board walk blowup 2013, part 2–roman hager

Full disclosure here:  I know nothing about skimboarding. Nada. Zip. Not a thing.  But I don’t need anyone to tell me that I saw something kind of amazing at the Board Walk Blowup at Indialantic Beach this past weekend.

His name is Roman Hager, he’s 7 years old, and he scored himself 1st place in the Mini Division at the contest. Like, wow.

I suppose I expected to see amazing talent at this contest; after all, it was a pro/am event.  There were so many awesome, crazy talented skimboarders there. And then there was Roman.

Watching this little dude hanging with the big boys and girls, waiting for his wave…seeing him go for it with no fear and so much skill…my mind was totally blown. He’s 7 years old. Wow.

And it wasn’t just his skill in the water, but his confidence on the beach that was something to see.  He was clearly in his element…running into each wave with a sense of determination and purpose…and you don’t need to know anything about the sport to notice the respect that Roman was getting from competitors twice and three times his age.

There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be seeing Roman again. In the meantime, thanks to the social media/internet world we live in, keeping up with him will be easy–the little dude’s everywhere (you can check out his Facebook fan page here🙂

 

board walk blowup 2013…part 1

I love shooting surfers…I try to make it up to 2nd Light whenever the conditions are good and I have the time…but this weekend, I found a new love. Skimboarding.

The Board Walk Blowup was held this past weekend in Indialantic, and Tom and I were looking for something to do while the boy was hanging out at the mall with his friend, so we headed over beachside to check it out.

Yes, I love shooting surfers; but shooting skimboarders is more fun for me because, to be honest, my equipment is perfectly suited for it. The action is much closer to the shoreline, so with my 100-400mm lens I can grab action like this:

There were so many amazingly talented skimboarders…but as with surfers, I am most amazed by the youngest talent…so I couldn’t help but capturing this awesome little grom. His dad saw his pictures on my Facebook fan page and friended me, so I learned that his name is Roman Hager, and he went on to place first in his division…7 years old, and he’s sponsored…he skateboards too…mind blown!

I found myself shooting tons of pictures of this fearless little dude…enough for another post…stay tuned…

beachside

we went beachside for the first time in ages today…the man wanted to make an introduction video for the virtual-school creative writing class he’s teaching…i thought my role was going to be to hold the bloggie while he spoke, but he said he could do it himself…which freed me up to stroll the beach for awhile…there was a small flock of terns sunning at the shoreline…it looked to me like this adult tern was lecturing his youngster…who looked bored to pieces…this reminded me of what my own kids look like when i’m trying to talk to them…so i had to take their picture…:)

friends and family

yes, he does abide…

school started yesterday here in brevard county, fl…the boy is in 6th grade, his last year of elementary school…he came home from school yesterday with some forms from his teacher to be filled out, and some papers that they’d done in class, ‘getting acquainted’ kind of games for the kids to get to know each other better…on one of them, each child answered a series of questions (like ‘what’s your favorite food?’ and ‘who is your favorite musician?’ etc.) and then went around the class to see which of their classmates had similar ‘likes’…as i read the questions and his answers, i smiled…and kind of cringed…for my boy’s ‘likes’ are somewhat different than your average 11-year-old…for example…his favorite actor? leonardo dicaprio…his favorite tv show? ‘it’s always sunny in philadelphia’…his favorite movie? ‘the big lebowski’…his favorite music group? the beatles…what he wants to be? ‘happy’…apparently this wasn’t meant for the teacher, only for the kids to do amongst themselves…not sure what the teacher would make of his answers, having just met him…i’m sure they’ll make sense to her as she gets to know him…for my boy is definitely a little dude…a peaceful, happy little dude…and yes, he does abide…

scenes from central florida

tuesday night rainbow #2–7/17/12

i love rainbows…i have loved them since i was a young girl and had a bedroom filled with rainbow-colored whatever i could find…the colors have always made me happy :)…i still love rainbows (and all colorful things)…here in central florida where it rains almost daily in summertime chasing rainbows is one of my favorite summertime activities…they are not easy to capture…timing is everything and their appearance is so brief that often by the time i notice, grab my camera and dash outside to see the rainbow it has already begun to fade…last night i got lucky though…the man was outside and called in to me “look out back”…i looked out my back window to see the most beautiful rainbow…accented by grey and white clouds passing in front of it, it was wide and bright in the early evening sky…and because my camera was ready (after an earlier failed attempt to catch a rainbow) this time i caught it…

friends and family

watching a misty mountain sunrise on the blue ridge parkway–6/12/12

tom is way more of a morning person than i am…as i write this at 7:30 am he is out for his morning run…he’s been up for at least an hour already…it’s not that i don’t like morning, more that i don’t function well before the kick-start of the morning coffee…so while i love to see the sun rise (particularly on the blue ridge parkway in north carolina) i need tom to encourage me to roll my sleepy self out the door and into the car…i’m so glad he did on this morning last week because unlike our last visit, the carolina mountains were misty and glowing…the view was somewhat surreal and changed from fog to a wash of golden haze as we twisted and turned our way down the parkway searching for the perfect spot…once we found it the light was sweet and i got some beautiful images…this is one of my favorites, my husband looking at the misty golden sunrise…happy father’s day, honey…thanks for making me wake up and share this sunrise with you…xo

beachside

tern @ 2nd light–satellite beach, fl

i’d forgotten about this…it was stuck in a file of surfer shots that i took at 2nd light back in march…i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, i need to work on my workflow organization…awesome shots get lost in the shuffle…sigh…but at least i unearthed this pretty tern…he’s clearly after something, maybe his lunch…maybe he just wants to get away from me…

friends and family

running on the causeway 5/12

“are you going running?” i asked him, as i lay in my bed this morning trying to wake up…he was walking about the bedroom, collecting his running clothes and gearing up to go out…but when he saw i was awake, he sat on the edge of the bed for a bit…he said, “what i’d really like to do is go back to sleep for a bit”…but he didn’t…he got up and got ready…he said, “i think i’ll go over to the causeway this morning…i want to go out to get the sunday paper, anyway”…and off he went for his daily run, as i lay in my bed this morning, trying to wake up…he is so much more disciplined than i am when it comes to this…i admire him for it, among other things…

riviera’s got talent 2012

the boy, rockin’ the riviera talent show 5/18/12

he played “gotta get up” by harry nilsson…he wore his school uniform and his chuck taylor sneaks…his hair was kind of all over the place (there was, apparently, a hard-core game of basketball on the playground immediately before the show)…he didn’t seem at all nervous as he sat at the top of the stage…he remembered all the words and managed the tricky chord changes without a problem…in other words, he did the talent show his own way…and he did an awesome job.

riviera’s got talent 2012

waiting for the results–@riviera elementary school’s “riviera’s got talent” show, palm bay, fl 5/18/12

they held the first-ever talent show at the boy’s elementary school last week…it was a major undertaking by the music teacher, who pretty much took it on herself to organize and manage this large, energetic, talented bunch of kiddos…all things considered, it went off without a hitch…the performers entertained an enthusiastic audience of students, teachers and parents…the acts were fun to watch…some predictable, some a total surprise, all well-done…almost more fun to see was the expressions on the faces of the young performers…peeking from behind the curtain as they watched from backstage…standing onstage, waiting for the music to cue…relieved and proud when they finished and heard the applause…so many kinds of talent, so many talented kids…what a wonderful thing for the children to have a platform to show off what they do…what a wonderful thing for a dedicated teacher to do to give the children a chance…thank you, ms. lee! ❤

(p.s.  i almost forgot…the boy played his acoustic guitar and sang…picture to follow…:) )