Live a little. Die a little.

What got me stoked last weekend:

1. Good music by the beach. Perfect way to cap off a paddle-'til-you-pass-out Saturday session in Bacnotan. 

Julianne

Soju

Quest

Kiss The Sun

Sometimes, all you need is some beautiful light and an hour to do absolutely nothing, with friends who will not judge your photography skills and who will not slap you after instructing them to sit on the ground.

Joy Mercado

Sisters Joy and Yen Mercado

When you're lucid, you're the sweetest thing.

It was an unplanned surf trip, the kind that makes you hop on the bus half-heartedly, thinking of the shitload of work you left in the office, and the big possibility of your mom scolding you for yet another weekend not spent at home.

But friendship is friendship at all costs. One of my closest friends in the surf circle is going to LU and I cannot not go because I haven't seen her in months. Also, I was still hungover on my birthday weekend so to fight the urge to go back was simply pointless.

But life indeed has a way of surprising you. To this day, I still consider this gloomy June weekend as the time I got stoked the most. I was laughing (note: laughing, not smiling) so hard during my rides that I keep on losing my balance and getting wiped out. And under that overcast San Juan sky, with a borrowed Canon telephoto lens, I took my first surf shots and immediately, I fell in love with surf photography.

It was a dull and dreary afternoon and there was no speck of beautiful light when I started shooting Benito. He is, however, a surf photographer's dream. His cross-steps and nose rides more than made up for the lack of sunshine.

This was also the weekend I met Tito Tonet, president of the Manila Surfers Association, "tito ng bayan", MSA wingman, race car driver (during weekends) and one of my most favorite people in the surf circle. He would always scold me for paddling like a girl, but he would also be there to cheer me up whenever (I look like) I'm on the verge of crying in the line-up. Hehe.

Some more snaps of LU locals Jhenard, Ricky and Peryong shredding it out in the beach break.

I'm ending this post looking at blunt magazine's 4th issue on my bedside table. Last year, I was looking at their photos online and I told myself "someday, I'll shoot like these guys." Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. All I know is, the sound of the shutter makes me happy, and I don't mind spending hours to get the perfect shot and I will always be excited to learn new things about this little invention made to capture light, and I'm not stopping any time soon. 

Back to regular programming soon,
Miccah

[MIXTAPE] Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

My 2012 in 18 tracks. From Ed Sheeran to M83, from Bauhaus to Norah Jones, from Arctic Monkeys to Alexi Murdoch. Doesn't really sound like a playlist but it definitely sounds like my year. ;)

Nothing but gratitude

For The Strokes. That they are still alive. That Is This It is still as tight, raw and gripping as it was first released more than a decade ago.

For feeling beautiful feelings, no matter how fleeting they were. For the much needed imaginary invincibility from time to time. For the ugly wake-up calls. For every single lesson we were forced to learn from every single piece of bullshit we had to take. For the courage to believe again working on that courage to believe again.

For Pundaquit sunsets. For barefoot Calicoan wandering. For glassy morning sets in Sabang. For our home that is Urbiztondo.

For Uno and all his out-of-focus glory. For Luna and her non-existent dings. For surf families. For party waves, party nose dives and everything else in between. For every single precious wave. Thank you.

For having friends others could only dream of. For conversations that are too insane they actually make sense. For f1.8. For life changing coin tosses. For the glow of the city at night. For mixtapes and coffee. For listening to good mixtapes while sipping good coffee. For meeting exceeding our quota of fuck it moments this year. For those times when "epic" and "awesome" would not suffice.

For places I have yet to visit and people I have yet to meet.  

Nothing but gratitude,
Miccah

Moodboard for 2013. *These photos are not mine and unfortunately, I forgot their original sources because when you visit Tumblr and you see something interesting, you just go click 'save image as' pronto. So if you happen to own them, let me know so I can attribute them to you properly. :)

That Wednesday Session

It was one of those days at Point when upon reaching the lineup, you immediately tell yourself it's a bad idea to get out. After one nasty wipeout, I decided to paddle in and not push my luck, which turned out to be a good call because:

1. I heard someone got out with a broken board that morning. It could have been Luna. What with my amazing whitewater surfing skills and all.

2. I was able to shoot! I haven't taken a single shot since I arrived. Sunday - Monday was flat AKA no waves to surf, no surfers to take photos of. Tuesday was so beautiful I wanted to marry it AKA no shoot, just surf. Small, fun waves, easy paddle out. I was out of the water just to eat lunch. It got a bit windy in the afternoon but we didn't mind. After all, we have to take whatever the ocean gives us, yes?

So here are some snaps of LU surfers taking advantage of what was said to be a one-day swell at the bowl. 

Kuya Textback Dalora from Samar

Never Look Back

I surf because it heals me.