The Freshest Lid You've Seen In A Minute- Flex Fit South Africa Produce 10 Custom Made High End Hats To Go with the 10 Gold Deluxe Edition Books

Get 'em quick these will be gone with a swiftness.....

Enjoy-

p.s. I will add a few images of the hat to this post in a day or so

Initial South African Surf Media Coverage For Expressions Book One

Check these rad Article/Features...

http://www.thebombsurf.com/pages/2120/expressions-book-one-south-africa-interview

http://www.wavescape.co.za/breaking-news/breaking-news/dread-locked-nomad.html

'Some-Ting To Peep' Vol. 2

Expressions Book One: South Africa - First Of Many Exhibition/Launch Events Set for Museum Photographic Gallery

SIX 2010 Tattoo Convention- Feature/Article in My Culture Mag

A while back I did a feature for My Culture Mag about the 2010 Southern Ink Xposure or SIX Tattoo Convention held in Cape Town, South Africa. I wrote an article (which I think was one of the better things I had written in ruffly the whole 6 months prior) as well as sent them a batch of top class images from the different 3 rolls of film I had taken during the week of mayhem. If you are keen for a decent read or into tattoos at all, maybe even just looking for something interesting click the link below and check out the article.... enjoy-

http://www.myculturemag.co.za/pages/topics/southern_ink_xposure_2010.php

A Wave Of Loss Sweeps The Surfing Community As A Great Ocean Warrior Departs, Andy Irons Passes-Away On Tuesday the 2nd of November 2010

Tragic news sweeps the Surfing World! Three-time world surfing champion Andy Irons died Tuesday. He was 32.

Irons contracted an illness in Portugal in October and missed his Round 1 and 2 heats at the Rip Curl Search Puerto Rico comp on the ASP WCT on Saturday. He was in route home to Hawaii to see his own doctor and had to stop on an overnight layover in Dallas. He was found by staff at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after he failed to respond to a wakeup call.

An official statement by Billabong, one of Irons' main sponsors, said he was suffering from Dengue Fever. "He fell ill in Puerto Rico and went to see the contest doctor," said Stephane Tenailleau, European spokesman for Billabong. "The doctor told him to withdraw from the contest and go back home to fix the disease." Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said a ruling on the cause of death could take several weeks, pending the conclusion of a number of lab tests. A report in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, citing the same medical examiner, said that Irons' death is being investigated as a possible methadone overdose and reported the drug was found along with other prescription drugs at the scene; but who knows if the public will ever know what really happened and does that really matter as much as the fact that another historic surfer has fallen and will be truly missed. In addition to why he was permitted to travel in his condition in the first place.

Irons was arguably the most dominant surfer of the early to mid 2000s. In addition to his three consecutive world titles from 2002 to 2004, Irons had 20 World Tour victories and four Triple Crown Of Surfing titles. But more significant than the statistics was his reputation as perhaps the only true rival nine-time World Champion Kelly Slater has ever known, and the two engaged in some of the most memorable heats and title races in history. Andy returned to the WCT this year after a one-year hiatus. Fans and fellow tour competitors were happy to see Irons back in the hunt and with a win at the Billabong Pro Tahiti in August signified a return to form in the kind of powerful, barreling surf in which he made his reputation. Arguably one of the greatest modern surfers in 6-8 foot waves (Hawaiian Style *Wave hight measured by the back of the wave and heavily under size cuz thats' how we do when you start surfing for real, this is not fishing bro*).

Fellow surfer Reef McIntosh, who grew up with Irons on Kauai, said Wednesday from Hawaii: "I talked to Phil [Irons], I talked to Bruce [Irons] -- everyone's just crying. I was surfing Mavericks with Shane [Dorian] and everyone else and saw all these missed calls. My girlfriend called and said Andy had died. I didn't return these calls because I didn't want to drive and cry at the same time. Everyone on Kauai is crying right now."

Professionally, Irons was a fierce competitor as well as a dedicated and driven athlete. Out of the water, Irons was remembered as a humble person who loved Hawaii. He was also intensely devoted to his family, friends and fans.

"Andy was incredible. I think he was a person that always wore his heart on his sleeve. He didn't try to impress anyone. He was just all about what he wanted to do. He was an amazing competitor," Australian surfer Mick Fanning said.

Philip Andrew Irons, "Andy" was born and raised in Hawaii, where he was married three year ago. His wife is less than 8 weeks from giving birth to their first born son. Revered by many on Kauai, along with his younger brother, Bruce, also a pro surfer. The Irons' father taught the brothers to surf on the North Shore at a young age and both pushed each other to climb to the top of the surf world.

In Puerto Rico, more than 130 surfers along the island's north coast paddled out Wednesday to clasp hands and form a circle as tradition dictates to honor a surfer who dies. Fanning threw flowers into the middle as others cheered and splashed before they broke off one by one to catch a wave in honor of Irons. "We're a surfing family," Fanning said in a statement. "We're all hurting right now." The Association of Surfing Professionals said it would suspend competition again Thursday out of respect for Irons and expected the 2010 Rip Curl Pro Search to resume Friday. Slater was among those who paddled out. The surfers grabbed their boards with one hand and clutched bright yellow flowers with their other as they shuffled quietly through the sand and entered the water. "Although he and I butted heads a lot a few years ago, I have so many good memories of Andy and we have become pretty good friends since," Slater said in a statement. "We're just baffled that he's gone."

In Hawaii, a surf tournament was held on Sunset Beach with 20- to 30-foot waves pounding the North Shore. The mood was somber with some grief-stricken surfers pulling out of the event.

"I paddled out this morning with a lei to put in the water and it hit home again. It makes you want to do it for him and be the animal that he was in the water, but at the same time you know that there's a piece of surfing that's not replaceable," friend Rainos Hayes said. "There's only one Andy Irons, and he was it."

Meanwhile, a flood of messages were posted online.

"RIP buddy you will always be in our hearts," tweeted Sunny Garcia, a former world champion from Hawaii.

Irons' family released a statement thanking the surfer's friends and fans and requesting privacy "so their focus can remain on one another during this time of profound loss."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Only a few months back I sat with Andy and his wife on a bench in a grassy front yard overlooking the impossibles section of Super Tubes(J'Bay) talking to him about his features in my over 700 page youth culture coffee table book I am releasing later this month in South Africa and next year internationally. Now I look back and feel blessed to have had a real conversation with him. My thoughts go out to his wife and family, he has marked surfing with a lasting footprint....

One of the many great images I shot of Andy...

This is a link to a short video from J-Bay 2010, about half way through AI makes a comment and gets a double barrel....

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5384157

This is a really good short clip of the man in action and why he was such a stand-out, big up Andy much Aloha... enjoy-

Museum Photographic Art Gallery's Opening Exhibition - The New Landscape

Museum Gallery recently held its opening exhibition (I'm happy to be in) titled THE NEW LANDSCAPE. Which showcased a bold array of works from a number of talented photographers surrounding the interpretation of new landscape both vague and classic. Tons of cats showed up from all walks of life, it was good to see people outside the art scene as well as some heavy hitters. The opening was packed when I arrived despite getting there just after the we-are-awesome.com photo peps' bailed (which is a good thing because most of the time they use me for a banner or something) they do slideshow/features of all the uber cool people that show up at big events. The kind folks at Sailor Jerry (Class Rum 'for those of you late to the ship!) hooked up the gallery proper to keep everyone smiling. It was a rad night to say the least; big up to Dylan Culhane for all his efforts and sorting everything out. The work will be up for a few more weeks so go check it out, this is the Museum-Gallery site for directions and contact info. Here are a few images

I shot at the opening.... Enjoy-

It was a bit of challenge to shoot candid images of people looking at my work but I got a few nice ones.

Greg Beadle the Museum Gallery's Big Boss Man

Tarjei Langeland with his work

Here are a few of the pics' for Sailor Jerry taken by Michael Ellis

Primo Hits South Africa For The First Time and DJ Just Be...? Gives You Free Daisies!!!

DJ Premiere played in Cape Town South Africa @ The Assembly last week. I was amped to be shooting Press/Media for the event, so a few hours before the show I put together a little mix to get hyped. I had seen him a few times before, the last was New Year's 2006 in Las Vegas but he was playing a corp. gig to less than 150 people and was dropping a lot of non HipHop tracks. This time I knew he would play classics, and he did. He dropped mostly his own production to a solid crowd. I shot some top class stills on celluloid and even a short video clip on this little digi' camera I normally use as a dictaphone for interviews. Primo finished around 4am and was still cool enough to let me shoot a portrait on his way out. Here is a link for some free Primo' Daisies and for those of you who missed it, check out the video clip...

Enjoy-

http://soundcloud.com/dj-just-be/primos-daisies

STR CRD w/ Cognito aka "The SHUCHEF"

OVER THE LAST TWENTY YEARS, COGNITO HAS CONTRIBUTED VASTLY TO THE PROPAGATION OF HIP HOP CULTURE— FROM CONCERT PROMOTER TO FATBEATS RECORD STORE OPERATOR TO TOURING THE WORLD AS A MEMBER OF THE UNDERGROUND GROUP MASSINFLUENCE. IN ADDITION, COGNITO IS KNOWN FOR DOCUMENTING LEGENDARY HIP HOP ARTISTS SUCH AS MOS DEF, DE LA SOUL, TALIB KWELI, MF DOOM AND KANYE WEST ON BOTH STILL AND VIDEO MEDIA. AN AFICIONADO OF SNEAKER CULTURE SINCE 1982, COGNITO, AKA "THE SHUCHEF," HAS HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF CONSULTING WITH A NUMBER OF MAJOR SHOE BRANDS ON MANY LEVELS FROM MARKET RESEARCH TO COMMUNITY OUTREACH. OVER THE YEARS HIS COLLECTION OF RARE SNEAKERS HAS BEEN EDITED DOWN FROM A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT TO NOW JUST UNDER 50 PAIRS OF CLASSIC TRAINERS — QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. AFTER SEEING HIS ORIGINAL JORDANS DRY-ROT FROM NOT WEARING THEM, HE NOW VOWS TO STICK TO HIS MOTTO "SNEAKERS ARE MEANT TO BE WORN, NOT TO SIT IN A CLOSET."

Check him out @ http://frolab.com

These are a few South Africa 2010 FROLAB pics

Big up to DJ Bobbito for keepin' it True Vinyl...

Safe-

STR CRD Sneaker Event 2010

STR CRD was South Africa's first sneaker and streetwear convention. The event brought passionate streetwear lovers together from many avenues of Youth Culture. Visitors were treated to a promotional pop up village and displays of new sneaker collections from the likes of Nike, DC, New Balance, Adidas, Puma, Converse, 2BOP, Iron Fist and many other local and international brands.

Even the Skateboarders had something to do. Jamie O'Brien from Woodies Ramps made a big sick box complete with stairs, ledges and a kinked rail. The Boyz were killing it, with or without the commentary. I think Justus Kotze ended up winning and props to Will Twala for killin' it with a taped up busted wrist.

Graff artists, B-boy crews and hip hop groups were also on hand showing off their skills. It was great to see so many streetwear lovers in one place, many who flew in from places like Joburg, Durban and abroad.

One of the highlights for all the Sneaker Freaks was checking out the freshly customised kicks from Alex Nash, a renowned sneaker Artist. Some cats would have gladly bartered anything (even a family member) to go home with one of his highly sought-after sneakers.

Here are a few of the perspectives I came up with... Enjoy-

'Some-Ting To Peep' Vol. 1

I will put up 'Some-Ting To Peep' ever so often, this is the first of many to come...

Enjoy-

Seems like a good time to get the old Pin-Hole Camera I made dialed in again, it is very hard to use but when you nail the shot not much can touch it.

New Logo Done & Looks Too Fresh!!!

Check out my new logo made from a Hand Drawn Sketch by Tyler B Murphy,

Your sure to be seeing this around...

Safe-

Echo Ledge GoPro Skateboard Clip - Test Round

I linked up with the cats from Echo Ledge at Sports Unlimited after the African Vacation Tour Demo over the weekend. They asked me to help them test their new GoPro rig for the first time, it was a bit strange to skate but i got a few good runs. Check out this rad little video they put together with some of the footage...

They also have a surfboard mount that I am frothing to test. Not to mention I'm keen to get few more tricks and maybe some better angles on the skateboard, maybe the bowl in Stellie'...

Enjoy-

Museum Gallery Opening Exhibition Tonight!!! The New Landscape

Museum Gallery is having its Opening Exhibition,

Here are some links to a few of the articles & features...

http://capetowncreatives.co.za/blog/2010/09/the-new-landscape/

http://travelblog.portfoliocollection.com/Blog/New-Photographic-Art-Gallery-Opening-in-Woodstock

http://www.onesmallseed.net/events/the-new-landscape-opening

20 Gun Metal Silver Deluxe Edition Books Only at AStore (w/ Free to your Door Delivery)

The only place selling Gun Metal Silver, Deluxe Edition Books is AStore and they have it up on their site as well as in their shop on Kloof. The Cover Art for the Deluxe Edition was done by Tyler B. Murphy and the Gun Metal Silver is limited to 20 copies. Only 130 Deluxe Edition copies of Expressions Book One South Africa will be made. And because they dig all you cats so much they are giving Free Shipping in SA!!! So all you have to do is put it on the card, wait a few days and they deliver it to you. Then on your table to enjoy.....

Too easy,

Safe-

http://www.astoreisgood.com/books/view-all/expressions.html#large

Re-Cap Winter 2010 Vol. 2

A bit more of what went down while you where away... Enjoy-

Dank+Disko=Sedge Warbler

Dylan and Dame

Sailor Jerry Launch Event

2010 J-Bay Post Comp Magic

Jordy After- J'Bay 2010 (1st WCT Win by A South African Ever!!!)

Jordy Before- Gathering himself prior to one of the biggest heats of his life

Roosta & Saskia have this funny little hand on the mouth ting' going

The Man, The Myth, The Legend Bruce Gold and Princess 'ScooterGirl' Sidekick

Piece from Adidas 'One Night Only' by Cashril +, Black Koki, Tyler B. Murphy

'Let me see you russian prison face' w/ TBM