And now for a digression from the love-and-marriage theme. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that the Red Bats took pictures for Covewater SUP last year when the shop first opened. Covewater SUP is still going strong and is the center of the SUP scene in Santa Cruz. In July, Scott and Leslie Ruble created the First Annual Covewater Classic, a SUP race that attracted paddleboarders from all over California and beyond, and they asked for more Red Bat photo action. I was the only Red Bat available that day, so I got myself over to Capitola Beach at 7:30 am to shoot an athletic event for the first time ever in my life.

Photographing a race (actually, three races, for three different skill levels) was way more fun than I expected. As sports fans know, it’s a great feeling to watch other people work really hard while you just stand there and cheer. Not that I stood there the entire time- there was running involved for this photographer. The second leg of the 7.5-mile Elite race required the athletes to pick up their boards and carry them across the sand from the water’s edge to Soquel Creek, where they got into the water and raced up the creek (with a paddle) and around a buoy before returning to the beach to get back into the ocean for the final 2-mile leg of the race. I followed them as they raced over the sand and up and down the creek, and as I did so, I admired the fiendish mind that created this course. Imagine paddling as fast as you can for five miles and then sprinting across sand with your board to paddle some more. Watching this happen destroyed any remaining idea I had of paddleboarding being a leisurely sport.

I found shooting these races to be far easier than shooting a wedding. Here people didn’t mind if I got pictures of them making strange faces and sweating. I didn’t have to worry about their makeup and clothes being awry, or figure out how to pose fifty of them so that all of their eyes were visible. All I had to do was get myself into the right places at the right times and shoot shoot shoot. The day started off foggy and turned beautiful. By the time it was all over I’d experienced a vicarious endorphin high and admired the green-blue of the seawater. I’d definitely do this one again.

If you’re interested in the results of this race and/or want to learn more about what Covewater SUP is doing, you can check out their site.

Well now here’s a post that would’ve been way more relevant six months ago! But at least the event described here happened within this calendar year. That makes it all okay. Right?

As you may remember, we (or rather, I) photographed the first annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony back in January 2010- you can see those photos here. On January 23, 2011, the NEXTies happened again, making this the second annual Santa Cruz NEXT awards ceremony, in case you were losing track. This time Patrick was there too, and he got fabulous photos, as you will see.

The 2011 NEXTies happened at the Top of the Ritt, and once again Timerie Gordon made it look space-age-awesome. This time around she included real live humans in her design, because she’s a genius like that. These living statues were brought to us by Santa Cruz Dance. At the start of the event, they posed on scaffolding in the lobby. Later they made their way around the venue and became part of the decor, sometimes holding still and sometimes moving very slowly. They started to seem like some other kind of lifeform, something oceanic. It was a little bit disconcerting, and totally cool.

Many tasty tidbits were offered by local vendors and served on wheels by several Santa Cruz Derby Girls. These tidbits included the teensiest brisket sliders I’ve ever seen (by SmoQe BBQ) and yummy stuff by Coastal Catering and others. Later on Dan P and The Bricks took the stage and got people to do some fancy dancing. The first time I ever saw Dan P and the Bricks was actually in front of that same building, right on the street, where they had a piano and a crowd of pleased tourists around them.

You can read more about the 2011 NEXTies and who was honored there in this article.

On a photographic note: one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken is the 12th one down in this post. There’s something so incredibly strange about it. I think I’ve had dreams that looked like that photo and the one after it. Recurring, perplexing, Lynchian dreams. Also, the final photo, the view of Pacific Avenue from the Top of the Ritt, is definitely one of my favorite photos by Patrick.

Overall, I think we did pretty well considering how dark it was in there (low lighting plus no nearby walls plus dark ceilings equals flash frustration!) And now our did-pretty-well-ness is preserved forever on this blog, which means It Officially Happened. Hooray!