NXT 
Looking at this photo, it seems like so long ago. John John was this young, long haired blonde kid who surfed Pipe. I remember seeing him paddling out in pretty big conditions and thinking that he was going to drown. But he didn’t. And then he caught one of those big waves. But that’s all he did, right? Because for the longest time, very few people thought he would grow into anything more than a Pipe specialist. And while Kolohe was getting all the attention, John John kept surfing and slowly started to show people what he could do outside of Hawaii. Vans boat trips and Lost Atlas alley oops. O’Neill turned to Hurley, and after a while everyone had forgotten that John John was 14 for five years. —Nate Lawrence
John John Florence, 14 for Five years Collected Thoughts 124
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Bali Boys in Hawaii Collected Thoughts 087
“This is a photo of the Bali Boys in Hawaii almost a decade ago. They always had a good connection with the Hawaiians because in the summer all the Hawaiians would come get barreled in Indo. This photo was shot at Kahea Hart’s house where a lot of them stayed. I think most of the…
Luke Stedman, Fa Empel, Taj Burrow and Sam Macintosh in Indonesia Collected Thoughts 086
“Luke Stedmen, Fa Empel, Taj Burrow and Sam Macintosh [Founder of Stab]. We were on our way back from the Mentawai Islands on a charter boat and we weren’t going make our flight in time. So the five of us had to get up at 4 a.m., load all our stuff on the dinghy and drive on…
Go way back with Nat Young, Alana Blanchard and Kolohe Andino Collected Thoughts 085
“This photo brings so much joy to my face. It was shot in the middle of the Indian Ocean during a perfect week of waves. I was shooting some portraits of the 3 Americans and then all of a sudden Kolohe went for this pose and created one of the best photos from the entire…
Pete Mel in Santa Cruz Collected Thoughts 084
“Pete Mel is a fucking boss. He’s one of my favorite humans ever. I shot this photo of him in front of his house when he lived in Santa Cruz. This was one of his favorite boards to surf Maverick’s on. And Pete was one of the original guys from Santa Cruz to really tackle…
How in the hell did we surf in baggy trunks? Collected Thoughts 083
“The only reason you are looking at this photo is to see the length of the boardshorts that we all used to surf in. How in the hell did we do it?” —Nate Lawrence
Dane Reynolds in Santa Cruz Collected Thoughts 082
“I think Dane was in Santa Cruz for the Cold Water Classic this year. The weather was warm and the waves were nonstop that year. I remember being so excited because Dane Reynolds was coming to my home town. I got to show him a few spots around town and a few times my friends…
Mark Healey and Jesse Merle Jones Collected Thoughts 081
Healey and Merle. How good are these two humans! This photo was taken during my first real season spending time on the North Shore for Surfing Magazine. I wanted to photograph people in their homes and not the “team houses”. I liked each adventure of finding the house or room or tent that guys were…
Gavin Beschen backside Collected Thoughts 080
Yep that’s a DVS sticker on Gavin’s board. This photo was shot almost 9 years ago, and not much has changed. Gavin is still shredding just about as hard as anyone and with the smoothest style.—Nate Lawrence
Chris Ward, Padang Collected Thoughts 079
Editor’s note: Scotty Hammonds is from Encinitas, CA and probably surfs better than a lot of the people he shoots photos of. I like when that happens. Nate Lawrence does the same to people. Anyway, Scotty’s been floating around and living in Bali the past few years, shooting and surfing and he recently linked up…
Tom Curren in France Collected Thoughts 078
Tom Curren in France during a warm September day surfing La Graviere. What else could you ask for? The sandbar this year was so perfect. It was 10 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. I drove up the coast from Biarritz with Luke Stedman and it was perfect offshore and barreling…
Dane Reynolds and Jamie O’Brien, Canada, 2006 Collected Thoughts 077
I can almost guarantee you’ll never see this happen again. Dane getting towed behind a Jet Ski with Jamie O driving. In a river. With a waterfall behind them. In Canada. I think that’s Chris Burkard shooting in the foreground, can’t remember. His angle captures a moose drinking water from the river with the northern…
Remember Ghost Tree? Collected Thoughts 076
Remember Ghost Tree? And Mouse Rock? What happened to the two most photogenic slabs in California? Well, people found out that jet ski’s were cheating and to be a professional big-wave surfer you needed to pull out a big board and paddle in with your two arms. In the early 2000’s, a purple blob with…
