Road to Discovery on a 6 foot Matt Kechele diamond tail

He is given six photographs to choose an inlay for a surfboard from but skips over the obvious choices (waves or anything relating to surfing). Rather he chooses an image that doesn’t make sense, figuratively or literally. I knew then that I was working with an individual willing to take a chance, make a statement and stand by it!

Matt Kechele is said person and the shaper of what would become the sixth surfboard in my Surfboard Art project. His ‘outside the box’ thinking assured me I’d be working with a shaper who, like the others that preceded him, would take great pride in making a surfboard that would be viewed not only with surprise but with admiration.

Of course the final image selection rested with me and enthusiastically I agreed with Matt’s pick. It had been my secret desire to use it all along even though no one selected it when posed with the six possibilities. Gut feeling won out, thankfully, and thus the tale of how “Road to Discovery” came to be.

Matt Kechele

Two lane road near Christchurch, New Zealand

Matt is an experienced and innovative shaper who works out of an industrial bay on a dead end road next to a seldom used rail road track. There’s nothing fancy, unique or even clean about it. His shaping room could use major foam dust removal. The glassing, airbrushing and polishing areas are more interesting because of what you find taped to the walls or the color residue caked on the racks. The office has clearly never met an organized hand. One could say character is well hidden but nonetheless very prevalent.

All of that hides the fact that Matt is a detail oriented individual and shaper who spends an incredible amount of time fine tuning his shapes. He is also very proud of the fact that his boards are 100% hand crafted and that countless hours are spent in the water testing his designs.

Matt suggested shaping a 6 foot “Diamond Cutter”, a very popular diamond tail design in today’s surfing. It was also different from the other boards in my slowly increasing collection. A modern, short board shape would be an excellent addition. What truly differentiates this board from the others though is that it’s the first one where a pin line was not used.

When I brought the finished print to the factory Matt was surprised to see that I had printed the image area to the exact shape of the board. His thought was to use it as is. However he still needed to cut out the image from the 24″ wide, 7′ long material that it was printed on. Using a sharp razor blade and the templates he used to shape the board with we carefully and slowly cut away the excess printing material. Leaving a perfectly shaped print there was no reason to tape off the area where the print would go and to use pin lines to cover up the inevitable mistakes along the cut line. In addition this method allowed for more of the image to be seen.

Andy, the glasser, did a fine job aligning and fixing the print onto the shaped blank with resin and later fiber glassing the board. The air-brusher added a green band, matching the green seen in parts of the photograph, to an otherwise clear deck. I’m very careful to avoid clashing with the image with colors or design elements featured on the opposite side but this was not the case. The finished board is an eye-catching, beautiful piece!

Working with Matt was a treat and an honor. I’m excited with the attention this board was given in the design phase, in the use of a rare Clark Foam blank and in the detailed and laborious hand shaping, glassing and polishing work Matt and the guys executed. It’s another board that could serve equally well in the water under the feet of a skillful surfer or as a display of art and craftsmanship for someone with an appreciation for both.

"Surfer Photo Panel" along Ocean Avenue

The City of Boynton Beach, Florida put out a call to artists for an Art in Public Places project. Nine six foot by six foot cement slabs are offered to place art in outdoor public locations. Once a year artist compete for the spaces and money that is given by the city for a year’s lease of the art work.

Using the material I’ve been printing photographs on for my surfboard art project I proposed a three sided framed that would hold three distinct photograph banners or ‘photo art panels’. This received lots of interest from the city and I was told to put together an engineering sketch of how the panels would be affixed to the frame and the frame to the cement block so that it passed city codes. With the help of an aluminum welder the plans were drawn and submitted. A few weeks later I was awarded two cement blocks!

"Nature Photo Panel" along Seacreast Boulevard

Photo art panels are an attractive way of adding color and interest to an urban setting. Store fronts do it to cover and spruce up empty spaces but I’ve never seen it done in a park or outdoor environment. The beauty of the panels is that they can easily be changed thus allowing for a constant renewal of themes and expression and bringing new life to otherwise stagnant areas.

It was my first time submitting a project to a call for Art in Public Places that are held throughout the country. Proposing an idea and actually making it come to fruition are two different things and I was a bit nervous about the latter. In the end it worked out better than expected and everyone was very happy with the results.

I never thought of using photography in manners that I recently have; with the surfboards and now the photograph banners. I guess you could say it’s a result of the continuing recession that’s forced me to look beyond my assignment work and to think of creative outlets. No, it doesn’t mean I have to be hungry to be creative, though it proves that necessity is the mother of innovation!

Image as it appears in LUXE Magazine

Recently I shot a “quick” (client’s love to use that word) portrait for LUXE magazine, a local favorite of the high end, fashionable set in South Florida. The photo would run as a full page black and white and it was important to showcase part of the store. I had one hour to set up, test and shoot.

Arriving sight unseen my subject, Tracy DeRamus, proved to be a very friendly woman with an attractive smile. Her store, Circa Who in West Palm Beach, though crowded with a variety of trendy furniture, mirrors, lamps and cool ceramics was colorful and airy with high ceilings. Floor space however was tight and the only natural light came from the south facing store front window. Because of time and budget constraints I did with out an assistant, instead relying on Olivia Lambert, Photo Editor at LUXE, for any needed help, and limited the lighting to one light source.

Greetings aside I quickly set up a trusty old NVS-1 speedlight. The NVS-1 is a modified and more powerful Vivitar 283. It was manufactured by Rob Stuessy who unfortunately is no longer in business. These lights are workhorses and extremely reliable. I doubt you will find any for sale, at least not cheaply. I power my NVS-1 with a Dyna-Lite Jackrabbit battery, which gives plenty of juice for fast recycling even at full power. The NVS-1 uses a bare flashtube and while you can attach it directly to the flash unit I prefer to insert it inside a 5″ reflector that is connected to the NVS-1 via a 9′ cord. I can then place the reflector wherever I want and keep the flash unit attached to the bottom section of a light stand and safe from accidents. For this shot the 5″reflector was used in conjunction with a 32″ Eclipse Plus umbrella.

The camera used was a Nikon D3 with two Nikkor lenses, the 16-35mm f/4G and the 50mm f/1.4D. Exposures were set manually. A Pentax Digital Spot Meter metered the reflective ambient light and the Minolta Flash Meter IV was used for measuring the light output from the NVS-1. Pocket Wizard Plus II Transceivers were used to trigger the flash unit. The camera was mounted on a Gitzo tripod since I’d be shooting at shutter speeds of around 1/30 of a second.

The shoot went with out technical flare ups and was relaxed, except for my normal internal anxiety. Several tests were done to check lighting and to show Olivia. Visually I loved the mirrors and reflections in the store and concentrated on using them. Photo #1 despite being the first test and Tracy wearing her work clothes was worthy of consideration. I love how relax she looks with jeans and tank top and how it accentuates her hair and casual beauty. I also like the way the elephant is making eye contact with Tracy.

photo #1

photo #2

I continued with the reflection idea in photo #2 along with some foreground foliage. I liked this particular spot in the store for two reasons. One it had a multicolor background that would translate well into various shades of black and white and secondly the ambient light from the south facing window was behind me and helpful in lighting the room. The grouping of three photos, #3, illustrates the little changes that are made during a photo shoot that can sometimes make or break an image.

photo #3

photo #4

photo #5

Eventually we moved to other areas of the store, inside and out, for further testing. One spot, seen in photo #4, would have required multiple lights. I wanted to show the background awning as is but needed to match the interior light level with that of the outside. One light source was not going to be enough. Here the flash light is underexposed but one look and I decided there was no need to bother with this location and moved on.

Photo #5 is a hallway setting in the back of the store and the one the magazine liked best. Even though there are lots of textures and some color in this setting I’m still not convinced it was the best location. However the Art Director at LUXE saw it differently.

Testing done I had Tracy change into her dress. Funny, she became a bit tense when we started shooting for ‘real’. Normally I like my subjects to be dressed for the shoot even during the testing phase in case we come up with an unsuspecting winner. However it was a hot, sticky South Florida morning and we were working inside and outside the store and with a limited wardrobe I did not risk a droopy dress. Another factor in Tracy’s stiffness was the lack of props for her to interact with in the hallway. I had her do some playful poses, photo #6, until she once again was her relaxed self. Eventually we came up with the image that was selected and used, #7, here seen in color and lit with the NVS-1. The black & white transformation was later done by the magazine.

photo #6

photo #7

photo #8

The last setting, photo #8, is one I had in mind from the beginning. I loved the idea of raising Tracy above floor level and placing her in this beautiful wicker chair, which exudes her as the queen of her domain!

Sunrise Lines on a 7 foot 6 inch One World balsa board

Decisions, Decisions

I am excited to introduce “Sunrise Lines”, a balsa wood surfboard shaped and glassed by Juan Rodriguez of One World in Sarasota, Florida. Ricky Carroll, shaper of “Crystal Lip”, had introduced Juan to my work and as I was contemplating my next project the phone rang. It was Juan.

Juan Rodriguez

Sunrise swell lines off Durban, South Africa

The idea of a balsa wood surfboard certainly fit my criterion for uniqueness in each project. The balsa used in surfboard construction comes primarily from Ecuador where it is commercially grown on plantations. While it is classified as a hardwood, it is the softest of the hardwoods and is used in a variety of industries.

The initial meeting with Juan was a real eye opener. This guy is skillful and resourceful! Found at his One World factory are numerous and exquisitely beautiful wooden boards made of balsa and other hardwoods, a collection of long boards by the who’s who of shapers and over a hundred fin templates from the likes of George Greenough, Greg Noll and Robert August.

He offered me a great deal on an eight foot balsa blank, which I gratefully accepted and would become my fifth board of the 15 Boards by 15 Shapers project.

The biggest difference between constructing a surfboard from balsa wood rather than foam is the time and skill required to shape a wood blank. Otherwise the process is basically the same. Something I had not done in the prior projects, but decided would add eye appeal to this board, was incorporating a nose and tail block. Furthermore, Juan would also hand make the fins from wood and glass them on the board.

With the blank purchased, the fins and accent decisions made I still faced my biggest challenge of this project: selecting the image!

I began with ten designs that worked well within the specifications of the board and narrowed it down to two. That’s when the agonizing began. I loved them both! They each had uniquely distinct qualities that made them perfect for this board. It became impossible to decide.

I turned to my family, my friends and to an online survey with my Facebook friends. I emailed the images to Juan and spoke with him about the merits of each. Nothing came from this, every vote, opinion and discussion ended in an even split. I was stuck.

I decided to print and hang both of them in Juan’s shop to facilitate with the final decision, but unfortunately to no avail. The board was prepared and ready for a print when a father and son walked into the factory. I asked their opinion and for once I had a unanimous decision!

“Sunrise Lines” had a long and difficult birth but as any proud dad would say, ‘she’s a beauty’! I’m thankful to all those who gave me their opinion or who took part in the online survey. Though difficult at times, working along masterful shapers on an artistic endeavor is fun, insightful and rewarding. I look forward to #6.

Sunrise Lines

Pink Hibiscus on a 6 foot 4 inch Chris Birch double-wing quad

“Pink Hibiscus”, surfboard #4 in the Tony Arruza Collection, is completed and as with the prior three boards it is an eye-catching and unique piece. For those not familiar with this project the goal is to come up with 15 boards by 15 shapers from which to mount gallery shows from. This personal project is a marriage of two life long passions, photography and surfing.

The premise of the project is “functional art”. By that I mean each board must be hand shaped by a master craftsman, glassed and finished in a normal manner and be fully functional and ready to be ridden. The boards however are then transformed into pieces of art with the inclusion of an original Giclée printed on textile material.

The uncroped photograph of Pink Hibiscus

I collaborated with Chris Birch from Indialantic who shapes out of the R&D Factory in Rockledge, Florida. Chris and I decided on one of his more popular shapes, a 6’4″ double-wing, round pin quad. I envisioned a more colorful, tropical print for board #4 and after the board was shaped I worked up a couple of designs, each with a red or pink hibiscus flower or flowers. In the end I decided on a contrasting and dramatic image. I wanted it to pop and make a statement.

The board was glassed by Rob Opperman who came up with a beautiful and complimentary green tint for the bottom of the board. Boards #1 & 2 had clear sides on the opposite side of the print but #3 and now #4 have used a color tint. Also both #s3 & 4 used resin pin lines, which requires taping off by hand and applying and even coat of pigmented resin. It is a painstaking process that is seldom done any more. With “Pink Hibiscus” Chris did his own pin lining, just like Ricky Carroll did with “Crystal Lip”. However with Chris’s board it is the first time the print was placed on the deck of the board.

double pin lines

Because the nature of the project involves hand crafted surfboards, the collaboration between shaper and myself and the designing and implementing of the art the going is slow, not to mention costly. It’s daunting to think I have eleven more boards to complete. Since each requires working with a new shaper the process begins anew every single time. No two shaper or glasser work the same and it is as much of a learning curve for me to work with them as it is for them to work with the laminant material the print is on.

However, every time a board is completed I become excited and can’t wait to begin working on the next one. It is my hope to make each one completely unique and different from all the rest and to bring as much notice to my photography as to the artisanship of the shapers and glassers that work on the boards.

Balinese men at a cockfight

Nostalgia has no relevance in the forthcoming observation. My comments, instead, are entirely based on photographs taken thirty years ago. I find these long-forgotten images to have a look and feel seldom seen any more. Whether this is good or bad is a subjective point of view. If living in the past keeps one from advancing in the future so be it. However, living without a knowledge of history only keeps the wheels spinning in place and makes a person unwise.

Please note that these images depict the use of animals for man’s enjoyment which many of you may find offensive. I will say (if I may interject a personal belief) that whether or not we agree with the practices of others we are not given the right to judge. When traveling I am intrigued by the cultures and ways of others. I photograph them when given permission and I leave feeling enriched by having my vision of the world expanded. Whether or not it is part of my beliefs is not in the equation.

Moving on.

Film is seldom used these days except by the best fine art photographers. And even many of them have succumbed to the ease and advantages of working with digital cameras. That includes me though I am not in the realm of a top fine art artist. While the quality of digital is surely as good as film whether working in 35mm DSLR or in medium or large format there is something about digital that strikes me as being too perfect, and too much the same.

I look at the work being done today and find certain elements, whether it’s grain, grittiness or a truer representation of the subject, that I mostly saw in the days of film. This point is well illustrated in these images of a Balinese cockfight made in 1980. The camera was a Nikon FM. A simple camera with not a single bell or whistle to its name. Everything about it was manual. One needed to cock the shutter, set the shutter speed and aperture, focus and then press the shutter release button. Then start all over. The lens was probably a Nikkor 35mm f/2.0, oh, and there was no LCD screen to preview or review your shot.

However what gives these images there own unique look is the film. In this case it was High Speed Ektachrome 400, which I shot at ASA 800 and pushed one stop in the processing. A roll of film gave you no more than 36 tries to compose and capture the ‘moment’. This was a key element in making you work slower, more deliberate and to pay close attention to your subject.

I find that these images do not look like anything shot today but are equally as good, from a visual, content and artistic point of view as anything being done today. Having a variety of films to choose from, each one with its peculiar characteristics, allowed for a number of ways in which images could be interpreted. Now only Photoshop gives one that ability. I agree that is progress but, I feel, at the expense of many wonderful elements that gave character to the shot. We have become overly desensitized to reality and rarely speak of “content” and instead dwell on pixels, resolution, focus speeds, vibration reduction, high dynamic range and other technical jargon that have little to do with the content of the image. This is the product of digital and not the product of loosing film.

Something else to observe in these images: No one is really paying attention to the photographer. Imagine today, after every click of the shutter the photographer would be looking at the camera’s LCD screen to examine exposure and whatever else they deem important enough to stop observing the surroundings. How are they thus able to become an intimate observer and not the observed? Photographers are obsessed with shooting, looking and showing off. It’s the workflow of digital and it ruins the moment for so many, not to mention the picture. They remain an outsider and never truly get the opportunity to become one with their subject and environment. But more importantly perhaps, is that they miss the opportunity to learn the lessons their subjects offer.

There are, of course, many journalist and documentarist working digitally and creating incredible bodies of work and many know the art of becoming one with their subject. But I’m afraid many photographers, both pros and amateurs, have lost touch with their subject and their photographs because of the way they use digital cameras and how that influences the way they work.

I am not promoting the return to film, only its virtues that should not be forgotten. If you’ve never worked with a fully manual, non auto focus camera shooting several rolls of different types of films you may just want to give it a try. You will be surprised how differently you work and interact with your subject and how much you’ll learn about lighting, exposure, depth of field, being deliberate and slow and becoming nothing more than an observer of this fascinating world.

One last thing: When you place your film on a light table and discover a gem you will feel a rush that no longer exist in a digital world. That’s a fact!

A couple of months back Ricky Carroll asked if I could design an inlay for a balsa board he was shaping for the Surf Expo that was recently held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. We had just completed surfboard #3 of my surfboard/art project and he was impressed with what we had done. I was delighted with his request to use an inlay design on one of his beautifully hand crafted, and expensive, solid balsa surfboard.

The inlay would be placed as a lengthwise strip that measured 7’6″ long and 5″ wide on either side of the center stringer. The inlays that I’ve created for my personal boards are the full width and length of the bottom of the board. To create a one photograph inlay of the proportions Ricky wanted was close to impossible. It would require a photograph that had enough information to be visually interesting when cropped to the size and proportions of 90″x5″. Try taking any photograph and crop it to those proportions and see what you get–95% of the time nothing!

I decided to use a design of multiple photographs or repeating elements from one or more images. The cropping could thus be less drastic and once the various elements were blended together I was able to achieve a variety of designs. Ricky decided on one, which I then printed and delivered to his factory.

measuring and taping off the area where the photo inlay will go

I was not around to see the board shaped nor to see it glassed and polished. Neither was I there when the print was resined on the board. I did witness Ricky taping off the area where the two inlay strips would be placed and then painting those areas white. I had given Ricky two miniature strips of the inlay design to test on a piece of balsa. One he resined directly on to the wood and the other one he resined over white paint that he had sprayed on a strip of the wood. We wanted to see if the print would look better with the wood grain showing through it or on a white background that masked the wood. The latter method proved to be the most visually striking.

This board is a unique piece that will not be replicated. It’s a finely shaped and hand crafted surfboard that is a beautiful work of art. I’m proud to have a small part in it. Any one interested in the board should contact Ricky.

Ricky Carroll

It was a calm, cool and beautiful afternoon and a full moon would be rising in a couple of hours. I decided I would set up a shot of the rising moon with an idea I had in mind. The winds were out of the west, which meant incoming jets to Palm Beach International would be approaching from the east and in-line with a big orange moon. Furthermore this time of year large flocks of turkey vultures congregate on the mangrove islands that lie between West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. At times when the wind is moderate to high and the air temperature dips below 60 degrees the vultures coast high over the intra-coastal waterway. My hope was to capture an incoming jet flying over hundreds of vultures that were silhouetted by a full moon.

First though I had time to kill and went for a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. I placed my camera inside a water housing and brought it along with me. I really wasn’t expecting to see anything other than pelicans flying in formation low over the surface of the ocean. But as I began my swim and was about one hundred yards off-shore I catch a glimpse of a large fish breaking the surface of the water. Right away I had an idea that it might be a tarpon and swam quietly and softly to where I saw the fish. As I make my approach I dip below the water and immediately see a school of a dozen or more tarpons.

All I wore were swimming goggles and thus my underwater vision was not very good. In addition the visibility of the water was no more than 25 feet and the late afternoon light penetrated the water no more than a few feet. The only chance for a decent shot was to swim outside the school of fish and photograph it with back lighting for contrast and overexposing the exposure for clarity. I was worried I wouldn’t have time to swim to the opposite side of where I was before the tarpons swam away. Luckily they hung out long enough for me to make two free dives and snap a half dozen frames.

I was using a 50mm lens and knew, with the goggles I was wearing and the lousy light, that I would not be able to frame the shot in the viewfinder. I was also concern with the auto focusing of the camera. The lack of contrast between fish and water could easily throw off the focusing. In the end I wasn’t sure I’d captured an in-focus image that was properly framed. Of course if you don’t try you have no chance and yes most the frames were totally useless but two of them came out tack sharp and decently framed. If I had been able to see I would have composed the images slightly downward but all in all I’m happy with the serendipitous photographs that came from this little excursion.

Back on land I drove to where I had envisioned the photograph of the full moon, jet and turkey vultures. Unfortunately the winds were light and the air temperature was in the high 60s and thus there were no birds. I thus decided to also forego the idea of the jets and instead concentrate on a spot were I could compose a nice image of a full moon rising. Overhanging branches, a bridge over the intra-coastal waterway and the tower to Donald Trump’s Mar-y-Lago estate were the elements I needed. The moon was on its way up as I was setting up the equipment and in the minute or so that it took I made a few technical decisions, dialed them in the camera and bracketed a few frames.

It was a good ending to an afternoon of surprises on both counts. It doesn’t need repeating but it’s always good to have a plan and then be prepared to break it as well as not have a plan but be prepared for the unexpected!

Technical details (fish photo):

• Nikon D3
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
• Focus Mode – AF-C
• 1/60th @ f/7.1
• ISO 400
• Matrix Metering with camera pointed at dark water causing the overexposure I was looking for
• White Balance set manually at 5260K
• Nikon NEF (RAW) file was processed in Capture NX2 and contrast was boosted in Photoshop CS5

Technical details (moon shot):

• Nikon D3
• Nikkor VR 70-200mm f/2.8G
• 13 seconds @ f/9
• Exposure Compensation -0.7EV
• ISO 200
• White Balance set manually at 3230K
• Nikon NEF (RAW) file was processed in Capture NX2
]]> http://www.arruza.com/new-work-1-19-11/feed/ 0 http://www.arruza.com/media-coverage-of-surfboards/ http://www.arruza.com/media-coverage-of-surfboards/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:12:03 +0000 Tony http://arruza.com/?p=1332 Read More.]]>

My boards were on public display for the first time and I could not have selected a more appropriate venue than the annual Surf Expo. Held every January at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida the Surf Expo is where the surf industry gathers to display the latest in surf and beach apparel, surfboards, stand up paddleboards, skateboards, art, accessories and more items than you can imagine coming from the ocean and the youth culture.

Ricky Carroll of R&D Surf Inc. provided floor space at his booth that included surfboards from five shapers. Using custom made steel stands the boards were showcased to a large crowd of buyers and industry insiders. People took noticed as well as snap shots of the boards and overall I was pleased with the compliments and well wishes that I received. And because of that I am motivated to continue with the goal of mounting a 15 Boards 15 Shapers exhibition. The desire is to have the exhibition include not only the boards but black & white framed portraits of the shapers, framed full-frame photographs of the images used on the boards and a multimedia show of the work it took to make the boards.

Coverage was provided by ESM (Eastern Surf Magazine) and can be seen on their web site http://www.easternsurf.com/feature_011311_SurfExpoB/

]]> http://www.arruza.com/media-coverage-of-surfboards/feed/ 0 http://www.arruza.com/picture-of-the-week-122710/ http://www.arruza.com/picture-of-the-week-122710/#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:50:26 +0000 Tony http://arruza.com/?p=1321 Read More.]]>

Snowboarders at Mount Cardrona, New Zealand

For nearly nine months I have selected and written about an existing image of mine on a weekly basis. For me it’s been fun reminiscing on both old and new images. I never knew until Monday morning (sometimes Tuesday depending on my Sundays!) what would inspire me in my selection and writing. I did though want to make it interesting and inspirational to the viewer.

From the comments the images and stories invoked both in the Facebook and the arruza.com/blog postings I believe PoW was fairly successful and some, possibly, even looked forward to them. To the followers I thank you. Photography is a personal endeavor and when others take the time to critique it, either good or bad, it humbles me.

This is my final PoW post and I appropriately chose this image because tomorrow my son and I take off on a snowboarding trip. We’ll be back after the New Years (a happy one to all BTW) and for 2011 I will continue a weekly posting though its premise will be completely different and a lot more challenging for me. Hopefully I will persevere and you will find it compelling. Until then make life an adventure, it’s your only chance!

Technical details:

• Nikon D300
• Nikkor 85mm 1.8D lens
• Shutter priority exposure mode with matrix metering
• 1/800 @ f/9
• ISO 200
• White balance set manually at a color temperature of 5260K
• NEF file processed in Capture NX2
]]> http://www.arruza.com/picture-of-the-week-122710/feed/ 0