BUY APPAREL

Just saw Coconut Steve, owner of Coconut Harry's Surf Shop and he had some exciting news. He is about to place his surfboard order for 2009 and if you order now, he will pass his savings to you. The other really cool thing is that the boards are all 2009 models and they will arrive here 4 months before they are available in the USA! How sick is that??? So if you want to pick up a new board, contact Steve. Check out this shot of Steve, absolutely killing it this past season!!!

Shane spent pretty much the entire dry season here in Guiones, charging on the big days and ripping on the smaller days and breaking a few boards. Now he is spending the spring in Puerto Escondido waiting for the big south swells.

The Aprentice - Soul Arch Photo!!!!!

Not sure what is inspiring the onslaught but I am getting at least 3 emails a week from people that are aspiring photographers and would do anything to be able to come here and help out around Soul Arch Photo. Its pretty cool to have so many people interested in what we (I) do down here in Costa Rica. However, there is a harsh reality to this business that, on the surface, seems like the ideal situation. Creating images, i.e. taking the photos, is like the tip of the iceburg, and beneath the surface is all of the computer processing work that is necessary when shooting up to 1,000 images per day. Here is a schedule of a fairly typical day for me here. Oh yeah, and did I mention that this is 7 days a week.....

4:40am - wakeup, eat a small breakfast and be out the door by 5:15
5:15-5:45 - check the surf (sometimes get in a quick session)
6:00am - load up the gear and head to the beach
6:15-9:30 - shoot photos
10am-1pm - dump photos, select photos for surfreports, edit photos for surfreports, create surf reports, select photos for slideshow, create slideshow, deliver slideshows to locations around Guiones, SORT PHOTOS, reply to emails. Notice I highlighted sort photos (the bane of my existence).
1pm-4pm - Be available to customers at the Soul Arch studio.
4pm-6pm - If conditions permit, which they usually don't, surf some junky, blown out, super crowded waves.
7pm - eat some dinner and guess what, by 8:30, its pretty much lights out.

As you can see, it doesn't leave a lot of time for hanging out with all the supermodels that come through town, or late night drinking with the boys. Not that either one of those things are near the top of my to do list. The real drag of that schedule is that, here at least, there is a prime surf time, which is the morning session. Standing on the beach, getting chewed on by jungle bugs and being roasted by the tropical sun, while everyone else is recharging their batteries surfing great, clean, glassy waves in offshore conditions can sometimes be a bit much.

Of course, there is time required to make and distribute marketing materials, clean and maintain equipment, order supplies, update my website, create online galleries for people that didn't buy photos before they went home etc.

Every year, Surfer magazine does their big "Photo Issue" and I remember laughing when I saw a stats section. Here were a couple of the highlights. Average cost of a pro photographers gear $25K and average annual salary $22k. I swear those guys must be reading my mail because they just about hit the numbers square on the head.

So of course I could use some help and have had pretty good luck finding people here to lend a hand on some of the tasks but when you are pulling in that staggering salary mentioned above, its pretty hard to pay anybody a decent wage and still be able to afford a plate of beans and rice at the end of the day.

Back from the brink! Wow, just getting around to resuming a normal life after getting whacked by a hard hitting flu bug. The upside is that there really weren't any waves this week, unless you have always wanted an epic shot of you on a knee high zipper! We are seeing afternoon thundershowers every day too so the heavy 'start of rainy season' rains can't be that far away.

Set wave from the week of April 11.

I hope that you can see the fish just to the right of the head of the surfer, Preston. I didn't notice this until he came in to view his photos. Its pretty hard to tell what kind of fish it is. There is one other photo in the sequence where it looks a lot like a Dorado but it might just be the distortion/refraction of looking through the water. Either way, its a pretty big fish right there in the surf.

Message to Reed - I still have your photos but I lost your email. Please email me again, with your address so that I can get you another disk.

Wow, the past three days have been amazing. The forecast was for 6 foot and 5 stars and it pretty much lived up to the hype. Here are a few highlights from Mar 27.

People were scratching.

Dogs were dancing.

Nuggets were going unridden

Coconut Steve was CHARGING!

And, Bean wore herself out!

Barrels are very elusive here in Guiones but Luigi was able to find this one, and a few other this morning on the dropping tide.

There were about 5 people in the water this morning. Here are 3 of them on the same wave.

A friend from Norway asked me to create some photos for her. She has a yoga studio in Norway and spends some time here in Nosara. We had a great sunset for the shoot last night.

SURF ALERT!!!!

Here is a screen shot from Magic Seaweed for this upcoming week. They are forecasting Wed, Thu, and Fri to be 5 Star Days!!! That's right, the rare and elusive 5 stars for 3 straight days. Make your travel plans NOW and score some epic surf.

Here we go again. This is the newest addition to what is quickly becoming the Soul Arch zoo. Her name is Ella and she is a 7 week old Shepard mix.

Today was firing here in Nosara. Solid overhead sets with rumors of some going triple overhead.

Made a trip to the world famous Pavones this week. Check out the report here.

Pavones from 1,000 feet up.

Man, time is flying by here in Costa Rica. If you have emailed me in the past week or so regarding photos, please be patient as I am really behind at the moment in replying and creating galleries. Its ALWAYS better to purchase your photos while you are here in Nosara, as the online galleries take lots of time to create and manage.

Today was a travel day as a few friends and I headed South to surf Boca Barranca, the 3rd longest wave in the WORLD. It was 7-10 foot on the sets and lots of fun but the paddle out was absolutely grueling. If you are going there I recommend the Hotel Boca Barranca. Great hosts there....ask for Diego.

I want to say thank you to a great group of guys. They are here for the third year in a row and always book a private session with us. We had pretty cloudy skies this morning but the waves were great. Thanks again, Bill, Doug, Ryan, Ben, Will and Joey Hustle! Look forward to seeing you guys next year.

Soul Arch Surf Charters.........We just launched a new service, Surf Trips to Pavones and Mata Palo by airplane. Its no joke, we are flying. From the Nosara airport we are in Pavones, SURFING, in less that 2 hours. Compare that to the 12-14 HOUR back breaking drive! Click on the Surf Trips link for more information.

Our new mode of transportation.

Wanted to share with you that we at Soul Arch have the "Pic of the Week" on a website called CRSurf, which is a site about surfing in Costa Rica. I took this shot on Jan 22 from the water here in Nosara. The waves were unreal that day in that they were steep, clean, and the water was unbelievably clear.

I don't know what species of bird this is but I have a few readers that are going to let us know shortly. Sorry about the low resolution, I do that so the page loads quickly. I will be placing a photo of this bird in the Nosara photos gallery on my website. You will be able to purchase beautiful color prints of this bird and other images of Nosara from the gallery.

I've been working some long hours the past few days catching up on all the stuff that was neglected during our epic run of surf. I received an email from Luke who lives in Philly (yes, there are surfers in Philly) that I wanted to share. Here it is.....

Matt,

Well we made it back home in one piece and I wanted to drop you an email and say thank you for the photos you took of me while I was in Costa Rica last week. It was a killer trip with great waves! I really appreciate your hospitality and making the Boys from Philly feel welcome down there. Your pictures are great and thank god you are there to take them and send us home with many memories from the water. Now you even know that Big Guys can surf!!! So thank you again and tell your assistant Mike I will be back next year to beat him in Ping Pong!!! Lol

Here is a photo of Luke making Philly proud.

Thanks Luke. Glad you had a great trip and see you in 09'.

Wow, can't believe January is over. It was an amazing run of surf here in Nosara. In case you missed it, you can look at the archive of our surf reports at www.surfingnosara.com. I am going to start spending more time shooting from the water. Normally the wave here is not the most photogenic when shot from the water but every once in a while one like the one in the photo below rolls in.

New at Soul Arch Photo!!! I created a gallery of a few empty wave photos and you can purchase 8x12 glossy prints suitable for framing. Click the photo to view the gallery. If you would like any text added to a photo, such as "Playa Nosara", just send me an email and I can do that for you.

John had a great week in Nosara, caught some quality waves, and of course took home some great photos. See you in July John.

In the never ending quest to improve our product offerings here at Soul Arch Photo, we are now shooting from both the beach and from in the water, but get this, simultaneously!!!! Sometimes it results in getting you on the same wave from both perspectives. Look for more of this in the future! Bram Shook on a nice right this morning in Guiones.

We have a combo swell hitting today producing some overhead sets. Here is a shot of Richard, on only his second day back from a delicate surgery, practicing his cannonball.

Spent some time swimming this morning with the water housing. Here is a shot of Alan. He wanted his brothers to see what they had in store when they come down later this year.

The beaches here in Nosara are part of a National Wildlife refuge. The main reason is that Ridley turtles nest on these beaches. The primary nesting beach is about 15 minutes North of here but every so often turtles will lay their eggs on Guiones. This morning some hatchlings were emerging from the sand. This little one needed some assistance getting to the water but quickly swam away once he was placed there.

Single Fin Yellow.

Did you see the movie? If not, check it out right away. The story revolves around a single surfboard (a single fin, yellow longboard) that was made to be shared with friends around the globe. The board is delivered to one great surfer after another (I won't spoil the plot as to who) and the filmmaker documents each surfer's experience with the board. I loved it because the board comes from a shaper in my hometown and I really respect a lot of the surfers in the film. The guy in the photo below, Tall Paul from Manhattan Beach, has a cameo in the film. Do you remember seeing him? Can you spot him? Anyway, Paul and his friends are here in Nosara this week, sharing in the Pura Vida vibe. Glad to have you guys here.

When the waves get small I like to diversify my photography. I was honored to be asked by a friend here to photograph her in her last week of pregnancy with her third child. We got some great light near sunset and she looked amazing.

The waves here are really small right now. If you want proof, be sure to check www.surfingnosara.com. I have seen people jogging, practicing Judo, climbing trees, just about anything to stay in shape and conditioned for when the waves pick up again. One great thing about Nosara is that if you stay near the beach you can pretty much do without a car. Here Barry is taking advantage of one of the better modes of transportation here. Considering the shape of the roads, you can almost ride a bike faster than you can drive in some areas.

There is an amazing Yoga school here in Nosara, aptly named the Nosara Yoga Institute. Like I mentioned in the previous blog, the owners of the institute, Don and Amba Stapleton, have asked me to document their current month-long teacher training. Don and Amba are truly amazing people and are great examples/role models of people that have set about making their dreams a reality. Here they are in class this morning talking about exercising your "listening" muscle. Amba is a pro as you can see.

Another week down. We had some pretty big surf this week and the offshore winds have already started to blow. The Nosara Yoga Institute has started their month-long teacher training and have commissioned me to photograph the group throughout the month. More people show up everyday and it feels like the season is going to be huge. Come down and check us out.

Be sure to check www.surfingnosara.com for daily surf reports.

Here is a little taste of this morning.