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

Have Surf Magazines Lost their Minds? Collected Thoughts 109

what youth collected thoughts colin moran nate lawrence

Have surf magazines lost their minds?

First off, surf photographers have always been creepy people. Writers, not much better. But it seems in my years dealing with surf magazines that the people in charge are usually pretty turned on. They know how to make a very selfish sport look fun and inviting. I always looked up to the people who put together the magazines. And seeing my name in print was always the driving force for doing this job. Transiting in some overseas airport and seeing an image of mine in Surfing Magazine was such a high.

But this week scared me after I saw two things. First off, Surfing Magazine published a photo of a skim boarder. I know there’s a lot of crazy things happening in this world but I never thought Surfing Magazine, the leaders in performance surfing, would ever run a photo of someone skim-boarding. They don’t even run photos of people long-boarding; Joel Tudor can attest to that. But I can live with that one. Maybe they’re changing their look.

What I can’t live with is something Surfer Magazine did. First I saw a great photo that Ryan “Chachi” Craig took in Santa Cruz of Nat Young bottom turning at The Lane. He posted it on his social media and I thought, “Damn, I would have saved that for print.”
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The next day Nat reposted it on his social media.

Then 12 hours after that, Surfer Magazine re-reposted the photo.

Now most of you might be thinking right now, “Who fucking cares?” But to me this is crazy. What happened to the surf magazines? Surfer Magazine is the bible of the sport! They should be publishing photos that no one has seen before, not re-reposting. Their staff photographers (Chachi is on staff) should be submitting images and not letting anyone else see them first. A+ photos should still be saved for print before posting on social media. Surf magazines should matter!

Critics will say I’m too old (34) and out of touch with the way things are these days. And I am. I hate Instagram. I haven’t had Facebook in 5 years. Never had Twitter. I’m NOT doing this job for people to see my images on a little screen. I’m not doing this job to get more followers. I’m doing this job because I still get that high when I see and hold and smell a magazine that has my image in it. So I’d like for the magazines out there to put their foot down and demand respect from photographers. Set an example and make magazines king again! —Nate Lawrence

P.S. I know we suck as well…

Collected thoughts what youth andy irons nate lawrence photography

Andy Irons in Bali filming for Trilogy Collected Thoughts 075

Editor’s Note: Nate Lawrence is the youngest of us all. Maybe not in age, but it in life and youth, he wins. You should see his eyes light up around our mini ramp. Our when there’s a Desert Point swell. Or when Japan starts sucking in a Typhoon…he’s a full-on grommet. And while he’s still…

dane reynolds jamie obrein what youth canada surfing

Dane Reynolds and Jamie O’Brien, Canada 2006 Collected Thoughts 074

It was most obvious when we were driving in the car. The drive was long from the ferry to our remote and tucked away tree house. Unending wilderness buzzed by and Nelly Furtado blared. Jamie-O sat shotgun armed with an iPod and USB access in the rental. Dane was in the backseat, unfazed and smirking at the…

Ishod Wair copenhagen what youth arto saari skateboarding

Ishod Wair at Circus Circus in Copenhagen Collected Thoughts 073

Ishod Wair at Circus Circus in Copenhagen shot by Arto Saari

curren caples shot by arto saari in sweeden what youth skateboarding

Curren Caples kickflip in Sweeden Collected Thoughts 072

Arto Saari photographs Curren Caples in Sweden.

collected thoughts dane reynolds dion agius craig anderson what youth france

Dion, Dane and Craig check the Cluster tapes in France Collected Thoughts 071

This is a photo of Dion, Dane, Craig and Bez (Beren Hall) watching some clips after a long morning of shredding at a very fun French beachbreak. I sometimes forget how easy photographers have it these days. And by “these days” I mean the motion picture or video era. You see, not too long ago…

Michel Bourez in France shot by Quinn Matthews What Youth

Morning conversation with Michel Bourez Collected Thoughts 070

I pulled into the Quiksilver Pro Athlete parking lot just behind Michel. As we got close to the front, me and Brandon Guilmette watched him turn the corner hoping for front row parking. We decided not to test our luck and parked at the closest visible spot. Sure enough Michel reversed passed us, in his…

And then we went to France Collected Thoughts 069

Editor’s note: We bought Quinn a ticket to France Sunday, right in the face of an Air France strike, making our purchase more expensive than we’d like, but the show must go on and the youth must run and Quinn must experience. Since then he’s landed in France. He’s hanging with the Hurley crew, waiting…

Gabriel Medina 2014 Hurley Lowers Pro

Gabriel Medina in a Locker Room Collected Thoughts 068

Gabriel Medina…in a locker room?

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Surfers and skaters have had a pretty volatile relationship over the years. They’re too dirty and bloody. We’re too jocky and wear too much aloha. And vice versa and yadayadayada. And it wasn’t until recently, when we all started hanging out, that a lot of the same things they hated about surfing were the same…

Creed McTaggart Noa Deane dion agius on the cluster boat trip indonesia what youth surfing

Creed McTaggart, Dion Agius and Noa Deane, morning tea on the cluster boat trip Collected Thoughts 066

We were mostly looking for launch ramps, but sometimes the path to ramps leads you into empty pits and we’d be lying if looking at this bomb out the back didn’t excite us. Although, while most of the boys watched the top shop pit across the reef, Noa Deane couldn’t take his eyes off the…

Arto Saari Copenhagen what youth

Denmark is on the Itinerary Collected Thoughts 065

We write to you sitting next to a document. It is confidential as of now, but it looks cool and it’s filled with potential. Like a jelly donut. During the month of July, we’ll be on the move. A lot. Tackling an itinerary that even our roster of seasoned and experienced travelers outwardly say they…

Kolohe Andino Luke Davis Indonesia boat trip what youth

Kolohe Andino and Luke Davis, LAX Collected Thoughts 064

It was pretty funny to watch these two — along with Ian Crane and Tanner Rozunko — all realize that after all these years growing up together and surfing that they’d never done a big trip together like this. Let alone a trip with Taj Burrow, on a boat for a week. It hit them…

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