The Shoebox Series was inspired by a friend’s shoebox full of old surf photographs he and his friends had taken of each other over the years. Realizing that almost every lifelong surfer has a stash of photographic evidence of their surfing lives stowed away somewhere, I went to my local surf buddies and heroes alike, asking for a few of their snapshots that capture what surfing here in Humboldt means to them. These became the inspirations for the series, which went on to be published in the Surfer’s Journal in 2008 (Volume 17, #3).

Here’s the caption for this one, as it was printed in the Surfer’s Journal:

“From a photo submitted by Abe Morrison: At first glance this one looks quite simple but the rider is facing a deceptively difficult situation with absolute calm. More of a surge than a wave, that wall he’s riding drags a rather massive amount of ocean behind it. This ability to remain calm in the face of heavy situations, more than anything else, is what defines great surfing here.”