document.write("\n<P>I first contracted surf fever at the age of 14, when a school buddy and I took his old, beat-up 1970\'s single fin to the beaches of Galveston, Texas, which is where I spent my formative years. Since the board didn\'t have a fin, we improvised cutting one out of plywood, and attaching it with wood screws. The fin disintegrated after a few waves, but we pressed on, trading off every other wave, sliding sideways, getting flipped and rolled in the breaking waves, completely out of control and loving every minute of it! As our surfing skills improved, another friend who was an avid longboarder and a talented photographer, and would take his Nikonos waterproof camera out in the waves to shoot us as we glided by. Thus began my life-long love affair with surfing.<BR><BR>College, however, took me inland for a couple of landlocked years, but the call of the ocean became too loud to ignore. So I relocated to the beaches around Wilmington, NC and have remained here for the last 15 years. I am an ardent longboarder and can often be found riding a 9\'10\" O\'Neill that was shaped in Santa Cruz, CA back in 1958. Truly old school! My daily rider is a 9\'6\" Con noserider, but I confess that I occasionally ride a 7\'4\" hybrid Weber Pig when the waves allow. My riding style attempts to emulate that of past masters including Phil Edwards, Miki Dora, Lance Carson and Mickey Munoz. Photographically, my influences have been from surf photography legends Aaron Chang, Leroy Grannis, John Severson, Ron Stoner and Warren Bolster. I probably spent more time studying their images in surfing magazines than my textbooks growing up, but I feel that helped train my eye to look for and capture peak performances and breathtaking scenic images. Unlike many sports photographers, I am not a slave to the motor drive feature on my camera, choosing instead to anticipate the moment when everything comes together for an amazing shot. I shoot exclusively with Canon cameras and Canon L series professional lenses.<BR><BR>Thank you for taking the time to look through my galleries and I hope you find something that will bring as much joy to you as it has me!<\/P>");