Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

On the set of What Youth and Reef’s new film Anything Sing Collected Thoughts 035

Anything Sing crew What Youth

PHOTO: Lawrence

We were worried. We hadn’t had any communication from What Youth photographer Nate Lawrence since he said he would call from Marrakech. We began to think the waves never showed and the boys resorted to the local tea and hookah shops for salvation. But then we thought how could the swell that produced a 100-foot wave (that never broke) and impressed Anderson fucking Cooper on CNN not reach them? They were right in the path! Finally this morning, the teaser photos arrived. Turns out the boys had been swell chasing all the while, working but then finally collapsed into a wild night of dancing in Northern Africa and were finally hungover enough to e-mail home. What they sent were teases of perfect right handers, desert discos bathed in hookah smoke and bright lights featuring members of the Reef team including Luke Davis, Nick Rosza, Ford Archbold and Beau Foster. Most photos are of them absolutely tearing on glassy long walls and staring into the pit of dreamscapes like this. Their message home was littered with typos and exclamation points, the kind you use when you’re too busy living for the machine. So we no longer worry about them. Only that they will in fact come back when the swell is over. But, then again, would you?

Stay tuned as we reveal more from the filming of Anything Sing, a new film coming this spring from Reef and What Youth.

what youth collected thoughts nate lawrence indonesia

“Lucky Enough to be in the right place at the right time.” Collected Thoughts 099

If Nate Lawrence’s lens could talk…..Indonesia.   

what youth mason ho photography nate lawrence surfing bali

Be Like Mason Ho Collected Thoughts 098

“Why can’t everyone just be a little bit more like Mason Ho?” —Nate Lawrence

what youth surfing collected thoughts nate lawrence raph bruhwiler

Raph Bruhwiler, Canada 2011 Collected Thoughts 097

“Raph is amazing. Canada is amazing. This wave is amazing.  And drinking Iceburgs at Shelter is amazing” —Nate Lawrence

what youth collected thoughts mikey wright surfing pipeline

Mikey Wright, Pipeline 2014 Collected Thoughts 096

“In 2014 I only knew Mikey Wright as Owen’s little brother. Even though he was doing stuff like you see in this photo pretty consistently. Now Mikey is his own brand. He’s not Owen’s little brother anymore. The surfing he is doing is unique. It’s fresh. And pretty soon we could be referring to Owen…

what youth jordy smith surfing in indonesia

Jordy Smith, Indonesia, 2013 Collected Thoughts 095

“Jordy Smith, Indonesia 2013. Everything about this photo makes me want to pack up a bag and get back to this wave. I just hope there’s still no one out.” —Nate Lawrence

what youth kai neville nate lawrence indonesia

Kai Neville, Indonesia Collected Thoughts 094

“Kai Neville, Indonesia. The winds are light. The swell is picking up. The tank is full. It’s looking like a good time to be in Indonesia.” —Nate Lawrence

what youth collected thoughts

Kelia Moniz, Laura Enever and Monyca Eleogram Collected Thoughts 093

“Kelia Moniz, Laura Enever and Monyca Eleogram. Sunset Elementary. I shot this photo on the basketball courts on the North Shore of Hawaii back in 2012. Each has a different style on land and in the water. But all of the them seem to have fun no matter what they are doing.” —Nate Lawrence

What Youth Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson: “Cameo Mod” in Uluwatu April 2010 Collected Thoughts 092

“April, 2010. Craig had just debuted to the world for the first time in Modern Collective. He blew minds with his backside rotations in shark waters as the “Cameo Mod.” But we still had no idea who Craig was. Chas Smith and I hung with Craig for 2 weeks in Oz a few months after the…

what youth jordy smith surfing

Earth to Jordy…We want more of this. Collected Thoughts 091

Jordy, where’d you go? We wanna see more of this this year. Find good waves. Book those last minute flights. Get back at it. With the boys. Love, What Youth

what youth santa cruz nate lawrence collected thoughts

Santa Cruz, localism, kooks and me. Collected Thoughts 090

I recently made a mistake. I took a photo at a spot in Santa Cruz and posted it on our WY Instagram account. I didn’t name the spot, but I did say it was a wave that rarely breaks in Santa Cruz. And the photo tells exactly where the wave is. Then came the comments……

what youth taj burrow surfing nate lawrence

Taj Burrow always rules Collected Thoughts 089

Taj just released a rad little video online. It has waves in it that remind me of why I fell in love with Taj’s surfing. I can remember being a teenager and watching Sabotaj on VHS with my buddies. None of us had ever been to Australia. We had never even left Santa Cruz really….

what youth collected thoughts nate tyler santa cruz nate lawrence

Flash with Nate Tyler in Santa Cruz Collected Thoughts 088

With all the gimmicks and stunts that have gone down this year it makes me think back to the early 2000’s in Santa Cruz. It was the epicenter of smoke and mirror surfing. We’d either go pull into closeout barrels or use jet skis to whip into 2 foot waves with many of the guys…

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