concert flyers, set lists, outfits and, well, everything about it.

Then the roadie, through Nevada up to Bend, Oregon Area 51 Yesss!!!!!!

Ghost towns and houses of disrepute ...and quite possibly the most average Hotel eva \/ \/ \/

Went to Virginia City... just like the cowboy movies.

It wasn't a photo trip. The wedding was sick, congrats to Dyl and Tiana.

AND DEEEEN….

Stoked to score the billboard in front of Sunshine Brewery in Gizzy of the legend Saffi Vette from our Tahiti Trip in May.

...and I got...wait WE got a banner at the HLNA skate park in Tokyo of Shino too. Have you seen the story about the Tahiti trip? It's up on Surfline HERE

This week there was a quick strike down the Coromandel, Ace Buchan, Micro Hall were there too being hosted by Billy Stairmand. The shot above of Ace was used in a Surfline swell report, more on this strike coming soon.

In the meantime, have an awesome Matariki long weekend.

Bacterial Bar / May 16, 2024 by craig levers

My Instagram game sucks. I swing between hating the platform, to be being enthralled by the connectivity. I see mates and photographers I admire rule the joint. I wanna have game, but also can't be bothered, but also know it is good for my type of industry. I'm a Gen X'er for sure.

Last week I had a post go bacterial [I don't have enough followers to go viral ]. But it did go well. Metrics, engagement, all that good stuff.

The cynical [ie us Gen X'ers] would assume it was a ploy to get engagement. While there was an awareness some would think that, it wasn't the case. I felt like I had a couple of bangers, I'd asked legends like Rambo Estrada and Warren Hawke for critique prior. But I wasn't loving the crowd in the images- those little black dots were fucking with me. Hence the Insty post, why make a decision when you can do it?

A is the clear winner with B second. And a clear message, why not put them both on PhotoCPL.co.nz .... so I have. But, for the first time, the crowd has been thinned down. I have used Photoshop for decades to colour grade, add logos, borders, remove dust and so on. But to actually bend the content.....pheeewww... that's another step. Both have the pack thinned out.

Also up in the Wave Print Gallery **HERE**

Do you think it's OK to have done that?

AND DEEEEEEEN.......

Raglan SUCKED last Friday! The over hyped 16 second bump in swell arrived early, in the wee smalls. Between 7 and 8 am there were still some solid sets, but wind affected. By 9am it was left overs. I spent the whole day waiting ...hoping for a reboot. Should've just gone for a paddle in the Valley :(

I do like these ones of birthday bro Luca Thompson though.... pretty good way to spend your 14th I reckon.

Luke Hughes absolutely schrapling on one of his Dad's shapes

the shots photographers love and surfers hate :)

Kiwi Olympians In Teahupo'o / May 13, 2024 by craig levers

*phewww, nothing short of spectacularly idyllic aye*

I went to Teahupo'o, Tahiti last month. It cost a lot of money, there was no way on paper it would EVER make financial sense to go. But when do you ever get the chance to hang out with two Olympians [as it turned out, three]. To document them honing their skills at one of the heaviest and most beautiful waves in the world.

I don't want to come across as a noter or name dropper. [That horse has already bolted aye.] I'm not sure if the invitation was extended or I bulldozed my way in. Over-powering anything else with enthusiasm to be the Number 1 groupie and cheer squad for Saffi Vette and Billy Stairmand. It fell into place ridiculously simply. Flights were available, accomodation at the same place as the Olympians was available. I kind of had to go.

Saffi and Bill had funding from Air'b'n'b for their accomodation. The rest of their 2 week stay at Teahupoo was 100% self funded. Both surfers knowing the only way to do well at the thunderous reef ledge is familiarity. They paid local legend and coach Tereva David to mentor them. And that's where the third Olympian came in. Japan's child prodigy, Shino Matsuda joined Saff and Bill for the coaching.

While it may seem odd to have a co-competitor, a rival country team-member, this is surfing. We do shit different. In fact Tereva is a Team Tahiti coach, in El Salvador at the ISA Juniors currently. Shino was most certainly a welcome a valued member of the training squad assembled. She's a charger and wise beyond her years.

The days were gloriously simple. Up at first light, in the boat and out in the channel early. They surf, I shoot, either from Tereva's boat or in the water. Back in for lunch and video analysis with Tereva, rest then repeat till dark. The perfect day.

*Billy Stairmand, 8x National Champion and 2x New Zealand Olympian, that's quite a bunch of feats to lay your laurels on.*

Listening to Tereva's breakdown of every wave, every body movement was enlightening. EVERY ripple in the lip line identified how or not it's a chip shot to a deeper barrel. The coaching is not how to make it to the end, that's assumed, the coaching is how to maximise time behind the thick lip. How to potentialise every point on every wave. Saffi and Billy...and Shino soak it all in. It is of note just how quickly they adapt their lines, their hand placement, their weight shifts. Reaffirmation of how elite athletes are hungry to evolve in their chosen discipline.

*Bill, from the water. Ohhh camera nerd alert; the giveaway that a photo is taken from IN the water is often that blurry foreground water*

The detailed interview for Surfline is HERE

I had my own goal, to photograph Teahupoo from the water everyday, push my own boundaries on the reef. As it turned out the swell stayed well within my comfort zone.

*another clue would be that it's actually underwater*

*Saffi on a sort of day off, at no pass, pass*

*Bill having a break from going straight*

*Foam ball wrestling, successfully too. Ol' mate red hat [we never did get his name] was out everyday- ALL day*

*Local born'n'bred Kelia Gallina comfortable*

*Kehu was there! So cool to hang with Kehu Bulter and his missus Mainei Kinimaka*

*yeah crew! Side note, Kehu missed Olympic selection by one lousy heat late last year*

*Saff and Bill cheering on from the shoulder*

*Shino and a shot that's going to be a banner for one of her sponsors in Japan*

It has been a while between drinks. 20 years, since I'd been there for a NZ Billabong photoshoot. I was struck by how little it had changed. As my short trip rushed by I realised the changes were subtle, but marked. 2 decades ago there where very few resident surfers. The End Of The Road has become an enclave of the world's most chargingest surfers... and their young families. Their children are surfing and surfing great.

I came back completely enamoured with The End of The Road. I wanna go back. Maybe after all this Olympic hubbub is done and dusted, maybe before?

FROM THE GALLERIES

This guy is actually my screensaver currently, you don't need to know that, wouldn't expect you to want it on the merit that the photographer loves it so much he chooses to see it everyday. The reason it's my screensaver is 100% emotional, sure it's a technically well taken photo, but it's the feelings and memories it evokes, an epic swell and surf trip, a reminder to return to a favourite stretch of sand. That's why clients buy photos, not because the photographer was a technical master, it's because they have a connection to the subject. I like that, kind of makes my job harder, but it's the right kind of challenge. Course, you really should be looking through the Photo CPL Galleries now, you can do that HERE

Whale Tails and Tirades / April 4, 2024 by craig levers

Manu Roberts on dawn patrol by tail v2.0

The surf was super fun last night at Piha, I surfed, didn't shoot. El Nino is not kind to Piha surfers, persistent onshores and just that little bit too big and junky for anything other than a high tide despo' . The evening's chats in the water were thematic about a good surf 2 weeks ago, then only one more ok one the fortnight prior. That it's been the worst summer ever for waves at Piha. It wasn't, but it sure sits in that bracket. Good surf last night, hyped for the dawnie then right? Yep. 7am revealed the usual, the promised offshore was over-ridden by a nor-wester. At this point after months of spoiled starts, it's like the mis-quoted and in fact highly criticised Kübler-Ross model. The fives stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I'm at acceptance, I skipped the D ones.

Sooooo what to do? Oh the Tails!!! There's a super cool thing happening around Piha, about 18 months ago the first one appeared at South Piha, a whale tail seat. It got everyone talking, who did it, and why. I didn't love version 1, but didn't mind it either. Then I saw it getting used, that people liked it. Of course it highlighted that there is no seating at Piha, no seats, no council BBQ's. One toilet block at South Piha with one shower head for beach goers. Two toilet blocks along North Piha... with single shower heads. It speaks to an ongoing tension at Piha.... not the wild and sensational drama series Dark Coast. No, this is ongoing tension between the vocal minority and the rest of the Piha residents. There is a group at Piha that are well versed in the way council work, their agenda is to retard Piha, they have done successfully for decades now, blocked us having a public skate area for the kids [although we have had two public ramps in the 80's and 90's]. They successfully blocked a footpath running up beside Piha road, that incorporated better drainage for the road. Any type of innovation is shut down, 'not in the character of the Piha Village', flying in the face of history and facts.

Enter the legend Sandbanksea ... see what he did there... Banksy the world's most famous graf political artist, nice work. Quietly, the artist who wishes to remain ambiguous, crafts their Whale tails and then shares them with the public, they have even sussed out a design and install that ensures at the tails are immovable without using any concrete. I'm noticing Sandbanksea you're putting them at your favourite left banks! The process and thought the artist has put in is quite remarkable and very much a F-you to the vocal minority of self appointed gatekeepers. There's four now.

All installed in the dead of night. It's been quite exciting seeing where and when the next one pops up. Over summer I promised the artist I'd shoot them with a nice sunset, there's been no shortage of nice sunsets, that's not the issue. The problem is I can't get a clean shot at them. They are being used, a lot! They have become gathering points, points of discussion, points of confusion and conjecture. And for all these reasons I'm Sandbanksea's biggest fan.

Wailing v4 and the project evolves with finer detail and craft

Imagine having a series of functional art pieces that actually helped preserve the sand dunes by guiding foot traffic through 'sensitive' coastal zones. Rant over, clearly no surfing :)

AND DEEEN....

Winner and a winner, while there isn't a chicken dinner for the two winners, there is a copy of the latest Submachine Mag jetting it's way to subscribers 1490 and 1403 [using random number generator] So Off Shore Decorators and Byron keep an eye on the letter box.

FROM THE GALLERIES

Off The Press / March 28, 2024 by craig levers

**Piha Layers** in all it's golden glory

So many hats worn over the last week, I got to be a surf-photographer [see last week's post about the Aotearoa School Surf Fest HERE] surfed [badly], shot a beautiful Piha home for THE local architect, wrangled print commissions and even started the End of Year Tax reccy, shit, so grown up.

This guy. Rolling off the Epson on canvas at 2400mm long x 800mm high. Going to need a bigger cutter! This one is for an Albany client with deep westie roots.

Of course this fella is no stranger to going big...

Arguably the most prestigious install, in 2017 Auckland Hospital commissioned this wall via Klein Architects for the Oncology Dept. An honour and a pay day :)

The firm favourite private commission of Piha Layers. In a local family's lounge at ... well... big.

...AND DEEEEN....

Manu Bay Evening all arty'ed up with a Black and White grade on watercolour paper

There was a print giveaway completed last week, if you were a subscriber, you were in the draw, you may not have known it, but you were. Unless your name is Trish and you are from Greenbay, you didn't win. BUT once again, as a subscriber to the PhotoCPL E-bomb, you are now automatically in the draw to win one of two of these...

Yes indeedy, Al from Submachine Mag kindly flowed two of the latest issue. It's the one with a PhotoCPL 8 page Summer spread in it. I gotta say it's a solid issue, 112 pages of art, axes, motorbikes and hotrods. It's on the bookstands now for $19.95- a bloody steal for the punch it packs I reckon. ANYWAY, there's two and you're in the draw already...if you aren’t a subscriber you can join up HERE and you’ll be in the draw too. The Submachine Mag giveaway will be drawn next Thursday 04/04/24 at 5pm nzst.

It's Easter, hope you have a sick one, drive safe, be patient... get amongst it.

FROM THE BOOK STORE

One of the constant slow burners is not a book, it's the second incarnation of the NZ Line-Up Print Sets.

No Tag / March 21, 2024 by craig levers

This week, Maori Bay Boardriders hosted the inaugural New Zealand School Surfing Festival. It's a great concept, and the first one held Tuesday and Wednesday was a huge success. Briefly, SNZ reached out to the High Schools of Aotearoa last year and invited them to enter teams into the event, under 18 boys and girls. The format for the two days is Tag Team. Tag Team has been around since the 80's [maybe longer] and it's a really effective way to move surfing events away from the individualism of competition. The team of five surfers have to work together in the 50 minute heat to win, waves are scored out of ten but the team accrue the total. The exciting bit; only one surfer from each team is in the water at one time, the preceding surfer, after their best wave has to come in, sprint up the beach and 'Tag' the next surfer in. It's ingenious, it is so simple, but it creates so much drama.

Western Springs College, running their last surfer in...and they made it!

To catch a decent scoring wave, then get in to give your fellow team mates enough time, as teams do get point penalised if all the whole team is not back in the box at the end hooter. There are all sorts of strategies and fluidity is needed. For example a clever plan would be for 4 of the team to catch ok scoring waves, but fast, giving their key surfer more time to find that bomb. But what if your key surfer bombs, what if one of your team gets caught in a rip for half the heat. Well, shit gets crazy. The young surfers have to operate as a team, it changes the dynamic of a Surf Comp completely. Ironically the inaugural Schools Tag Team, was No Tag [hence me getting to be able to reference the mighty No Tag band] SNZ took mercy on the grommets, because of the huge paddle out and in at Mud Bay it was deemed the surfer in the water could signal their intent to paddle in. The next team member would then do a beach start. Anyhow, it was a sick two days up at the Bay, the groms had so much fun. The Surfing New Zealand photo gallery of my images is HERE more to be added I think too.

And here are some of my favourites from the Bay ....

Yeah Greenbay Gurls... how lucky are you to have Ms Jolly as your PE teacher!

The WASSA! Whangamata Area School Surfing Academy .... yep saying Wassa is way easier

That guy hamming it up in the Wassa crew shot is this guy, coach Rungi Ormand

New Plymouth Boys High, just getting back to the box in time- happy days

Meanwhile, adjacent to the comp peak, Kanaiya Webb

The best coffee deliverer in the Bay, Master Mikey Phillips, stoked on the catch ups bro!

FROM THE BOOK STORE

One of the constant slow burners is not a book, it's the second incarnation of the NZ Line-Up Print Sets.

Sub Pacific / March 13, 2024 by craig levers

Yess! The latest issue of **Submachine Magazine**

..and there's a 8 page feature of PhotoCPL images in it!

And deeennn, virtually on Pacific Longboarder; a nice wrap up of the 10th Annual Loggerheads

Sadly there is no surf magazine in New Zealand anymore. We have a rich history of surf publications dating back to the 1960's. At the height of print we had two bi-monthly glossy titles, New Zealand Surfing Magazine and Kiwi Surf Magazine both successfully vying for readership and lucrative advertising dollars. They came out in alternate months, so effectively the NZ Surfer had a monthly hit of stoke. I was a part of this era, for 15 years I lived and breathed surf print creation. I worked for NZ Surfing Mag, starting as the advertising manager and staff photog, working my way up to Editorial Director/Senior Photographer. I loved my job. Fellow NZ surfers are always surprised at just how un-surfing the job was. They saw the glam side, which was less than 40% of the actual job, the photoshoots and travel. The other 60% + was story creation/curation, photo editing/selection, contributor wrangling, overseeing all aspects of production [design and layout, print runs and press passes], distribution, merchandising and marketing. When I left the magazine in 2008 we had an audited readership of 119,000 + readers per issue. But all that means very little now. It's not sad because I don't work for a surf mag anymore; it's sad because that lineage of print is broken. While I've done my time, I firmly believe there is space for some sort of NZ Surf Print to still exist, maybe even thrive.

Photographs are meant to be printed. A screen compresses and flattens the detail, to give you a guide; a digital photo is taken at 45 megapixels, then to get it down to screen resolution we have to sheer out 7/8ths of that information. The images above- they are under 1/8 the quality of the original file. It's quite shocking aye. I'd argue that online reading is the same, the articles we read online are grazings of the bigger picture, we consume soundbites. The printed image and word tended to be in-depth, long form, whereas online we know less about more stuff.

For print, television [live broadcasting] was always lorded as being what would kill magazines. It didn't, it never could, magazines were able to delve into being pieces of art themselves, kudos to our graphic designers. The inter web is killing both. Again it's super sad to see the axing of TV3's News Hub and the dicing of TVNZ's News Departments. It leaves the Kiwi Fourth Estate in tatters. Of course there are friends that would proclaim both these entities, and all mainstream media, are simply mouthpieces for governments, a hard claim to refute considering what's going on Gaza currently. Even so, there are journalists that were passionate about the independence of the Fourth Estate, that, did indeed hold politicians and corporations to account, that now sadly have fewer and narrower means to communicate that.

Jeez, that's a rant, simply brought on by getting a dozen images published- sorry.

FROM THE BOOK STORE

And me? Well, I'm highly evolved, I make books, since 2008 there have been 11 NZ Surf/Beach books made and reprinted. 2024 sees our most ambitious title being made, but I'm not allowed to talk about that- just yet. One of the constant slow burners is not a book, it's the second incarnation of the NZ Line-Up Print Sets.

East, and the swell that kept coming / February 28, 2024 by craig levers

I remember talking to Pete Morse [RIP] about swells off the back of a High Pressure System. I never got it, still don't, but accepted it was a thing. For fourteen glorious days the east coast's glorious swell run. The best possible version of ground hog days, 2-3 foot glassy walls every dawny, the sea breeze signalling time for second breakfast. Repeat.

20 years a part! Both are available for print, just click on the image to check out the options.

There was work done too, the best sort. You can check out the Billabong/Oceanbridge Whangamata Grom Comp photos on Facebook HERE

And then the Surfline Feature HERE pretty stoked on that run of images.

Then there were Pano's made:

This one is now available in the Beaches Gallery for print HERE

And so is this one HERE

The latter is probably the banger. They both look better on the website, but even better high res, frothing on the detail in both.

Surfed out, memory cards filled with goodness, and a couple of new sea ulcers formed. 17 hours of water time. And time to turn the back on the East and head home to the West for the final event it the Billabong/Oceanbridge Grom Series at Piha. Those photos are on the SNZ Facebook page HERE oh and HERE

FROM THE GALLERIES

No surprises for guessing which was the runaway hit for 2023, this guy, Day of Days.... print of prints. Such an incredible swell and sand event to be a part of. You can view it and look at print options HERE

Far and Near North / January 24, 2024 by craig levers

oooossh somebody [me] has been getting their pano game back on

It has been a minute aye! And unapologetically so, January is holiday month in Aotearoa. I love that you can't get anything done in January, plan for it, roll with it, celebrate it. The gorgeous Ange and I did. After recovering from hosting family Christmas we spent 12 glorious days in the camper, in the Far Far North. Ironically it's with half of Piha, again something to celebrate, far from home but with your mates and neighbours. Normally it's a hard out surf camp, there's always waves in the FFN. Not so much this time, onshores on the east, a few quality days on the west but then a jump in the swell that overpowered the 90 Mile Beachies. It was all alright though, late nights under canvas solving the world's problems, back to back to back midnighters. Good times.

First session with the new rig- went good

But before that, the new water-housing set up had to be tested, sea trials. I'm on to my 12th water-housing spanning 30 years of shooting from the water [farrrk, 30 years. How'd I get here!!! ]. You'd hope by now I'd know what I'm doing. The sea trials were needed, nothing dramatic like springing a leak, but I needed to tweak the ergonomics. Swapping the big and little handle around and then finally pissing the little handle off altogether, and laughing at myself for buying all the bells and whistles, then negating half of them.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more dedicated surfer than Scott Casey, lives and breathes the stuff

Ohhh, maybe this guy though! Mootie Bedford the OG frother

There's a accidental trend here, Brendan Shadbolt, the quiet long player, probably already up to the 5th hour of water time this day

Generation next, Piha grub Rio Bidois, happily helping me figure out the new toy...wait tool, it's a work tool, not having fun, no, all work here

Nigel Hunt... probably not quite realising he was a sea trial at this very point

The 3rd generation of Joyce surfers in the Piha line up- how cool!

Oh yes, Te Troopy in its natural environ

Got two days of this guy with just the lads out

A few banks there to poke a stick at I reckon

And then goodbye to the FFN and down to the Near North for work

The 10th edition of the Logger Heads was on, my first gig for the year and always a firm favourite. The founder and organiser Tony Baker has always strived to make the long boarding weekend about the vibes as much as the contest. I've prattled on about this before, but it really is the case.

Tony Baker, probably stressing about the million details that need attention. But having fun and making a space for catch ups, laughs and endless good banter.

No contest cloistering in cars here! There's too much chat to be had

The sort of turn that saw Matt Newdick win his second Logger Head open title in the weekend, he took out the old mal division too

But not without the Open National Champ, Jack Tyro, keeping him honest. Jack was a busy lad, Finalist in the Old Mal, the Open and the Juniors, he had to settle with a Junior win, it has to be noted that there was less than a point in the Open Final between first and fourth- it was an epic final

Speaking of multiple division entrants; Hawaii's Megan McHale kept busy all weekend running through the Old Mal and Wahine heats, eventually taking out the Wahine Title with long fives

...and deeeeeen ... a wait, a swing and honestly a bit of a miss. Big Mangawhai Bar at the peak of this week's east swell, and probably too big for the swell direction. Always worth a crack though.

It was epic to spend 11 nights in the Troopy, it never missed a beat. We had the heat, we had rain. Home is good, good to plan the next trip!

FROM THE GALLERIES

Last Call / December 6, 2023 by craig levers

Here we are firmly in the tail end of 2023, pretty sure we are all starting to focus on the work wrap up, the Christmas organising and then the light at the end of the tunnel... HOLIDAYS!!!!

But before the hol's, you have to get through gift giving and getting, food comas and probably an accidental hangover or 3. I can't help with comas and toxic poisoning, but I can with that gifting and giving bit. You may not know this but PhotoCPL makes books. There's been a few made since 2008, 11 plus reprints and side projects like Notecard Sets and Print Sets

The books are sold nationwide through bookshops chains like Paper Plus and Whitchouls, independents and giftware stores like the Poi Room and Haus, Flo and Frankie etc. And of course surf shops, Backdoor, North Beach, Amazon and the grassroots family owned locals like Raglan Surf co, Whangamata Surf, Salt Air. Distribution is EVERYTHING. Online, direct is always growing- it's good. One crystal clear trend with all the books and print sets across all sales methods, it is the women in your lives doing the buying and gifting. Here's my request, if you think a book or a print set would solve that Auntie's problem of what to get you for Chrissy- share this page.

This year the Surf Print Set concept was revisited and evolved; a showcase of 10 prints of idyllic Kiwi Line Ups and waves. There isn't an attempt to be regionally diverse and cover the country, there isn't even a Raglan photo. I've stuck to my best images, the proven sellers in the PhotoCPL Waves Gallery . 10 prints, ready to be mounted into 8 x 10 pre-made frames, like the inexpensive frames you can buy from the Warehouse or K-mart. And they retail at $34.95 for the pack...under $3.50 a print.

And DEEEEEEN....

The 3rd print of The Big Little Beach Book has also landed and in stores. Stoked on this little tacker, the A5 landscape, 200+ page nugget has achieved and surpassed its goals....I mean 3rd printing, that's pretty cool. Bit of a sidebar, I put QR codes to all the beaches in the original layout of the book, who would have known QR codes would have become so part of day to day. That PhotoCPL Media - ahead of the curve.

It also retails at $34.95. Both are available through the links littered through the post and both have free shipping nationwide for December.

FROM THE GALLERIES

No surprises for guessing which was the runaway hit for 2023, it's featured in the new Print set above too. But this guy, Day of Days.... print of prints. Such an incredible swell and sand event to be a part of. You can view it and look at print options HERE

Swell Dump / November 29, 2023 by craig levers

Lines stretching and bending under friction

Expectations were high for last week's swell, with a period starting at 22 seconds, later degrading to 18 seconds, it was looking like the Point swell of the season. It didn't pan out like that, but it sure got hyped. It was a beautiful swell, of course there were moments of pumpingness. That's a new word by the way, working on getting it added to the Oxford. But it was fleeting, and the stinger; probably around 10pm-midnight would have the perfect combination of swell peak and tide.

Surfers aye; if we've made the effort to skive off work or school, we are hardly likely to downplay the actual merits of a swell event. In fact, it would be shrewder of me to keep the hype-beast going.... CPL's best Ledge images in 15 years! [they actually are] etc etc. We still, collectively, love to gloat about sessions, the old turnip 'orrr maaaaate, ya should've seen it yesterday.' [I fucking hate that phrase btw] The point being, seldom is said, 'yeah bro, it was good, but you know, probably not the best ever.'

The Ledge, pretty, pretty fricken throaty

The real deal was, it was a small window of only a few tides, and that window peaked in the dead of night. It was pumping, but niggly, long waits between sets and a hungry pack. If you weren't there, there'll be better days, still there were some glorious moments.

King of the Point. Raglan royalty and rider of every surf vehicle ever invented, Dan Kereopa

Kora Cooper wrestling a bronco, this shot was used on the Surfline swell feature **HERE**

Same wave; Kora reckons he waited 30 minutes for this wave, for one to hit the Ledge just right... fair to say his selection process is pretty good

Caleb Cutmore on one that's clearly going to clip the photog

Tana Clapham will always find the hollow escapes

Campbell McKegg .... still can't actually believe he has the most perfect surname for a surfer

Tom Billington .... ok shall we be verbose and go for - 'in a fiery sea' ...nah, but the sunset was pretty sick, everyone was stoking on being in the water to enjoy it

Post sunset and getting real low on the shutter speed to compensate, hence being all arty speed blurry. I was surprised and very stoked Surfline ran with and featured this shot of 13 year old Xander Banks

Same wave and maybe sitting in the not blurry enough department???

Xander still frothed on the evening prior

Billy and the morning after; still bloody pumping, but buttoned off swell

Billy Stairmand ... and really hoping that's a Movember situation Bill!

Yeah JP! As always stoked to share the line up with ya brother... wait you don't follow JP? He's on Insty **HERE**

Tai Murphy and another shot that featured on the Surfline post, but...

Luke Dymond fins free, free period. You wouldn't be wagging would you Melon?

FROM THE BOOK SHOP

These are becoming very popular! Stoked. The new print set of 10 NZ line ups and waves is a great wee stocking filler at $35.00 ... and free postage nationwide. Start sowing the seeds fellas! You need this for Christmas. Check them out in more detail HERE

Positive Vibes and the best hangover / November 22, 2023 by craig levers

What a bunch of fine specimens, NZ's best surfers assembled for the Integrated Training workshop, spearheaded by Surfing New Zealand with funding from the Olympic Committee

This shouldn't be a tough post to write, there's so many positive angles to take: SNZ's championing and execution of elite athlete development. The fact that the Olympic Committee funded the workshop. That the workshop was conducted by one of my close mates Woody [and Emma of course] - That their business and their vision is thriving. Oh, that another close mate Jemarl Paerata's business, Te Kaiarahi was also involved and clearly delivering and nailing his objectives. That I got to witness, document, and somehow be amalgamated into such an amazing two days with all these top notch humans, yes even the surfers were OK. That's a joke, they all were fucking awesome. Frothed to learn, eager to embrace new skills, good, keen people.

Dave Wood holding court, explaining the fundamentals of calm under pressure before putting the theory into practice

So many threads of goodness. Because this isn't the platform to go too deep, that is all going to get glossed over- sorry. In part, I even question if it's my place to comment. Cleary from the tone, you'll be picking up the workshop was a runaway success from all accounts. Here's some of my favourite images from a hectic and hugely satisfying 48 hours.