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…

Vans us open of surfing what youth scott chenoweth

What a difference a day makes Collected Thoughts 051

Today marks one of my favorite days of the year: the end of the Vans US Open. It’s the first sign of many things that I love as a newly transplanted Huntington Beach resident. The crowds will soon dissipate, vacationers will retreat back to their beloved homes, kids will soon again be scribbling waves in…

Arto Saari shooting perter ramondetta for what youth by scott chenoweth the copenhagen project

Arto Saari shooting Peter Ramondetta in Copenhagen Collected Thoughts 050

So you may be wondering: just what the hell are we doing in Copenhagen? And we’ll have you know that that is no longer something we ask ourselves. It’s more a question of: why haven’t we been here sooner — and more often? I was just talking to a new friend who is one of…

Arto Saari the copenhagen project what youth

Arto Saari and Dion Agius in Copenhagen, Denmark Collected Thoughts 049

You ride bikes in Copenhagen. It’s just what you do. And last night, not 20 minutes off the plane we were straight into it. Hugging the back tire of Arto Saari, our guide and photographer for the trip, our rapidly growing crew navigated the stunning and pictureque streets of downtown Copenhagen, trying to get a…

kolohe andino signing what youth issue 2

Win a signed copy of What Youth Issue 2 Featuring Kolohe Andino Collected Thoughts 048

Since today’s contest is over now, and we’re all out of signed copies, Kolohe requested that we shout him out and tell everyone that he systematically smoked those of us not in France at a game of S-K-A -T-E yesterday. He’s got a mean variel flip and big spin that is tough to beat. Kolohe…

Noa Deane in france for this is us france what youth surfing

Noa Deane in France filming for This is Us: France Collected Thoughts 047

Today was one of the weirdest days of filming ever. Fun. Sick vibes. But after a couple days of shredding we realized it’s going to get really flat later this week. We drove everywhere looking for waves this morning without much luck. Then the dice came out. The Doors. Pond. Iggy. A carton of Kronenberg,…

Kai Neville France what youth

Kai Neville in Paris, France, July 3, 2013 Collected Thoughts 046

We went to Paris a bit early to prepare for the upcoming This is Us: France trip and shop for camera gear. We spent all afternoon in several camera stores in the Canal District, on Le Republic Ave. Wild European camera stores here, stocked to the gills with film and antique cameras. We loaded up…

Austyn Gillette fairly normal collected thought what youth skateboarding

Austyn Gillette at home in Los Angeles, California Collected Thoughts 045

We went to Austyn Gillette’s house this week. And for those of you who haven’t met him, the two best places to start would be here, his section for Habitat, and then in what is probably one of our favorite short films of the year, a collab shot across and amongst the streets of Los…

Craig Anderson slow dance what youth

Slow Dance is a wrap and it has a new trailer Collected Thoughts 044

Dane Reynolds and Craig Anderson recently bolted on a surf trip after handing over the hard drive of Craig’s new surf film Slow Dance. They released a new trailer, which you can see here, and a page of wild imagery and vids here which should keep you occupied until the film premieres in Huntington Beach…

Warren smith collected thoughts what youth

Warren Smith describes what happens when Dion Agius is the boss Collected Thoughts 043

Dion Agius is a boss. Like really, he’s our boss. Like a really sexy, handsome boss. And bosses can really fuck shit up sometimes. He’s been punching his keyboard faster than Goro from Mortal Combat, planning every twist and turn of this trip for nine people, from villas and flights to dinners and motorbikes. But…

Shane Oneil what youth skateboarding

Shane O’Neill at Arto Saari’s house Collected Thoughts 042

Shane O’Neill has been on a surf trip before…sorta. “I went to Malaysia with Julian Wilson once,” he told us the other day at Arto Saari’s house. And for those who don’t know him, he’s considered to be one of the most technical street skaters in the world and recently competed against Paul Rodriguez in…

Craig Andersone Mark Occilupo Occy South Coast surfing what youth

Craig Anderson and Occy, filming for Slow Dance, South Coast Collected Thoughts 041

“Those boys have some epic tales…” said Craig of his recent trip to the South Coast of Australia with Occy and Matt Hoy. Later this week we’ll dig into some of those tales and begin chronicaling the final few months before Craig releases his new film, Slow Dance, which will be released this summer. Craig…

Sam Nolan for What Youth Issue 4

What Youth Issue 4 Is currently being finished Collected Thoughts 040

PHOTO: Sam Nolan During our stay in Australia this year, we linked up with photographer Sam Nolan from Byron Bay to shoot very fashionable photos with very sexy Australian girls. Amid the human mosh pit that takes residency on the Gold Coast during the Quiksilver Pro, we managed to slip into a dive of a…

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