Driftwood Photography Studios

04/23/2025

Happy Earth Day

12/06/2024

Wishing Joao de Macedo () a well deserved retirement from competitive big wave surfing, and look forward to all the unparalleled environmental and World Surfing Reserves work he has done + will now continue to focus on full time with his 👏

11/26/2024

600mm spy lens pointed way down the 7 Mile Miracle

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11/12/2024

Some favorites from past California winters

08/22/2024

Waves on the brain

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04/22/2024

04/09/2024

It’s only fitting that my UCONN sweatshirt is covered in dog hair. Let’s. Go. Huskies. 🐾

01/20/2024

What makes a champion great? Basically everything about . Intensely focused on her goals, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in and out of the water, and always has time and a huge smile for her fans. She’s a shining example for girls and boys alike, but how fortunate girls everywhere are to have a roll model like her. Good luck in your next chapter off the tour, Riss!
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11/30/2023

Throwing it back 10 years to my 2013 Red Bull Illume finalist image and the awards ceremony in Hong Kong 🇭🇰

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02/03/2023

Puerto memories from my first trip in 2012. Thanks for the invite all those years ago 🙌

1️⃣ Playa Zicatela

2️⃣ Greg Long paddle wave of the swell

3️⃣ Ricky Whitlock drawing a crowd at the beach bar

4️⃣ Oscar Moncada towing a bomb + dodging someone’s board 🙏

5️⃣ Joao De Macedo blasting out of a massive pit

6️⃣ Jensen Hassett on rail

7️⃣ Spencer Pirdy pulling into a beast

8️⃣ Gabriel Villaran hand drag under the lip

01/06/2023

A collection from past winter swells chased. I wrote a really thoughtful, maybe a tad long, but meaningful post about big winter storms + chasing swells … and sitting out this current one. Then instagram blipped, crashed, and it was gone. Ironically that seems fitting. So let’s get right to the photos. And everyone stay safe out there.

swipe ➡️ 📸 🌊

1️⃣ Todos Santos
2️⃣ Ocean Beach
3️⃣ Mavericks
4️⃣ South Bay
5️⃣ Ventura Pier
6️⃣ Mavericks
7️⃣ Baja CA
8️⃣ Oxnard
9️⃣ Seal Beach
🔟 Mavericks

12/04/2022

2 YEARS AGO TODAY… I was discharged after a week in the hospital battling Covid-19. I’ve spent the past 2 years continually fighting to recover. Every day. All day. I don’t have a choice. I hope one day to be able to lift my camera again without getting short of breath. To look at my computer screen without getting headaches and nauseous. To take my dog for a walk. Go out to dinner with my wife. To sit upright for a full hour without getting fatigued and short of breath. If you’ve wondered where I’ve been or why I haven’t posted much new content… this is why.
Not enough is known or discussed about the aftermath of Covid. Research is still ongoing. Treatment is very limited. Awareness is severely lacking. Yet there are roughly 25-30 million people in the US who suffer from extended, limiting, and even fully debilitating symptoms due to Long Covid.
The government calls it PASC. People tend to call it Long Covid. Those who have it are generally called Long Haulers. It affects people who were hospitalized like me, and even people who were only ever asymptomatic. Sometimes symptoms never go away, other times they inexplicably return (or begin) months after infection.
It’s a multi system scourge. Leading research points to a few likely Covid-triggered conditions such as: damage from inflammation, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, autoimmune response, viral persistence, and possibly even micro clots, small vessel disease, and/or nerve damage throughout the entire body brought on by the ravages of the virus. The most recent studies indicate there is some interplay between these leading theories, as so much is highly interconnected within the body.
Per recent data the more times you get Covid, the greater the likelihood of becoming a Long Hauler. And the risk unfortunately remains even with newer variants.
It’s a humanitarian, employment, and economic time bomb that very few are discussing, yet are a looming disaster as we try to claw our way out of the pandemic and it’s economic and social impacts. But it’s real. I’m one of them.
Awareness is crucial. If you didn’t know about it before, then now you know too.