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Jun 14 2013

For The Love Of Vans

Written by: Dennis Viera

Awhile back, I was checking the surf at Seaside reef in Cardiff, when local legend Rob Machado cruised in to the parking lot to do the same in his van. I’d run into him a few weeks earlier at my local lab (he’s a talented surfer and artist) when he commented on my van which was idling out front. When our paths crossed again, and I had my late Widelux camera with me, I asked him if I could take a quick portrait and he didn’t mind at all. I mean, with a van like that…who would! With our campervan just a week away from it’s extreme makeover, I was feeling a bit of van love this morning.

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Jun 08 2013

A Gift From Aotearoa

Written by: Dennis Viera

Aotearoa or, ’land of the long white cloud’ is the Maori name for New Zealand. Springtime in the Northern Hemisphere is Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and when the first, early-winter storms make landfall and pound NZ with Antarctic winds, snow, hail, and other extreme weather. When the weather abates and these storms pass offshore, they move into a vast stretch of nasty ocean commonly referred to as the Roaring 40′s. Here, en-route to the West Coast of South America, these storms intensify further and produce relentless southerly winds that push mass quantities of water (large ocean swells) across great stretches and focus large, deep-water swells towards any and all south facing beaches north of the equator.

Early this morning, I packed Jaime and Alex in the car at 5:30am and we headed to a place I’ve never visited – but always wanted to – when one of these strong south swells hits. The Wedge on the far eastern edge of Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula is a completely man-made phenomena that is a result of a large jetty that was built in the early 20th century to protect the harbor. Long story short…through refraction and it’s perfect angle for accepting these swells, the jetty intensifies the swell waves into an intense peak that can sometimes be twice as big as any neighboring surf. After traveling roughly 6,000 miles, the energy finally expends itself and the water recedes back into the Pacific, to begin the cycle all over again.

Below are too many photos from this morning’s family outing.

Yes, that’s a surfboard and yes…I did get a good soaking for my efforts.

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Jun 06 2013

In memory of James Grubb

Written by: Dennis Viera

Kiri’s voice was sweet and collected when she called to see if we would be available to photograph her wedding. She went on to tell us that it would be coming up very soon and that the date had been pushed up because doctors just discovered a tumor on her fiancé James’ brain.

The cancer appeared to be quite aggressive and doctors were not giving him favorable odds of living for more than a few months. In the face of such sobering news, Kiri and James decided not to waste any more time and be married straight-away.

A few weeks later, on the outskirts of Timaru, New Zealand…Kiri and James were married.

Kiri and James’ 1 year anniversary arrived…and departed, and it was clear that James still had a whole lot of living left to do. Kiri and James made the most out of every day – each a new gift. By the time they brought beautiful Henry into the world, James had already far outlived all early estimates given by his doctors. James was there for the birth of his son and got to watch him grow from just a wee handful of love into a proper 4-year old boy.

We received news yesterday that James had passed away and our hearts hang low; Cancer again taking one life, and impacting so many others.

As I’m sitting down in front of my computer, I’ve got my iTunes player set to shuffle and this song comes on that makes me lose it a bit. The song is called A Place for Your and it’s by the New Zealand band Breaks Co-Op. The song was special to Kiri and James and featured in their wedding day.

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I hadn’t heard the song for years so it was a bit of a shock when, out of all the 8,500 songs in my music library, that particular song got shuffled in today.

I’m pretty sure that on their wedding day back in December of 2007, Kiri and James would’ve done anything to guarantee another year together but instead, they got 7. As a family, they took that gift of time and made memories they could’ve only dreamed of back on that brilliant afternoon back in 2007.

James Grubb – husband, father, son, musician, Diem-Carper…and friend to so many people. You will be missed.

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