Beach closed, North Shore, O'ahu. fBHF on expired Ektachrome.

These are from the North Shore of O’ahu the day after the 2009 Eddie Aikau, an irregularly held surfing competition only held when the wave swells at Waimea Bay are over 20 ft. Greg Long rode a 40 ft wave to a perfect score, passing Kelly Slater to win. The following day, waves were easily still 20-30 feet high.

My wife & I had planned on exploring the North Shore in the morning, having an early lunch at Ted’s Bakery then shave ice at Matsumoto’s before heading back out to drive the Wai’anae coast.

It didn’t go exactly as planned.

Tasked with now entirely too much time on the North Shore, we tried to make the most of it. We drove the stretch from Waimea Bay to Turtle Bay and back, stopping at random beaches and whatever else struck our fancy for several hours; each time praying the police had finally reopened the road to Haleiwa and its delicious, delicious shave ice.

Long story, short: Matsumoto’s is worth the wait, the North Shore is both amazing & terrifying, and we never made it to the western-side of the island.

See more:
Gallery: fBHF – O’ahu 2009

Icicle. Shot with a Canon S95

So my delayed/back-ordered Christmas present finally arrived from Best Buy this afternoon! My wife decided I needed a Canon Powershot S95, as I often told her that I would like one.

In essence, it’s the pocket camera I’ve always wanted. Small, compact, yet capable; or so I’ve read.

I haven’t quite had the chance to put it through any paces yet, but I anticipate it becoming a constant companion, joining the ranks with my cellphone, Moleskine & spacepen in my pants pockets.

Therein lies its charm. Too often I find myself without a camera when I suddenly want/need a camera; or conversely, lugging my Canon 40D and backpack full of lenses around without taking a single frame.

For awhile there, my beloved fBHF filled the niche of a constant “on hand” camera, both literally & figuratively; but its bulk, lack of versatility, and the need to carry spare spools, not to mention the cost of film, lead to its retirement from daily use. (I also took a chunk out of her film advance knob this summer, when I accidentally clipped a cement fence post outside of Fordham. So I had been carrying her with a tad more careful trepidation than I had in the past, lest I cause any further irreparable damage).

A digicam that fits comfortably in my pocket, shoots both RAW & 720p video and has an added ADH warranty to boot sounds pretty good to me.

Maybe this will help snap me out of my creative funk; maybe it won’t; it can’t hurt.

Anthony Bourdain at FNCE 2010, Boston.

Ok, fine. Here’s one where you can actually see Anthony Bourdain‘s face. I like to imagine he’s singing “O Sole Mio,” but alas and a lack, he wasn’t.

He was the closing speaker at this past year’s Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) in Boston, giving a talk entitled “How to stop worrying and enjoy globalization.”

I thought he was an odd choice to address a room filled with registered dietitians, given his predilection towards… shall we say… foods on the “unhealthy”* side of the spectrum.

Yet Bourdain was funny, engaging and he assuaged any fears of being contrarian to modern dietetic paradigms, by acknowledging he was a father who wanted what was best for his child. The dietitians, for their part, had no reservations about Bourdain (no bad pun intended) embracing & applauding his commonsense point of views and raucously laughing at his witty banter impugning his fellow celebrity chef/ tv personalites Rachael Ray, Paula Dean, & current first-lady of New York, Sandra Lee.

I had some prior reservations about his talk, stemming from the whole “enjoy globalization” part of his title. But instead of espousing a nihilistic homogenized western culture that dominates and eradicates indigenous cultures (as I tend to connotate globalization), he was rather suggesting that we take the opportunity to expose ourselves to other cultures & cuisines, while we still have the chance.

Part of the whole “be a traveler, not a tourist” and “eat like a local” concepts that I wholeheartedly support.

So yeah. Good stuff.

*I put “unhealthy” in quotes, as I try not to think of food as “healthy” or “unhealthy,” but rather follow a philosophy, given to me by my dietitian wife, that every food has its place and everything should be taken in moderation, including moderation.

I originally posted this over at the new toycamera.com forums, but then thought to cross-post it here for possible wider exposure.

My wife & I are planning a week long sojourn to Portland, OR later this fall as a kind of interview with the Rose City to see if it’ll fit as a possible relocation locale (the long heavy winters of upstate NY are getting to be a bit too much).

As such, we want to be as thorough as a week allows. Instead of hitting up touristy stuff, we want to try to see the city as a local would.

So any advice from native Portlanders or transplants (or anyone else familiar with the town, for that matter) on what to do, what to see, where to eat, et cetera?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

TOYCAM is ON SALE NOW!!!

I’m happy to report that a project that I’ve been proud to be a part of has finally come to fruition: TOYCAM is finally available on Blurb.

Andrew has more to say about the book’s release here.

I haven’t had the chance to physically flip through the book yet myself, but having been a part of the process, I know the product is top notch.

You can purchase the hardcover here.

Or the soft cover here.

Thank you to all the photographers who submitted their photographs and to those who agreed to be interviewed: you made our jobs tougher & all the more enjoyable by giving us some outstanding source material to work with.

Congratulations for a job well-done to the other book-team members Andrew, Ben, Blake, Gregory, Jason, Jose & Leah. It’s been a pleasure being part of the team.

UPDATE: www.toycamerabook.com has a flash-based preview of the book available for your perusal.