Blog | Jakob Berr Photography

These news are worth spreading:

From the Clout Street blog of the Chicago Tribune: Quinn signs death penalty ban, commutes 15 death row sentences to life

While I was at work today, news came in that millions of anchovies had suddenly died and washed up at the Redondo Beach Marina, sixty miles north of San Clemente. I finished work an hour early and drove up there to see if there was still some cleaning up going on that would be worth photographing. By the time I arrived, most of the work was already done but there were still quite a few dead fish floating around. I started taking some pictures and ended up with these three shots:

Dead anchovies float between boats at the King Harbor Marina in Redondo Beach.

Redondo Beach public workers clean the pavement at King Harbor Marina in Redondo Beach to counter the stench of dead fish. Earlier today, millions of dead anchovies had washed up at the Marina.

Surfing is not just a hobby in Southern California. Surfing is serious. It’s a way of life. For some people, it’s everything. Like Terry Senate. He’s been surfing most of his life, and he makes a living out of shaping surfboards. In surfer circles, Terry is a legend; his boards are sought-after all over the world.

I spent the evening shooting Terry in his surf shop in San Clemente. Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to work on a story on surf culture, and what better way to start the project than documenting one of the finest manufacturers of surfboards at work? I will continue to go to Terry’s shop and follow up on some of the pictures I took today, but I want to share some of the first “scetches” that i made.

There is this little window from the presentation room into the workshop. I want to play a little more with this shot. I wish I had a higher angle so one could see the board, and I definitely need a better moment. Note to self: Bring something to step on next time.

Terry shapes the boards right in front of his customers if they want to watch.

The boards are hand-cut from blocks of styrofoam.

Terry has a row of bright fluorescent lights running down both sides of the workshop at about waist-level – they create a fantastic light.

I like what’s happening with the shop in the background. I need to work on the sharpness in this shot, though. Maybe a somewhat faster shutter speed will do the trick. But I definitely want to follow up on this one.

Talking boards with a customer.

Here are some shots from down at the beach that I did a couple of days ago. They’re nothing special, I mainly just played around with my camera. But I ended up liking these four, I think they have a nice feel to them. Let me know what you think!