Get 'em Started Young

Just imagine if, from the very moment that you could put one foot in front of the other and call it walking rather than falling over, you had been getting in the sea.  And if your Dad and all of his friends surfed and some of them were pretty well renowned surf coaches?  The odds would be fairly good that you'd grow up feeling comfortable in waves I suppose, to say the least.  


Theo, you'd better let us all get some waves in a few years time...




DISCLAIMER:  If any of you are concerned for young Theo's well being, I'll put your mind at ease.  He was laughing and having the best time when this image was taken, and Mum and Dad were stood just out of shot.  From what I hear, since this occasion he now asks to fly to the sea rather than walk.

Cool before cool was cool

Dug this one out of the family archives - that's my Grandad on the right, crouched down in a trenchcoat, wild cap (pre bike helmets) and a cig hanging from his lips (because they were good for your voice back then...) fixing his mates bike on the roadside sometime in the mid 1930's...a solid 15-20 years before Brando became an icon in The Wild Ones and James Dean created a counter-culture in Rebel Without A Cause.

The reason why I love this shot so much is because my Gran took it (sitting on the back of a bike was probably my Grandads idea of a good date) with a mark I Kodak box brownie, and that's the canvas case slung over his shoulder. That camera, case and all, is now sat on my shelf. I'm planning on pushing a roll of film through it sometime soon, so we'll see what comes out.

I guess at least if I haven't inherited Grandads easy cool or his vintage iron steed, there's a beautiful old camera in my hands waiting to capture a new reality 80 years on.