Atlantic Surfing Championships Drop In at the Sebastian Inlet

The 2016 Atlantic Surfing Championships finally got underway this weekend. The surfing competition, originally schedule for October 7-9 but was postponed until November 11-13 due to Hurricane Matthew making his way up the East Coast. Here are a few shots from Saturday.

FINAL RESULTS OF THE 2016 ASF CHAMPIONSHIPS:

BOYS/GIRLS U10

  1. KEPA MENDIA

  2. BRAEDEN KOPEC

  3. MAKO MUSILUNAS

  4. PALLADIN PELLICCIA

BOYS U12

  1. WILLIAM HEDLESTON

  2. STERLING MAKISH

  3. KANOA WONG

  4. CHARLES OBLINGER

BOYS U14

  1. WILLIAM HEDLESTON

  2. STERLING MAKISH

  3. LOGAN HOFFSTETTER

  4. REID LARGIN

BOYS U16

  1. CHASE MODELSKI

  2. REID LARGIN

  3. TYSON ROYSTON

  4. SHAWN ARTHUR, JR

BOYS U18

  1. TYSON ROYSTON

  2. CHASE MODELSKI

  3. CHRISTIAN DANIELS

  4. SHAWN ARTHUR, JR

GIRLS U12

  1. ZOE BENEDETTO

  2. BREE SMITH

  3. SOPHIA KALANTAS

  4. AUBREY PRESTI

GIRLS U14

  1. CORAL SCHUSTER

  2. ZOE BENEDETTO

  3. TAYLOR GREEN

  4. HANNAH WALTMAN

GIRLS U16

  1. ZOE BENEDETTO

  2. MADDIE MALIZIA

  3. HANNA WALTMAN

  4. RACHEL WILSON

GIRLS U18

  1. MADDIE MALIZIA

  2. CORAL SCHUSTER

  3. HANNAH WALTMAN

  4. MADDIE ZUELI

  5. RACHEL WILSON

BOYS U14 LONGBOARD

  1. MACK WILLIAMS

  2. FICHER McCLAIN

  3. MAKO MUSILUNAS

  4. GAGE JACKSON

  5. AJ JACKSON

BOYS U18 LONGBOARD

  1. SEAN BRENNAN

  2. TRISTON FINLEY

  3. GAVIN SILVER

  4. STANTON McDUFFIE

GIRLS U18 LONGBOARD

  1. MADDIE MALIZIA

  2. RACHEL WILSON

  3. CAMDEN HOOVER

  4. ASHLEY KLIENSMITH

MENS

  1. TANNER CAULK

  2. IAN SCHAFFER

MASTERS

  1. MIKE ROSA

  2. MATT LEE

  3. PHIL JACKSON

SENIOR MENS

  1. BRAD BAILEY

  2. MIK MUSILUNAS

  3. SHAWN ARTHUR, SR

  4. DAVID ROLL

LEGENDS

  1. SCOTT BRADLEY

  2. THOMAS COOK

  3. WILTON JORDAN

  4. BRYCE FRANCIS

WOMEN

  1. SOLOME ABERGER

  2. TERRY GREEN

  3. VIVIAN JORDAN

OPEN MENS

  1. CHASE MODELSKI

  2. JAKE HEMBREE

  3. TREVOR FRANCIS

  4. TRISTON FINLEY

ADAPTIVE ASSIST

  1. VERONICA TARIO

  2. BROCK JOHNSON

  3. CC ROBERTS

  4. ERNIE JOHNSON

ADAPTIVE TANDEM

  1. TERRELL RAWSON

ADAPTIVE PRONE

  1. JEFF RADVANSKI

DIRECTOR/PRO SUPER HEAT

  1. BEN GRAVY/AARON CORMICAN

  2. PHIL JACKSON/PETER MENDIA

  3. MATT KECHELE/RANDY NOLAN

NIXON HIGH WAVE SCORE OF THE EVENT

         WILLIAM HEDDLETSON 9.17

Florida 2016/2017 surfing contests and schedule

  • December 3-4, 2016 Paradise Park / Melbourne Beach

  • January 14-15, 2017 Fort Pierce / Fort Pierce Inlet

  • February 11-12, 2017 Spessard Holland / Melbourne Beach

  • March 11-12, 2017 Paradise Park / Melbourne Beach

  • April 15-16, 2017 Ponce Inlet

  • May 6-7, 2017 Sebastian Inlet

Fine Art Photography & Ocean Art Print Store Now Open

I'm pleased to announce that my seascape and ocean photography is available for purchase through my direct checkout Fine Art Photography & Ocean Art Print Store.

Fine art photography for your home or office are available as prints, canvas gallery wraps and metal prints in many various sizes. If you don't find what you're looking for; ask. I'm happy to help with special requests.

For larger projects , images are available through Fine Art American, Great American Art and American Business Interiors. They provide expert design solutions for your office or facility. Professional framing, matting and installation is available.

Why I Started In Photography and Why I Love It... Again

At 12, I got a camera for my birthday. I believe it was an old Kodak 110 with a flash cube on top. Remember those? I used to love taking photos but at that age, didn't really know what I was doing. I did practice, or at least that's what I thought I was doing. Waiting on film to be developed from the local drug store was torture. It seemed like an eternity waiting 3 or 4 days to get the final pictures into my grubby little hands. For the life of me, I never remembered what camera settings I had used, nor do I think I really cared. Ok, to be fair, I think the old Kodak 110's were fully automatic, but I did have to decide between which film speed to use.

At about the same time; guitars, dirt bikes and cars entered the picture. All this took cash and with a limited allowance and savings, I had to narrow the field of my fun a bit. At the time, guitars won out over photography. Most of my money went towards the purchase of my first guitar, amp and strings at the age of 13. Shortly after this, I switched from guitar to bass guitar.

I played in several local bands in the Wichita, Kansas area; Trinity, Critical Mass, MJ Project, The Dark and 69 Slam. Of which, The Dark had the most success during this time period if you want to call it that. The Dark placed 4th in the MTV Battle for the Basement Tapes. After the MTV Battle for the Basement Tapes in Wichita, several members of the band "The Dark" moved to Los Angeles and set our sights on the big time. Well, "The Dark" as we knew it never quite materialized in LA as we envisioned, but the drummer and I were able to land spots with the band "300". At the time, they were getting some airplay on the World Famous KROQ. The band "300" went through several personnel and name changes over the years; 300, The Local Group and finally, The Attachments. The band "The Attachments" showcased regularly at The Palomino, Bogart's, Club Lingerie, Madame Wong’s West, The Roxy, The Troubadour and even toured Europe for a short stint.

I never have regretted my pursuit of music. Those were some of the best times of my life... in fact I still play and perform occasionally to this day. I do, however, regret not simultaneously learning about photography. I realized that I couldn't concentrate fully on both. In my head, I made up the thought of not being able to afford both film for my camera and strings for my guitar. That gave me an out. I'm sure that I could have, but hindsight is indeed 20/20.

Fast forward to 2007; my Golden Retriever "Logan" was born. I purchased a Kodak Easy-share and started taking photos of Logan. This sparked the passion of photography that I remembered as a kid and has carried over to what I know and still learn today. I started taking Logan to Cambria, California which is a few hours drive north of Los Angeles. During Logan's first 5 years we visited Cambria, California about 4 or 5 times a year. Locals told me about a fairly secluded beach near Hearst Castle on San Simeon State Beach in San Simeon, California. My passion for ocean and seascape photography began. After receiving several positive comments about my photos of Logan at the beach, I dove in and began upgrading my camera gear. Not only was I having a blast with Logan, I started to realize how much I enjoyed photographing seascapes and being near the ocean. This time around, I learned more about my camera, shutter speeds, ISO, composition and light.

To this day, ocean, seascape and nature photography is "where it's at" for me. Of course I do the occasional real estate or event photography shoot which is great too, but experimenting with long exposure and intentional camera movement photography without much pressure, is the fun part of it now. This is a different thing for me and I feel something that I have never felt before. I am at one with my camera and what is an always changing canvas that is Mother Nature. Not only does it energize me, I feel a connection spiritually and being somehow in sync with Mother Earth. This experience is "me, myself and I" with nature at it's best. There is no one else to count on. I never have to worry about the drummer or guitarist not showing up for rehearsal or to a show, it is all on me. Don't get me wrong, I do miss the guys in the band, those were some great times, but with photography it's at a pace that I enjoy, which makes me happy and if people enjoy my work, all the better.

Cannon Photograph Installed at United States Army Home of Ordnance, Fort Lee, Virginia

I was honored to be approached by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps and School in Fort Lee, Virginia to to have one of my photographs displayed on the walls of the school. Installation is nearing completion; accent lighting to be added soon.

History of Ordnance in America

Watervliet Arsenal 1898 Cannon.

Here's a little about the cannon. Please feel free to comment or email with any corrections.

This a United States 3.2 Inch Gun - Model of 1897, manufactured in 1898.

The 3.2-inch Gun, Model of 1885, and Model of 1897:
These very similar early model field guns were the first modern guns adopted by the Army. They are of American design following the best European practice of the time. The differences between these guns are all in minor details of design and construction.

One hundred of the Model of 1885 were built, and 262 of the Model of 1897. This gun took separate loading ammunition, and had no recoil absorbing mechanism. It gave good service in the Spanish-American War in both Cuba, and in the Philippines, and was the gun Captain Henry J. Reilly’s battery used to effectively in the Boxer Rebellion.
Considered obsolete in 1905, these guns were still in storage in the 1920's.”

Reference:
U.S. Army Field Artillery Weapons, 1866-1918
Author: Konrad F. Scherier, Jr.
Journal: Military Collector & Historian
Publisher: Company of Military Historians
1968
- - - -
The 3.2-Inch Field Gun is a breech loader, weighing approximately, 830 pounds, intended for use in the field with troops moving rapidly.
The powder charge of this gun is smokeless powder contained in a bag of raw silk.
On the bottom of the bag is sewed a small disk containing about 1/4 ounce of black rifle powder - this is the priming charge which ignites the slower burning smokeless powder.
There are three kinds of projectiles used for this gun - shell which weighs 13 pounds, shrapnel which contains 162 one-half inch lead balls, and canister which contains 226 cast iron balls .625 inch in diameter.
Reference:
Ordnance Department Document No. 1660
Revised [Version] December 2, 1914
Handbook of the 3.2-Inch Field Battery
Washington, D.C.
Government Printing Office 1917

This information is presented to give a casual viewer information on this gun.
The specifications of this weapon differ between sources and often contradict each other, mainly due to information of original manufacture and from later modifications/models.

Thank you to Charles Bugajsky via Flickr for the gun information.

Regular Joe Surf Festival 2016 - Sebastian, Florida

The Regular Joe Surf Festival continues all day today at the Sebastian Inlet in Sebastian, Florida . Heats run up until the awards ceremony at 6:30pm tonight.

Yesterday, I was able to start the day with a sunrise shoot and caught a couple hours of surfing heats. Below is what it's all about.

"Sebastian Inlet Surf & Sport and the Sebastian Inlet chapter of Surfrider Foundation are proud to announce the 4th Annual Regular Joe Surf Festival.
Taking place on Saturday and Sunday in Florida’s prime surf season, the Regular Joe Surf Festival promises a unique opportunity for dedicated recreational surfers to enjoy all the trappings of a big time contest … without big time surfers!
Mix in a raging Surfer Stomp with live music, unique awards, a chance to put together your own heat and Florida’s most famous wave and you have all the ingredients of a great weekend, smack in the middle of hurricane season. Join us for a contest for the rest of us."

See you at the Atlantic Surfing Championships - October 8-11 also at Sebastian Inlet State Park, Sebastian, Florida.