Cardiff statue gets a new look

Defacing the Cardiff Statue has been going on for quite some time.  Whosever idea it was to create this thing definitely doesn't surf and has been witness to more than there fair share of abuse from creating this oversized statue.  I could care less whether it is there or not.  I think its funny how creative some people get and go out of there way to mess with it.  With Halloween being one of my favorite Holidays it is only natural for me to share this with you...

I title this "The Cardiff Tow In"

Enjoy.

Skinny jeans and Vans in Alaska

Who would have thought that within less than 48 hours of sipping wine on the southern beaches in france with nothing but a pair of trunks on I would be stepping onto the moisture rich (code for a lot of rain) soil of Alaska.  Come to think of it, this was the first surf trip I had done outside of California that I needed more than a spring suit in as long as I could remember.  Man that makes me sound spoiled.  I'll tell you what though, I have never appreciated surfing in trunks as much as I did the minute I stepped off that plane.  Being from Southern California definately has its advantages, that is, until your camera and your next photo assignment fly's you to one of the most northern parts of the world to go surfing.  My lack of rain, weather, and all around warm clothing made this trip unique to say the least.  As we gathered our belongings and made sure all the boards made I realized that not only was I one of the two people in the entire place not wearing wading boots, my so-called "jacket" was actually a shell.  So here I am, no real winter clothes, no rubber boots, tons of rain, and a week ahead of me.  This is going to be fun!  Luckily Ashley (aka Mom) our host and guide for this next week had planned for this and had us ready to rock and had laid out the red carpet for us.  Alaska Brewing Co and Surfing Magazine teamed up along with coastalcode.com to entertain Joe "bud" Curren, Chris "skinny jeans" Del Moro and 4 lucky contestants who entered essays into a competition to win a free trip to surf with the boys and help spread the word on being environmentally conscience.  Our days were filled with Zip-lining, wakeboarding, surfing, helicopter landings on glaciers, eating fresh snow, drinking warm coffee, and my personal favorite the Winter Ale (it has hints of spruce in it).  Look for our story to come out in an upcoming issue of Surfing Magazine to see all the cool stuff we got to check out and learn a new thing or two about how we can help the enviornment stay cleaner!

Matuse POP

After being lost in the woods, split up from the group, freezing in the rain, Chris Del Moro and I waded through knee deep water in our "skinny jeans" to find ourselves standing on the edge of the Dangerous River in Alaska.  With the site of Glaciers, Icebergs and the thought that we may never be in this situation again, we said f-it and thought it would be cool to see the icebergs a bit closer up.  We both decided it would be a good idea to jump in the 36 degree water and get a closer look!  I owe a HUGE thank you to the boys at Matuse for putting me in a new 5/4/3 hooded suit to keep me warm while swimming and shooting.  Also, for those of you who have never stood on an iceberg before, BE CAREFUL!  They are slippery and I fell on my ass twice..hahaha

Follow the Light Foundation writeup on Surfingthemag.com

The kind folks at Surfing Magazine posted a web gallery of some of their images from the night of the event and a story about myself and the foundation banquet.  If you have a free minute jump on over to this link:

http://www.surfingthemag.com/surfing-photo-video/surfing-photo-dept/todd-glaser-wind-the-2009-follow-the-light-foundation-grant-101708/

Follow the Light Foundation 2008

Last night I was honored with taking home the award for the 2008 Follow the Light Foundation. I am still not too sure what to say, it came to a surprise to me and am very thankful and honored to those who I got to share the evening with. Among the group of fellow photographers in the competition were a lot of close friends who made the evening that much more special. I would like to thank the Surfing Heritage Foundation and the Follow the Light Foundation in addition to all of the people who put a lot of time, heart, and soul into this event. I will not let you down!


This gallery is brought to you by surfingthemag.com


Below is a link with photos from the event and a writeup on surfline.com...

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/five-finalists-raise-surf-photography-bar-at-third-annual-awards-dinner-follow-the-light-foundation-winner-200_19448/photos/1/

"Shoot everything"

I was invited to go document the Nixon team as they surfed, partied, and held there annual contest in San Sebastian for the last 2 weeks. The last words that came out of Chris Cote's mouth when I was leaving with the magazines 600 was to "shoot everything." I had never been to either of those countries and with fresh eyes and a crew consisting of Dusty Payne, Cheyne Magnusson, Ricky Whitlock, Casey Brown, Cj Kanuha, Brandon Lillard and NY Mike. I shot. A camera never left my hand. The trip had more twists, turns, ups and downs than any other I had been on and should make for an interesting story coming out soon! I owe a big thank you to New York Mike and Brandon Lillard from Nixon, and the boys at Transworld Surf for choosing me to shoot it. Thanks for all the good times Europe and for Air France and Delta for having the worst flights home in my life.

Double N stands for Nick Name...

Nicknames to the aussies are a rights of passage. Without nicknames and there quick sense of humor we would be left pronunciating every vowel and consinent in every person we interacted with. Where they come from and how they think of them is a secret that I sure as hell don't know the answer to. It was first brought to my attention when I was getting a phone number. 8226 isn't pronounced eight-two-two-six, it is simply reffered to as eight double-two six. Maybe its there love of beer, or there constant heckling of one another, either way there a classic group of characters that I have become friends with over the years. This last week I had the pleasure of tracking down waves through the jungles of Central America with the Kieren, Purcho, Jamahl, and Jesse from Rhythm Clothing and Chris Del Moro. The boys had us laughing nonstop the whole time. Within the first few minutes of the trip we were all going by names that at times had nothing to do with our original ones, but were funny none the less. The captain of our boat (and by boat I mean ponga) was first called el capitan, before the smooth transition into Captian Morgan, than just Morgan, and finally Morgs. To be perfectly honest I couldn't tell you his birth given name, but he was psyched. The rest of the cast and crew from our little adventure will simply be reffered to as "old mate." We found some fun waves, had more than our share of laughs, saw an amazing country, and made some new mates. A big thank you goes out to Jamahl and the rest of the crew at Rhythm for bringing me out to shoot and share in the good times!

dirt, wind, more dirt, and no shade

Another last minute trip came up hours before we left to chase down a hurricane that was brewing off the coast of baja. I'd rather not speak too much about where we went except for the fact that there was a lack of shade, no wind protection, hours of driving, and the occasional wave. This mission was like no other I had experienced. Hours and hours of driving, boat rides, and more seagulls than I had ever seen. They would surround us and swoop in at any given moment, not to mention shit on everything. They were straight out of the movie "Birds." I got chased out of the water twice by a sea lion that made an RV look small. The book I brought was done in the first two days and the comfort cookies I brought went just as quick. Since deciding to leave this place I have slept 10 hours in 4 days. I don't know what's going on. So basically I am rambling by now and this is where I begin to sum the trip up. Pack up car, drive too many hours, take a boat, sit in the dirt, surf, shoot photos, sit some more, shoot some more, surf again, more sitting in the dirt, apply sunblock, drink water, eat food, sleep, shoot, surf, sit, shit, surf, sleep, stuff, surf, dig holes, set shit on fire, get sunburned, eat more, surf again, drive more, get the film developed, spend hours going through images, and now ladies and gentleman post this blog. I have never been happier to be back in America. *exhale*

Some Friends

Ryan Perry's second film "Some Friends" is being premiered in Santa Barbara on the 24th of July. If you are around, come check it out! The cover of the DVD and poster is a shot I took last year while filming the movie of one of the main characters (do surf movies have characters? either way our good friend...) Bummy.

what a day, what a night, what a weekend.

It all started with a harmless text to a friend. the response was random, unique, and well, lets just say wasn't the response I was looking for. It said "you wanna go to san fran" I replied with a "when?" this is where it gets good..."now!" My plans of having a mellow night at Jon Steeles art show in Solana Beach turned into an all night drive with myself and 3 friends that apparently are just as crazy as the next. Our departure time was 10pm a couple of coffee cups later, a few ipod mixes and before we knew it we were crossing the bay bridge at sunrise. Our mission was to have no mission and enjoy the day for the day and the night for the night. We went all over the city, up and down streets, lombard st., the pier, the market, met aussies, met americans, ate chowder by breadbowl, saw alcatraz, sat in traffic, watched hippys be hippy's, saw more pushbikes on haight street, ate epic food, drank tequila, stumbled across dancefloors, went to underground nighclubs, watched a few movies, and made it back to SD within 48 hours. what a trip, what a time, until we do it again....we will remember this one for ahwhile!