Category Archives: San Diego
How to Make Something Beautiful (part two)
Japanese woodblock: my vintage Canon F-1n (20mm f/2.8) Start with something completely familiar – like an analog single lens reflex. Find a chunk of clear Douglas fir and sketch directly to … Continue reading
Why I Shoot Film – Part One
Roadside Gas Station (retired), National City California Film has built-in limitations – but it’s honest. It has reciprocity problems and grain, but it’s film grain – not noise. You can’t shoot a 16 bit digital frame and desaturate it to … Continue reading
Jim Hubbell’s Skunkworks
James Hubbell – in the workshop, Santa Ysabel California You could call Jim Hubbell an artist, but you’d have to stretch the definition to cover drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, stained glass work, mosaics, jewelry, poetry and philosophy – and that … Continue reading
The Salt Mines
Western Salt Works, Chula Vista California In November of 1996 while driving around California on a magazine assignment I came across the Western Salt Works at the southern end of San Diego Bay. From the beginning I’d been interested in … Continue reading
Simple, Reliable & Classic
Broken Hill – Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego California Whenever I get out of sync with the world, I go back to the basics. With surfing it’s always been a big single-fin pintail. For everything else there’s my Rolleiflex. … Continue reading
Ocean Waves
In 1937 Ansel Adams said: a great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed. Continue reading
Classic Noir
April – shot through a vintage Rolleiflex f/3.5 In the most general sense, Noir is a cinema term for a genre of film-making that concerns itself with evil, moral corruption, alienation and disillusionment. A classic Noir film featured women that smoked, … Continue reading
California Noir
Chris – Pacific Beach, California. 6:30PM, October 5th 2012 Surfing is a discipline. Like any serious pursuit it involves sacrifices that are not for the faint of heart. Forget about a regular job. The idea of family can be pretty … Continue reading
Coming Full Circle at the University of California San Diego
On Assignment at Eleanor Roosevelt College – University of California, San Diego Driving into San Diego from Los Angeles, one of the first things you encounter is the University of California. If you were making that drive – say, … Continue reading
Jamie Sterling’s 10’6″ Balsa Gun
Balsa wood has a lighter density than cork and it grows all over the place from Brazil to Mexico. It’s straight, buoyant and is used to make beautiful surfboards – but that’s just the beginning. To make a balsa surfboard … Continue reading
Field Notes: John Durant Photographer 