Chris Del Moro LIVE on Surfline!

Surfline.com just released the newest feature I worked with them on Chris Del Moro.  2 weeks ago I spent the days in Chris's shadow documenting his every move and we came up with as the end result...

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/a-glimpse-into-the-world-of-the-leucadia-freesurfer-and-artist-a-day-in-the-life-chris-del-moro--surfline-san-_21265/

Hope you dig it,

Todd

tons o fun

It's been ahwhile since I last updated my blog and a lot has been going on since.  For the past few weeks the North Pacific has been generating swell after swell which has been great for Cali.  Derek Dunfee and I did a last minute strike upto Mavericks and was lucky enough to link in to what some are calling the best swell ever for paddling in.  The conditions were epic, the waves were pumping and the boys were rushing!  You can check an online gallery of a few of the images on Surfermag.com  

More about that later...

Before that swell, I was jamming around Cardiff shooting with Timmy Curran and Rob Machado as they filmed and shot photos for Josh Landans new film titled "Train."  We lucked into a week of pumping surf and epic conditions.  The film comes out in the spring of '09 and should be a sick one.  Look for a full feature on Surfline.com from there journey down here and in the book they are making alongside the book.  

The Present

After the Nor-cal mission I went to SD to turn around and jam upto SB to hang with some friends and go surf the most crowded waves I had ever seen.  Fortunately the stormriders were out in full force so changing at the beach wasn't even an option.  Wetsuits on, in the car, and ready to rip the minute we get there.  no need to lurk in the parking lot trying to find a towel when you put the suit on in the comfort of your own home..haha

This week I have been shooting a couple of features for Surfline San Diego which include a Derek Dunfee Profile, A day in the life of Chris Del Moro, and the latest swell feature.

Well friends, it is that time to put the computer away and stash it into my camera bag as I am off to the airport tomorrow morning to go to the North Shore for the next week.

Thanks for tuning in and Mom if you're reading this, Thanksgiving Dinner was amazing!

San Diego Portfolio on Surfline.com

Listening to yourself speak is always kind of weird.  I have a firm belief that I am a photographer for a reason and that is why I prefer to be behind the camera than in front.  Either way, the kind folks at Surfline.com asked me to put together a portfolio of some of my favorite images that were shot in San Diego to be featured on the main site.  Here it is...

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!

Back in Cali

Thank you to everyone for the great feedback on the updated site. I plan on continuing to update with new images frequently! I have been back in Cali for the past 2 weeks and although it's been sunny for 2 of those days, the waves have been really fun to surf. While going through some of the photos from my past trip and thinking back about all the good times, it made me realize how much fun it is swimming in big waves even if you do get the occasional one on the head...

NEW WEBSITE AND PROMO CARDS

Here are a couple new promo cards I've been playing around with.

back in the saddle again

It has been almost a month since my last update. I am back in San Diego and it feels great to finally unpack my suitcase. It was a great trip to Mexico with some old friends as well as the new friends I made. Since being home my days have been filled with hours of organizing my film and digital files in addition to keeping an eye on the WAM to see where may flare up next. A big congratulations to all my friends who graduated from Brooks last Sunday! If you get a chance pickup the latest issue of Surfing where you can see my most recent spread of Keone Kuccia from our trip to Mexico last fall. The newest issue also features the latest Zoo York from New York ad of Pat Millin.

where has the time gone?

I am at a loss of words to begin to tell you what has been going on since the last post. Time in Mexico is lost track of much to easily. It wasn't until yesterday afternoon when I found out that June is a couple days away. The last 2 weeks have been emotional to say the least. Onshore winds big swell, offshore winds no swell, offshore winds swell and grey skys, blue skys onshore winds and no power. The internet has been off again, on again. The power has been just as touchy too. Good food (tempeh burgers/tacos al pastor/ttlayudas) bad food (nachos that had me locked in the room for hours). Movie marathons. I have gone so far to make it a point to listen to every song on my Ipod. Crews have come and gone and come back again. Today had the signs of a classic puerto morning. Crisp offshores, Sunny cloudless sky's and of course the ringer, 2 foot swell. The south pacific is active and now we play the waiting game. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. There's not too much for me to complain about. Our neighbors got a new ping pong table, some friends came into town I haven't seen in a long time. The redcrate happy hour has been going off every night, Coco introduced us to Habanero salsa which is amazing, my pool skills are better than ever, I learned how to play backgammon, seen more movies than I saw all last year put together, and it's only wednesday! So here's a few pics from the last week or so that are more detailed than my writings...

Digital Dunfee

So I have realized that this blog is becoming more of a daily journal of my trip to Mexico. If you like it, cool. If not, stop reading. It gives me something to do when the wind is onshore.hahaha. After too many conversations about how easy it is to swim with fins and get stuck inside with the camera rather than dipping them with a big surfboard we came to a stand. This happened this morning and yesterday when the waves were small and it was time to test each others theory. I grabbed Derek's 6'8 and paddled out for a few while he stepped into my fins and fired away. He did a pretty good job I must say. He stayed in the zone, tried doing some passbys, and get the horizon straight (most the time). Here's one that he snapped of me from the morning. Monster came into town yesterday afternoon with a quiver of some sweet new sticks and is frothing to get some barrels. Hopefully the waves pick up and the wind stays nice...Time will tell. Ok, now it is time for me to go, we just got back from the Super Che market and I have a warm chocolate toasty croissant that came straight from the oven to my bag to be bought for a whopping 30 cents...Until next time hombres
Oh yeah, Tonight is Poker night so there should be some stories for tomorrow!

daysss...

We have hit the jackpot! Mexican food is one of my favorite kinds of food and we have been eating at the best Mexican food place in town. I don't know the name, nor do I know how to get back there, but the food is that good I will find a way. I knew we had struck gold when I looked in to see a team of senoritas working away all in the name of food. This isn't no golf team either where theres a caddy and hitter, this is the realm deal. I'm talking a kitchen that could fit a whole football team inside doing nothing but boiling beans, cutting meat, making tortillas, cutting nopales (cactus) and making the freshest juice around. It is too good not to boast about. We went there this morning after our surf. The waves were nearly 1/2 the size of yesterday, so I took out Derek's board for a few. For being small, the waves still packed a punch and sent me swimming in for the board more than I would like to admit. The Hotel is beginning to fill up with people from Australia, Israel, Norway, and a few other countries. The pool is the place to be midday, and the pooltable determines whose Ipod gets played on the surround sound. My Bronze is coming in nice and the beard isn't far behind. It's been almost 10 days without taking a proper shower and I wouldn't doubt if my fellow neighbors started to say something. Who cares? I surf all morning, cruise poolside all day, than surf at night...WHo needs shampoo anyways? sorry mom...hahaha. Alright well its back to, shit I have nothing else to do, oh well. This blog has become more of a stream of consciousness with no editing, is that a bad thing? No, I dont think so...Peace out

the last few days

Day 4
The inconsistencies of my wireless internet and irregular wind patterns has drawn me to a new way to entertain myself during the midday heat and onshore winds. Is it a bad thing? Honestly, NO. The last two days the winds have been howling onshore just in time for the first solid south of the trip to come into town. Funny how that works sometimes. We are still on the early morning wake up schedule and I still set my housing up in the dark in hopes of looking off my third floor balcony and seeing lines of groomed perfection. Instead my eyes have been staring at nothing but onshore, mixed up, rip current infested junk. So rather than going back to bed, we have started training harder in anticipation of the day when it does get good. A morning stretch, run, and bodysurf has become the norm. Today the waves while we were bodysurfing solid stormy waves tested our lags after running in the soft sand. I got a couple really fun waves bodysurfing and one big airdrop to closeout thing that put me in the zone for roughly 5 waves straight on the head. I came up laughing! After the morning excersise it was on to Cafecito for a 2 hour breakfest of fresh fruit and French Toast. With the winds not being the best and not much else to do, we do what we can to make the time go by. Games of pool for beers, underwater laps in the pool and talks of eating tacos have become our daily ritual. Tomorrow is a new day, hopes are high, and if the waves aren’t good, there is always the run and bodysurf to keep my spirits high for the following day.

Day 8
Its 6:30 in the morning, the wind has been howling onshore for the last 3 days. I’m starting to lose it. Another good swell ruined by onshore winds. This will be the last time I come to Puerto in May. This isn’t the way I had envisioned this trip going. Rather than the usual morning offshores and afternoon glass-offs, we have been plagued. Not only is the swell smaller than yesterday, there isn’t much on the horizon either. So here I am at 6:30 in the morning trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. The wireless internet isn’t working, I have seen all my movies too many times to count, my book is almost done and I’m supposed to be here another 3 weeks..yeah right, we’ll see if that happens.

Day 8 part II
8:45am…Derek, Isaac, Chris, and myself decided we had to do something to kill some time so we decided to run to the point and back. 30 minutes later we were back where we started and feeling good. It was a great way to start the morning and keep motivated to be in shape for when the waves do decide to get good. We walked to Cafecito to get some breakfest afterwards and ran into Ruben having coffee. I asked him how much longer he thinks the wind will stay like this. He said last May Aichner waited 25 days. That is a long time to be down here without getting any good days. Lets hope that is not the case this year. Apparently the onshores are a result of the burning of the bushes further inland. We are waiting on the first rain now…

Captains log day 2

Today was another day in paradise that started a little slower than expected. We got up extra early and jammed out to the lineup running down the beach as we saw perfect waves breaking, got in the water and didn't catch a wave for the first hour and a half. We tried to shoot with my flash rig, but by the time the sun was out, not one wave had come close to where we were. It was as if someone was doing everything they could to make sure we didn't get a shot. We went in with out confidence bruised and questioning whether or not to shoot without a flash. Somehow Derek talked me in to going back out and sure enough, within 10 minuetes we had 3 solid waves packed and were loving life. Our session was going sweet until his board snapped on a smaller one, and sure enough the wind switched right after. No worries though, he recruited back to his room and I did my daily afternoon siesta which I woke up for just in time to watch the sunset, swim some laps in the pool and eat some food. It's 10pm, I couldn't go to sleep if I wanted to as a result of my siesta that went way too long. It's hotter than hell right now and the ice-cream I just ate was clinging on to the cone before melting away in mere seconds of being pulled from the safety of the freezer. Another good day, some sick shots, and tomorrow should be on all over again! Signing out for the night and its time to pop in Superbad. Oh yeah, Just when I thought Ichat wasn't enough to communicate with my friends over the internet, Skype was introduced. Its as if you never need to talk to anyone ever anymore, typing is the new talking.

day 1

Dear Diary, hahaha just kidding. So I was going to write this on a crumbled up piece of paper in a rundown, shitty hotel in a small fishing village in mexico until I told myself that would be a lie. I am living the life right now. I'm staying in a newly built hotel thats 3 times the size of my room back home. Fresh tile on the floor, ocean view, refrigerator, stove, microwave, and a shower with cold and HOT water. I feel weird complaining except for the shitty plumbing (literally) that just gave out. Oh well, things could be much worse. Dunfee and I flew in last night on a flight that was too easy, fell asleep on the ground in LA and woke up 15 minutes before we landed. That nap helped in avoiding the airplane food, those weird conversations with people that never stop talking on the plane and any other annoyances that can happen on a long flight (kids screaming, constant tapping, and people who listen to there ipod so loud you can hear it from 3 rows away. The second flight went smooth as silk except for one unfornate soul who ate the breakfest on the first flight and spent the final flight on all fours throwing it up. After a quick check in, I went for a surf in the water that must have been close to 90 to get the old legs working after so much sitting. An afternoon of waves followed by my favorite fajitas made for an early night. This morning had a few gems in the mix. The crowd was thick, but the boys all got a few. It felt great to get sucked over the falls on a few and pushed around by the ocean. Sometimes I forget if the ocean in Southern California knows how to do that (it is spring time). So here I am sitting my plush room, ipod bumping tunes, the wireless internet has been getting put to full use and below is an empty that snuck through the pack this morning. All in less than 24 hours...I love this place!

double trouble

Breakfest Burritos are my favorite food and the other day I cracked 2 eggs and came up with 4 yolks...weird

BANG BANG

It's been ahwhile since my last update and a lot has been going on. The clock is ticking. exactly 8 days from today at this time I will be a college graduate. Where have the last 3 years gone? who knows, but one thing is for sure there are good times to be had! I owe a big thank you to Jason and the crew at J7 for letting me shoot there new swimsuit campaign and the Hollywood nights party a couple days ago. The party went off and the night was a big success. I owe another thank you to the boys at Sixty40 mag for putting my shot of Matt Lackey on the cover of there new mag. Well amigos, until the next installment, I'm signing out. The sun is shining and its time to go for a surf...

Snap Crackle POP

In the last 2 weeks Tom Curren has been lighting up the stages in SB with his band The Noahs. I was lucky enough to sneak in backstage and snap a couple shots during the shows and get to have a couple words with him as well. The countdown has begun! Less than a month until I graduate school. The time is flying by and although the waves haven't been the best, I've been keeping busy shooting portraits. Here are a select few of a shoot I did with my friend Kat, it was a minimalistic shoot, 2 lenses, all natural light, and we had a great time shooting. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Interview for A-frame magazine

The boys at A-frame magazine interviewed me recently for the newest issue of there online bodyboard mag. Check it out, give it a read, and give the mag a look through as well, they put a lot of time into this new issue...