Ron's Picks
These shots are a few of my favorites with a brief description of why I'm partial to them.

Santa Cruz Lighthouse

I saw this shot in my mind's eye but it took 3 years of patience to shoot it. There had to be a crisp, clear, mid winter's sunrise in just the right position behind the lighthouse and a very high tide with a very large swell pounding against the cliff and blowing spray up onto the roadway. The 2 best shots of this were "misplaced" by a surf magazine and never surfaced again but I'm still happy with finally capturing the moment.

Osprey flying into nest

This shot was taken along the East shore of Lake Tahoe. I climbed a hillside before dawn in camo and hid in the brush about 100 yards above this nest in a tree top. I trained the camera on the nest and waited about 2 hours in between fly ins by the male, who was out hunting breakfast while the female stayed in the nest waiting for a catered meal. It took 6 hours of patience to snap 12 frames. There were only about 3-5 seconds to react each time the male flew back in.

Fairyland Castle at midnight

This was worth staying late for, despite having to push a bunch of kids out of the way and making them cry. (just kidding of course) I did have to stand on this exact spot for 2 hours without giving up an inch while all around me enjoyed Disneyland. This just satisfies the kid in me.

Barbados Plywood Surfer

A simple snapshot, but this shows a lot of soul in my opinion. Barbados native types salvaged mahogany plywood strips from sunken boats and rode them in the surf. They hated the "California short boards" we brought along because they floated too well.

The Cirque at Kirkwood

An incredible piece of mountain that's only open once a year for the North American Freeride Championships. In shooting this event I had to ride this hill with 75 pounds of cameras and gear. This shot just makes me recall looking over my shoulder at tree top tips as I leaned against the steep of the hill with all my gear to reach my photo angles.

Cowells Sandbar in Santa Cruz

This is just a descriptive photo of my FAVORITE snadbar in my personal history. This is March 1, 1998 after 28 days of rain and sand inflow to develop this bar. Everyone is programmed to surf Cowells on lower tides, but this bottom sand shape temporarily produced the BEST waves I've ever experienced here at dead on high tide. The water filled in and funneled out through the gap down the beach and yeilded dry tubes that I won't try to describe.

Sunset in Poipu, Kuaii

This was shot on slide film and cross processed. Special to me because of the dramatic tropical sunset, and also because it was shot from in front of our room in our honeymoon suite. A very beautiful place.

Darryl Virotsko (the Flea)

This is a "B" grade photo shot with old manual equipment in the mid 80's. (when we rode trains and there was no digital yet) Special to me because it shows Darryl charging as he entered his teen years before anyone had a clue of the world class surfer he'd become years later. It was a sign of things to come. Now try to picture him pulling in and charging in the same way on a 30-40 foot wave at Mavericks.

Matt Rockhold

I have hundreds of shots like this from over the years, but I like Matt's determination in this shot by holding on and trying to stay "stuck" to the board for the photo despite spotting the sand under the 2 foot deep water 15 feet below him and knowing it'll be a hard landing.

(L to R) Sluggo, Barney, JR, Marin, and Froggy

ANOTHER B grade old photo from '86. This is special to me because it shows the chacrater Shawn Baron was as he developed his "unique showmanship" into a surf style that left people baffled. It took a couple of more years, but he pioneered a new era of surf airaels after watching Price for years (the true inventor of the surf aireal in the early-mid 80's) and throwing in his unique personality.

Josh Loya

I just liked the angle and spray in my face from this one while I swam at the Lane in Santa Cruz.

Johnny Horton

Little Wind n Sea

Just a nice, clean offshore wind on a 4-5 ft. swell. Johnny just makes cruising look fun.

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