Ocean Artwork » Kirra

Living on the beach

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:41:17 +0000

I just recently moved from the high rise Ive been living in to a classic little place opposite the beach.

One of the great things about that is when the conditions are right, I can just grab my housing and walk out the front door in my wetsuit and shoot a few … pretty cool

These are some of the little beach breaks out the front yesterday 20th June 2010.

The swell keeps coming … and coming. More photos from the Super Bank and Snapper Rocks to Kirra April 20th

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:20:35 +0000

The swell keeps hanging around… It seems like the waves havent got under 3 feet for over 2 months now.
There were great waves over the weekend . I didnt pick up the camera on the weekend but had a great surf at Duranbah and surprised myself by picking up a few nice peaks in the school holiday crowd.
Shaun Harington was out there ripping on an old brown board. I saw him on one wave, backdoor the peak taking off pigdogging goofy (switchfoot) and then switch foot back, while in the tube and come sailing out in his normal stance … natural. Nice move Hazza!!
That one wave had me wishing I had my water rig out there…
Monday,this morning a brand new swell arrived this from the south.
Along with it came 20 knot winds.
I got down there pretty early, to check it out. Its been a while since Ive shot anything from the water so I was pretty keen to go for a swim. Unfortunately the conditions were less than ideal for water shots.
Duranbah was huge and out of control…The wind was howling offshore and the sweep was horrendous.
Shooting from the water is always a hit and miss situation and the odds were I would only score a few good ones with a 2 hour swim, so I opted for land based photos.
I shot 200-300 pics (the beauty of digital) These are the pick of them. If you see a photo of yourself here, or you were out surfing I may have a photo of you. If you think this is the case then contact me by clicking here.

A few shots of the Super bank off Big groyne Kirra Monday 6th April

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:20:38 +0000

Theres been a lot of talk about Kirra being back…..

Well Im here to tell you that’s all a load of crap.

There’s still billions of tons of sand filling in the break that was once the infamous Kirra.

Sure theres been some great waves out in front of the Big groyne lately, courtesy of cyclone Jasper. But the reality is if you went any further down the line, from Big groyne, it was almost impossible to take off without Jetski assistance.

Sure you can call it the ‘best Kirra in years’ but the truth is the spot where Shane Beschen scored his two perfect 10′s many years ago is still well and truly buried.

There have been many photos floating about in the last few months.
and so many photographers covering its incredible.
So you can imagine my surprise when I ventured down there on Monday to fire a few off and I was the only photographer there.

Heres a sample.

Surf in Italy??…Naaaahhh..Maybe??

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:27:30 +0000

A few years ago if anyone had told me that there was good surf in Italy, I would have laughed.
That was before I met a guy who gave me the lowdown on whats happening in the way of surf in Italia…. Paolo D’angelo
Paolo is 3 times Italian open surf champion.
The last time he won was actually a few years ago, in 2003.
He’s been living in Australia, married to an Aussie girl for quite a few years now.
He surfs the Gold coast points regularly and is out in the water every chance he gets.
He reckons most Aussie guys would be surprized at the quality of surf available in Italy, especially on the island of Sardinia, which has very consistent surf and is right in the middle of the Mediteranean sea.
Paolo has a small factory around the back of Kirra where he works on his high performance boards and does a lot of ding repairs.
And he’s a dam fine surfer.

If you want to check out some of his shapes or you need a board repaired you can find him here.
Unit 2/46 Ourimbah rd. Kirra phone 0405424113

In search of Michael Peterson a Review by Martin Tullemans

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:26:21 +0000

The release and premiere of the movie ‘Searching for Michael Peterson’ truly struck a bottom turn in my heart.
It was not your usual pump up the hydraulic plumbing macho fluid stuff.
Sure the rip tear and lacerate of ‘MP’ the father of modern high performance surfing was……. oh yeah baby!!!…. Show me the money!!! But it also had a humanity and respect for Michael’s condition that set it a cut above.

Jolyon Hoff the producer needs to be applauded and congratulated for the sensitive rendering and the depth of historical research he went to.

I might take a walk on the wild side here myself. My mate and ‘brother in arms’ MP….. we used to hang out, play chess and rap at his factory where he rented me a small room for my darkroom work in 75/76.
Michael had a much stronger strain of a mental condition that I myself have had to learn to manage with discipline and application. I only have bipolar disorder which quite a few highly talented and respected surfers and artist’s high profile people have.
I regret to this day that I could not convince my film associate Chris Bystrom to get medicated. He had three major things go wrong in his life before his untimely head on with a semi trailer.
Michaels condition paranoid schizophrenia; we knew nothing of at the time. We just knew he was as quiet and introverted as a ‘library bookworm nerd’ on land and did a complete out of the closet Clark Kent to superman switch once he hit the surf.
From my own experience, mental conditions are handed down the family tree line of some emotional pain or hurt of the parent/ grandparent/ great grandparent that has not been trashed out through the heart centre
releasing it.

I could have given you the standard reportage of the play by play film story rehash but I have just come back from a week of tai chi and meditation in the Noosa national park..I did not want to clutter your minds with more of the usual information overload rehash bash.

The reason Michael Peterson is so revered is he followed his heart and walked the talk. This is highly unusual today as in this entertainment world we let the great actors and general James Bond cats walk our own talk for us.
In Michaels day to be a surfer was really going against the grain as society still had be straight and conform to normal rules from the post second world war fallout and baggage. Michael’s behaviour if you read Sean Doherty’s book will reveal the clues on the things that caused his body and mind to be afflicted with the fear at every turn and step. If you do have such a condition as some of us big monkeys that swing from surfing’s tribal tree do.
Join us get medicated, and manage it. No shame be game. After all, they nicknamed MP the MONK for the long gangly killer ORANG UTANG paddler arms and the primitive psych out vibe that THE MISSING LINK was capable of.

We all owe a debt to Michael for BUSTIN DOWN THE DOORS of plain average surfing performance and showing us a standard of excellence and possibility.
A man of vision and courage!!.
His buddy and mate from 75 /76; MARTIN TULLEMANS surf photographer from 72 to 2003 on active tour of duty.
Now merely a pelican or sea eagle gliding and sliding on the winds above the jackals , hyenas, lions, tigers, kelpies, pure bred Aussie mongrels and barrel chested, pot bellied, chook legged, wave hogs on long lumber thrashing it out on the hydroscape.

BEFORE YOU GO FOR A SURF THINK THESE WORDS ‘SORRY MATE’, SHARE AND SOUL THEN MAYBE LIFE WILL BE A BEAUTIFUL WORLD AND A PARTY ONCE AGAIN IN THE WATER

MARTIN TULLEMANS

Check out more of Marty’s classic photos below and in our shop.

Click here to Purchase this print

Click here to purchase this print

Michael Peterson, Classic old Collectible autographed photos of MP taken by Legendary Photographer Marty Tullemans

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:03:47 +0000

Michael Peterson or MP as he was known, was the best surfer in the world for three years in the early seventies.No arguments there!!
Every contest he entered he won.
He was, without a doubt the most dominant force in surfing at the time.
Unfortunately the demons that taunted him made him less than appealing to the power brokers in the fledgling Pro Surfing circuit.
Michael shunned the limelight and was only keen to take the money and run… in return he was shunned by the pro surfung world and elbowed out into pasture.
With the new film called “In search of Michael Peterson ” being released recently the interest in his life and times has resurfaced.
Here at Ocean Artwork we are proud to offer several linited edition prints of MP, taken by legendary surf photographer Marty Tullemans.
These are classic portraits that capture the character of the surfing legend.
For a limited time we are able to offer these prints autographed by the man himself..

You can see the photos below and read Marty’s thoughts and description below each picture.

These are excerpts from a recent interview I did with Marty.

Pro surfers from the early seventies.

“Back then it was all a bit mystical because everybody was on some sort of weird substance and we were all young virginal people just on hamburgers and beer and they (pro surfers) were all right out there west of far east.
It was way different to today..
It was like well; today they’re just like rock and roll stars but back then they were way bigger than that!!
Because they were leaders of a tribe of a cultural revolution…
It was the early seventies and we were doing something that was just like… society couldn’t handle it.
If you surfed you were a rebel..
“What you don’t work 9-5 ?”
What you break the rules? And take time off, play hooky and go surfing?
Your one of those… FERALS!!?
It was like if you were a surfer you were a bit of a rebel, outside of society’s norm.
And to be really good at it! Well….Hey man…..you were a Bad ass!!

The surfing industry It was very crude very primitive back then but there was also a lot of discovery, there was a lot of new ground being broken.
Everybody had their little place and everybody was good at something and everybody respected each other’s individuality where as today everybody’s just paranoid about how good their facebook web site looks.” Marty Tullemans

Click here to purchase this print

“The was the first photo I ever had published it was one of MP at Sunshine Beach doing a little graceful glide off a bank of white water. They ran it as a half page in TRACKS.” Marty Tullemans

Click Here to Purchase this print

“This shot was taken at the Pa Bendall memorial.
One morning Michael pulled out the rocket tail or the Christmas tree as Tommy used to call it.
He was having a trip on the job the glasser had done on the little fangs in the rocket tail
It was bit of an iconic shot of Michael because he was the one trying a lot of different things.
A lot of people thought he was way out and different ..But hey! what people don’t realise Michael had the wide point behind the middle of the board..Way before anyone else cottoned on to it.
And because of this he was able to fit in more turns and more agility.
Because the other guys were staying with the old tried and proven school.. MP was breaking new ground and doing different things..because he was experimenting and not scared….and whatever else they disliked about him he had performance streets ahead of the pack because he used his brain and was prepared to be different and be an individual.” Marty Tullemans

Click here to purchase this print

“Michael actually asked me to take this photo..
He was the original ‘bad boy’ or as Rabbit called him the “Black knight” of the contest scene.
He was the one putting the hand brake on ‘professional surfing’ moving forward because of his lifestyle image.
There was a professional event on in Hawaii and all the invites were sent out months before and Michael got his the day before the contest started in Hawaii and he received it in Australia.
I used to rent a little dark room next to his surfboard factory in Appel st Kirra.
So he called around and said
‘Marty come and get this photo I want to write a letter to TRACKS’.
So he wrote the letter and they ran the photo.
In the letter he had his grievances about why his invitation was sent by surface mail and not air mail.
In other words it was a polite way for the contest officials to …
aaaah well…. all the boys who were ‘bustin down the door” didn’t want MP at their event, because he was dragging the image of surfing down
because all the mainstream journo’s immediately would go on about all the negative issues around Michael and what he used to bring to the table.
Whereas Michael raised the bar for all of them in terms of performance and they’re claiming they busted down the door??
Hey Fella’s get it right!!
Hey get it in the house !! ha ha
Michael raised the bar and because he raised the bar you guys had something to bust the door down with!!!!” Marty Tullemans

Michael Peterson makes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas look like Alice in Wonderland.

MP’s life story is part circus, part car crash and purely extraordinary.
It’s an intoxicating and addictive tale for anyone who has ever felt like a fish out of water.

Cafe Le Monde and Max Judo

admin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:36:05 +0000

I got an email on Thursday afternoon, inviting me to a surf art and memorabilia charity auction that was on that night.
It was being held at Le Monde Cafe a very groovy little establishment in the base of the new ‘Kirra Surf’ building.

There may be better ways to spend a balmy summer evening but I couldnt think of one at the time so I trotted off down there as quick as I could..Turned out to be a great decision!!

The Auction was organised to raise money for the victims of the massive floods in Fiji and also the raise more funds for the Bush Fire Appeal.

A few people scored bargains in the auction , but unfortunately most items were passed over.

Bobby Blue started off the entertainment with some nice Blues and Jazz tunes…
he was accompanied on several numbers with Julian Hogdens.

The North Coast band Max Judo came on and got the place rocking.
Ive never seen these guys play before but Ive heard a lot about them.

I was honestly blown away by how good they really were… Every song they played was worthy of a live Album……
They really have a tight proffessional act , It’s no wonder they’ve started to do well internationally. Touring in the U.S for half the year…
Make sure you check out their web site and read about what theyve been up to… maxjudo.com

Later in the evening the beautiful Fijian ladies who had flown up from Sydney came on stage to sing some island style harmonys. A perfect way to wind down the night.

Over all it was a great night, with great music, in a great venue with great atmosphere..

Epic waves at Kirra, the Super Bank and on the Gold Coast Sunday Feruary 15th

admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:24:07 +0000

After the howling winds of yesterday It was a pleasure to wake just before sunrise to a light offshore winds and a semi clear sky.

I took off down the beach straight to Kirra, It had been doing its thing just on dark last night, even with the offshore gale force winds. So I knew it would be good.

I wasnt dissaponted the waves were perfect. Duranbah and Snapper were maxed out. There were perfect lines pouring through Greenmount to big groyne Kirra.
There were still a few clouds around so it wasnt ideal shooting conditions.

While I was wandering around Kirra early this morning a few of the local crew ventured via boat and Jetski to a secret spot about an hour away and scored unbelievable surf. The shot above is courtesy of Andrew Shields Expect to see a lot of classic shots from this session filtering through on the web in the next few days and then in the Print mags in a few months