Since moving to Santa Cruz, I’ve often noticed people standing on surfboards and paddling around just offshore. That seems like fun, I’d think to myself. How lovely their silhouettes look at sunset as they glide across the water, and just imagine the photos you could get from that perspective.

Little did I know I’d be spending one Valentine’s Day at the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor, jumping in and out of a car with a camera, as we drove up and down the length of the channel photographing paddleboarders in action for the website of a new SUP shop called Covewater Paddle Surf.

SUP means Standup Paddleboarding, and it’s become quite a popular pastime; this must be true, because The New York Times said so. Scott and Leslie Ruble are so passionate about sharing this sport that they opened the only dedicated Standup Paddleboarding shop on the West Coast north of Santa Barbara, and are busily purveying SUP equipment, accessories, classes and rentals.

It was Scott who drove me to and fro in the harbor that day, stopping at good vantage points to let me out for a minute or so to shoot SUP class groups as they made their way along the channel. Meanwhile, Leslie was in the water, teaching the art of SUP and looking like its best advertisement. I could tell that watching other people out in the water was making Scott want to get on his paddleboard, and the feeling was contagious. I totally want to try it, and of course I know exactly where I can rent equipment and take lessons now (that’s Covewater Paddle Surf, in case you didn’t catch it the first time).

SUP seems to inspire a strong reverence for the ocean (or lake, or even river- people use all of these for paddleboarding). It’s a slightly different spirituality than that of wave surfing, which focuses on the swell and the tides. SUP can make use of water in all states, calm or otherwise, and is devoted to exploring, observing, or just being there, out on the water.

As I picked out my favorite photos from that day to share with you, I was reminded of this poem by Philip Larkin, called Water:

If I were called in
To construct a religion
I should make use of water.

And I should raise in the east
A glass of water
Where any-angled light
Would congregate endlessly.

The only person who got a “furious devout drench” that day was Jeffrey Kongslie, who was a great sport about it, and who really deserves his own category on this blog. In fact, I’m going to give him one right now.

Enjoy the photos, and don’t forget to try Standup Paddleboarding!

Have we told you about our magazine covers? We haven’t? Well, we shall have to rectify that! To date, our photos have appeared on the covers of TWO magazines. Yes, that’s right – TWO, which is two more than zero.

The first cover was the summer 2008 issue of Slow Food USA’s The Snail. Here’s the cover:

Ours is the sheep photo, not the fish thing.

The second cover is out now, and it’s the Spring 2009 issue of Mystery Scene, starring Laurie King:

That’s simply a screenshot from their website, but as you can see, the interview offers a bit of “Subversive Fun” with Laurie King. Intriguing! I also like how the “Y”s in their title font look a bit stabby.

Finally, I’m not sure if you’re all aware of this, but I’m kind of a big deal in Masonic Imposter circles:

I’m not sure what I’m doing with my hand there, but you can read more about faux Masons at the National Heritage Museum’s blog.

We are very excited to announce that you may now walk into just about any bookstore in the country and pick up a copy of a book with our work in it!

You may recall Rebecca’s post from November of last year, in which she described the feeling of reading Laurie R. King’s work, and how much of an impact it had on her. Well, now it’s my turn.

I’ll begin by saying that Laurie King is a New York Times Bestselling Author and has written 19 novels, the most recent of which was released on April 28th. It’s called The Language of Bees, and is the 9th in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series.

Sherlock Holmes is very dear to my heart. You could even say I grew up with him – my mother always had a copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes in a prominent place on one of her many, many bookshelves. I wore her copy out when I was a teenager and then bought my own when I moved out. It’s a huge thing, thick and black and well-loved.

I’ve even watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) the old black and white Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson.

With all of this said, I hope it’s clear that I hold Sherlock Holmes to a high standard, and did not believe that any modern writer could do him justice. Gladly, I was utterly mistaken. Laurie King’s Holmes is just how I remembered him. A little older, a little more worn, but still sharp and just as unable to suffer fools as he always was. And even better than getting Holmes just right, she’s invented Mary Russell, who narrates the stories, solves plenty of crime on her own merit, and does something that Arthur Conan Doyle never really could: humanize Holmes. Laurie King (through Mary Russell) gives him life and vitality and subtlety in addition to the clockwork deduction that I recall. It’s really a fairly amazing feat to accomplish.

The photo that Laurie King chose as her jacket portrait is posted below, along with another of her favorites from that shoot back in October. We are very happy with how it turned out, ecstatic to see it in print, and thankful that it’s attached to such a high quality work of art.

I also feel compelled to point out that there’s a special tie-in with this new book. If you order a copy of the book through the LRK Amazon store, a percentage of the purchase price goes to Heifer International’s Beehive Project, which helps poor families supplement their income through beekeeping.

I’ve purchased both a print version and an electronic version of the Language of Bees (for my new Kindle 2), and it’s a fantastic read. Highly recommended, and with the Official Red Bat Seal of Approval!

I was trawling through the Red Bat archives, looking for interesting shots for our portfolio, when I happened to find Patrick’s Proof Bar sets from 2007. He visited the Santa Ana nightspot several times in May and July and got pictures of people dancing to beats laid down by DJ DAUS, aka his friend Darius. This two-minute slideshow uses excerpts from a DAUS track and photos by Patrick, and proves that it’s possible to get great shots in a dark nightclub.

DAUS is the hottie in the Pink Floyd t-shirt. His tracks can be found at www.daustek.com.