Rusty Lindsey

Musician Rusty Lindsey. check him out here: http://rustylindsey.com/

Kenneth Kosik

Kenneth Kosik

Here are two images of Alzheimer’s researcher Kenneth Kosik I took for a series of portraits of scientists and a possible publication in Santa Barbara magazine.

“Dr. Kosik is nationally known as a leader in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders. He was recruited from Harvard University by the University of California Santa Barbara to Co-direct the Neuroscience Research Institute and is Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UCSB. He is responsible for directing and integrating research and information technology developments into CFIT’s program. He is chief liaison to CFIT’s board and is responsible for reporting information from the directors of the three other divisions to the board.” (source: http://www.sbcfit.org/)

please take a look at CFIT’s site here: http://www.sbcfit.org/

Mary Osborne

Portrait of Ventura based surfer Mary Osborne. For more on Mary check out her site: http://maryosbornesurf.com/

SWAE

SWAE

SWAE

SWAE

SWAE

SWAE

On June 16th 2009 a group of three young and healthy men crossed the border form Canada into the United States embarking on an adventure that would lead them all the way across Washington State, Oregon and California to Tijuana, Mexico. A 2000 mile bike ride covering some of the worlds arguably most beautiful landscape. But while these three Colorado hotheads intend to bring the beatnik driven rucksack-revolution of the fifties back (they would like people to join in on their ride), they are different than their predecessors sixty years ago. They are riding with business in the back of their head. Founders and operators of SWAE sports (Snow, Water, Air, Earth) they are riding the distance to promote their new company and to find outdoor and action sport outfitters along the way.

Soon they were joined by another young man, Jesse Amorratanasuchad (23), a journalist, who was inspired after covering them for the Bellingham Business Journal (a position which he quit to go along for the ride) and quickly became the groups man for public relations. Further down the road yet another adventure seeker decided to saddle up.

SWAE sports is intending to connect two worlds which usually act like polar opposites: The outdoor bound adventurers and our data highway, the internet. Of course the internet has been used by adventurers over the recent years but SWAE’s approach is to connect people who try to stay away from the computer to people who want to go out and explore but DO sit in front of the computer. An outfitter, or guide, can offer their services on Swae’s website and the adventure-hungry can book a trip, session or lesson directly on the website. Swae limits adventures to human powered only, the members wanted to make a point not to support sports that have a direct negative impact on the environment. Riding bicycles for the 2000 mile distance was a decision made to underline that ideology.

I happened to meet Jesse and the rest of the group at a friends house while they were camping out in Santa Barbara. They had pitched a tent on the lawn and rode their bikes down into town during the day to use free wireless internet to market their idea, post entries and images to their blog or connect with outfitters. Interested in who they were and being a fan of the best vehicle ever invented, the bicycle, I started chatting and was surprised to find that they had been on the road for a good two months. None of them looked tired, worked or unpleased. They all seemed relaxed, but one could feel the deep grumble of energy that was going on inside each one of them and between them all as well. It was a group of young men that had bonded through adventure, physical exhaustion, joy and last but not least an idea. They were on the same page. There was an energy of accomplishment that hung in the air, they looked happy. Riding in flip flops and old shirts, with peanut butter in the bottle holder on the frame of the bike for a quick snack, they made for a great group to stumble upon.

On their trip so far they had fought mile-long climbs over mountain passes, swarms of mosquitos trying to eat them alive, crashes and fog that was impossible to penetrate by the human eye. They had woken up right next to the shores of Crater Lake, Oregon, danced naked in the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, surfed with Big Wave surf legends in Santa Cruz and skydove in Seaside, CA. When they would ride into a town they would find a nice lawn, knock on the door and ask for permission to camp out for a night, mostly with success. “Most people got so excited about it, they would just sit down and talk with us, talk for hours… It seemed to really motivate people and that’s part what Swae is about.”

And I got motivated myself. Hearing the stories, seeing the images, feeling the energy and bond between them showed that there are people out there who don’t just talk about doing something, they actually saddle up and rode for 2000 miles.

Take a hyper-electrocuted-data-particle-ship on the  data highway and exit at swaesports.com, one exit later is swaesports.com/blog, make sure to rest your particle here for a little as well.

Surfer by Shimoda, Japan

I just went through some old files and found this image of a surfer on a beach a little south of Shimoda, Japan. I had been trying to find a board to borrow all day and actually asked this guy if he would let me ride his board for a bit but he didn’t speak English. Found one in a surf shop a little further down the road later that day. And the waves were bigger down there too…

Virgil Vasquez

Virgil Vasquez

Virgil Vasquez

I took some more portraits of pro-ball pitcher Virgil Vasquez yesterday. Virgil pitched multiple games in the major league last year and is back to spring training this weekend. Then he will travel with the Pirates and hopefully throw a bunch of balls in the big league again. Best luck!

I have known Virgil for a couple years now and I remember well when we were staying in a hotel room in Oberammergau in the German alps together, attending a surprise wedding (the bride had no idea all her friends from the U.S. had flown in and that she was getting married) and he blew all the circuits on that floor by plugging in his 110V Ipod speakers. I got the lecture from the owner since she didn’t speak English and I was the only German around. Good times!

Shaums March in Santa Barbara

I took this photo of Mountain Biker Shaums March late last year and just came across it while looking for images for the Red Bull Illume contest. I had met Shaums at the Red Bull Rampage in 2003 and 2004 and when I heard from Daniel Cortina (Cortina Cycles) that Shaums was in Santa Barbara I contacted him and we did this shoot up in the clouds off of highway 154 on pretty short notice, thanks Shaums! I have two images of the shoot on my site but I felt this one deserved to be shown as well.

Conner Coffin

Conner Coffin

Conner Coffin

I photographed Red Bull team rider Conner Coffin last week. At 16 years of age Conner gets to travel the world and surf with pros like Dane Reynolds. I did an interview with him, which will be available for viewing at the release of the all new Peanut Butter Sandwich Program in early April, and he told me that he was on his way to Australia for ten days and Hawai’i right after… Nice!