Way of the Bird

Way of the Bird
By Andrew Kidman & Andy Davis

In a world of mass produced similarity and disposable style the "different" can just be the new trend,
therefore ripe for the above treatment..Sometimes tho different can't be grasped by the marketing men
they just don't get it...
This book falls into this genre it is targeted for "surf children" ,yeah a bedtime book with a "Aloha" spirit,
board riding bent ? yeah the "duke's" great message of giving-receiving , loving and riding.
Damn it's got me thinking of the deprived childhood we had listening to the brothers grimm and treasure island. No really it's a great book,containing all the required ingredients ;short enough for a bedtime read and dream inducing pictures combining master photographer Andrew Kidmans photo's with Andy Davis's drawings
a partnership which works as good as fish & chips after a surf !
Now we come to the books downfall "the cloud in every silver lining" ,
Arguments i can see a few happening around this book, 'grommet' wants it in the bedroom and
you want it on the coffee table..
Mum's gonna have to put her 'foot down' so remember to act like an adult when the grommet gets their way.
Seriously a great book, at about $40 its not cheap and i don't think you'll ever find it in the bargain bin,
But it could be the best book you ever read to the kids.

Rating: 5/5

December Issue 12 Volume 1

This cover was taken two days befor e th issue went live. We were going to run the body board cover. Of you look closely at the covers you will notice a different range of stories between the two covers. thanks to a mishap some of the original content was missing and some of the stories I wanted to run never turned up on my laptop.

Both images were worthy of this months cover but at the end of the day the body board image was old and was being rehashed for this issue. The shot of Gumby forward flipping of the Snojam structure has so much colour and life it just needed to be posted


We are also starting to experiment with movies now too so if you have been filming some surf action send your mini vids to editor@ridersanonymous.co.nz Lets see if we can make RA TV

'Dora lives' Miki 'Da Cat' Dora

Dora lives the authorized story of Miki Dora
C. R. Stecyk III and Drew Kampion
Hardcover 135 pages
For me a great book transports the reader to another time/place, and portrays the feel and atmosphere of the place the author is writing from, Stecyk and Kampion, two great surf writers achieve this goal easily despite the complex subject which covers many facets of ‘Da Cat’s’ life/travels and apparent crimes from a first hand view point without letting the cult of legend distorting reality.
The great thing about Dora is his depth and paradox way he lived life. This book fed my interest but I’m left still wanting more information on the mystery that is Dora. What I really love is I know I’ll never figure the man out.
Few characters in the history of surfing could be harder to define than the enigmatic ‘Mikilos Caplin Dora’ a true innovator in style and the undisputed king of cool during the adolescence of the California surf scene as one of the crew at the undiscovered Malibu point.

He lived a simple life surfing with fellow legends ‘tubesteak’ and Kathy Kohner spending their days sliding and gliding in relative solitude living surfing and when the sun went down and the stars came out the freakishly stylish Miki would crash Hollywood parties, to all it seemed life was good… That was until Kathy’s dad penned the book Gidget and the whole world wanted to party and shoot the curl at the ‘Bu'.
Ironically and shockingly Dora featured in the film Gidget effectively sealing the loss of his utopia.
Dora suffered greatly from the ‘outing’ of his beach and reacted accordingly to the scores of surfers encroaching on his turf by flicking his board at surfers who dared share his waves and it was the most likely his actions that hastened the development of surf etiquette.
‘The angry young man of surfing’ left the ‘Bu for a life globe trotting the world including a stint at Mahia peninsular as a Mormon, and later in life he enjoyed Jeffrey’s bay where he lived with his best friend ‘scooter boy’ a cocker spaniel.
What really came to me from this book is Dora was always himself he never ever deviated from his path a true being he didn’t sell-out and he didn’t compromise. A true character in a lifestyle becoming increasingly P C and homogenized as its industries sell out by marketing to the masses rather than listening to its market. Dora is the surfers Che. VIVA Dora
Dora lives

November Cover Volume 1 Issue 11

This issue contains stories surrounding the Vodafone Surf Sessions. I wanted to use one of the action shots to do a cover similar to those the magazines would put out. I thought I had the chosen cover with this shot below of Mick Fanning. My brother and I debated on which shot to use, but then I gave in and went with the Andy Irons Shot.


Originally it was going to look like this but it just seemed a bit grey for a cover image . I was also struggling to find a good font and and grab statement for the cover . I was playing with the hue when I had the thought of the blood cover come to mind.

Out came the red again but as we had used it before it was time for something new. I played with a duplicate image of Andy to bring him brighter and forward in the image and then darken the background. While doing this and playing with the hue again I found a colour filter switch. Playing with this, I found the Crayon yellow background which gave the cover the final terrifying look of a horror movie. Saturday at Piha was nuts, 6-8 foot and maxing out, yet all the surfers charged. There were some good wipeouts which lead me to 'surfers to the Slaughter.

Siestas & Olas

Join in on a Mexican endless summer, where time is well utilised, seeking and finding waves on the Baja peninsula and the mainland Mexican coast.
For Tom Wegener, Josh Farberow, Marc Kavanagh, and special visitor, Joel Tudor, a 90-day visa is used to full effect.
Director Dan Wozniak (Ten Toes Over) narrates in fine “Endless Summer” style.
This is a well paced film of long and short boarding, including a huge variety of waves, from Matachen Bay’s five minute rides, to a left handed copy of Malibu and a pumping 20 - 60 foot wave at Petacalco.
However, its Joel Tudors section at pumping Mexican pipe, that he described as “my best barrel session ever”, that really steps the film up a gear.
The interweaving of Mexicali and surf music kept this an enjoyable and watchable film. It made me want to save up the money and go get my share of warm and uncrowded waves.
Best to watch: On those days when you don’t know which board to take out, or when you’re just chilling
Running time: 90 minutes.
Rating: 7.5/10

Can't you get along with anyone? A writers memoir

Allan c.Weisbecker
531 pages

The perfect wave in an isolated paradise...
Every surfers dream ? hell yes !
So how did famous surfing author Allen Weisbecker end up arming himself with a gun to go for a surf in paradise?
In this the third book by the author of 'Cosmic bandito's' and 'In search of captain zero' we
are taken deep into the actual events and mind of allan as paradise gets messed up big time.

This book is a memoir and i find it impossible to belive anything has been left out ,
in fact i'd find it hard to belive there would not be a huge group of people lining up to sue
allan into next century.
And i must forewarn you this book is a trip into the dark side of an authors mind as,
what can go wrong does go wrong ... big time.
I found this book quite difficult to read due to the total exposure by the author
and while it may not be my favorite book by the author i also couldn't put it down
and there is enough action to make your head spin,
It's all explained ;
what hollywood star he physically treatened ,
why a Hit was put out on him,
why his agent and editor ditched him
and how paradise was lost forever...

so over all this book created the full raft of human emotions in me
it wasn't what i expected or sought but it sure left a mark on my mind
and that to me signals a great author.

Rating ; 4/5 i wanted 'cosmic bandito's 2'.. but got so much more

October Cover Volume 1 Issue 10

Hey kiddies, here it is at last. The latest October issue of Riders Anonymous 10 days late. My computer was playing games with my pshycy so I sent it into the shop for repair.

In this issue I managed to get a couple of awesome days down south with Jordy from Ohakune and Nana Nathan from Oratia. We scored an epic bluebird day at Olympus but the snow never released for us to fully enjoy the expansive terrain on offer there. We ended up sessioning some kickers outside the top lodge.

The cover image was taken by myself and features Jordy just releasing the tail mid flight.

These last three images I have posted where taken on the first Monday of the school holidays. They feature Kyle (USA) Ketchup (Japanese girl with very long name and Nathan (Feet). Each of them showing there own personal style. These were my favourite pictures in this issue. I stood in the park on a glorious day for 2 hours and shot everyone who hit the big tables or the rails. There were over two hundred photos by the time I had finished.

The far shore

The Far Shore awaits you …
This film is about the celebration of being a surfer.
The year is 1972, and we join south California locals, Kevin Naughton (a surfer magazine photographer) and Craig Peterson, as they head out beyond the, then known, realm of surfing, committing themselves to the deep exploration of Central America, West Africa and Morocco in an amazing six-year journey.
Not content with the amazing waves they have discovered and named already, the boys continue over to Ireland to witness the early years of surfing on the emerald isle, before crossing over to join the cultured french for a gorging on Frances’ many beach and reef breaks. Finally, after a decade of scouring the planet for waves, the explorers enjoy the best Fiji has to offer.
This film is stylishly composed (bit of a ‘dogtown’ feel to it) and has such a reality edge to it that you’ll think you’ve been along on their travels.
The film is composed of interviews with people met and influenced; classic photos and footage of the waves, shores explored, and features a beautiful soundtrack.
Best watched when: You have to go to work tomorrow, but you wish you could hit the road tonight.
Running time: 60 min
Rating: 7/10

September Cover Volume1 Issue 9

This cover is an accident that almost didn't come about. After shooting of the Patiki Rocks at Piha I almost deleted this image. The sun was directly in my sight when I shot this, and I couldn't filter it in Photoshop. I then was playing around with the image and hit the wrong button which turned the image into a blood red, dark feel. I loved the image and played with the thought of it being a cover. I posted it as a signature on the forum and then I got the comments I was looking for. Within a week I had pulled the image as comments came flooding in to use it for a cover.

This is issue is by far the most complete issue thus far, making it the best. Inside this issue are articles from people all over the world and images from both the mountain and the ocean. The article headed 'How Big is it?' is my best and most fun piece of writing. I loved putting a sartircal twist upon such an important topic in surfing around the world. The picture below was posted but was too small to read what it said so feel free to answer this question in the comments box below.
Just a final note: This is me, attacking a cornice out in the Glacier at Turoa. I dropped higher up and bottom turned before unleashing this big hack into the lip. I love this shot it reminds me of the retro images from the early ninties. NZ Surfing Magazine had the exact opposite of this shot on their cover. The guy was surfing in boardshorts and was a goofy footer on his frontside. The captured pose of the surfer is exactly the same, facial expressions and all.

August Cover Volume 1 Issue 8

August rolled around quickly and yeilded some new suprises. One of which was a guy called Steve who emailed me with a couple of shots that his girlfriend had taken of him while in Bali and Telluride. Steve had no idea who I was but as son as I saw the photos I recognised him as a mate from the past. I emailed him back and he gave me permissin to use any photo I wanted so I immediatley picked this coffin box as the next Cover.

In the same month I morphed a picture of B-rad Buckle surfing n the Piha Bar. He saw the sequence and contacted me. We met up with a coffee and chatted about things surfers talk about and then swapped photos. This was one of the best issues we had put together for photos and had a god 50/50 split of surf and snow images.