one day I will make a surf film

I have been obsessed with the water since I was a kid. I remember summers visiting my cousins in San Diego, countless hours spent swimming in their pool, catching a tan, ear infections, and green hair from the chlorine. They couldn’t keep me out of the water.

I grew up in the Sacramento valley in Northern California, and the closest water to us was the river. Don’t get me wrong, river activities are great, but the ocean was always different. I didn’t grow up at the beach, but I always wished that I had. When the movie Blue Crush came out in 2002 I was obsessed. To this day I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen it. I wanted to be a surfer girl so bad, living at the beach in Hawaii (a girl can dream, ok??). I loved the BTS of the DVD where one of the surfer/actresses was showing off all the swimsuits and surf gear from the film. I went full surf obsessed. Board shorts, bikinis, and all things Roxy and Billabong.

At the age of 19 I moved to San Diego. I lived in a little studio apartment in PB (Pacific Beach), and bought a bright orange beach cruiser. My goal was to become a surfer, but I also wanted to be a singer, but I also had a relatively adult 9-to-5 day job. I was working as a bank teller at a credit union in La Jolla, and was not the best at doing anything other than going to work and trying to experience life. Thinking back, I didn’t even try to surf, which is so sad. But, that obsession with the water still grew. One of my favorite places to go and look out over the water was above Black’s Beach in La Jolla.

For those who are unfamiliar with San Diego, Black’s Beach is known to have some of the best surf in the area. Its lesser know claim to fame is that it is also a nude beach. However, you’re more likely to run into a very proud, wrinkly, overly tanned old man strutting his stuff down the beach than anyone, but if you like to let it all hang out, it’s the place to go. At that point in my life I spent more time looking at the water than actually getting in it, but regardless, my love and admiration for the beach only got deeper.

I spend the major part of 10 years basically not going in the ocean at all, even though I was always located near some coast. The person I was with preferred to be in a boat on top of the water rather than in it, and though I am highly independent, I couldn’t find the drive to go in the water on my own. In 2021 my life changed. That relationship was over. I was working part time at a kayak shop, and I was actually spending time in the water. Snorkeling, kayaking, swimming. Whatever it was, I was in the water. I was building and living in a van at the time, and spent nearly all of my time working from it at one beach or another. I had blonde, wavy hair, lived in a van, and I looked the part of a surfer, but still wasn’t. (I felt like a fraud to be honest.)

Because I was spending so much time at the beach, and I was always filming b-roll for some work project or another, I started filming a lot of surfers. I didn’t have a lens that was great for shots of surfers in the water, but I was capturing the essence of surf culture. I was photographing and filming people going in and out of the water, enjoying the ocean as much as I did, and I fucking loved it.

Spending time at the beach became my main hobby, and my camera always came with me. I have always loved video, and YouTube was my favorite way to pass the time on nights alone (with my two dogs) in my van. Videos from surfers like John John Florence and Koa Rothman, and any content surrounding surfing I could find. Everything from vlog style to fully produced surf and adventure films.

Some of my favorite surf films on YouTube:

Place Of Thorns | The Story of Puerto Escondido

I’ve seen this wave in person and felt the tide from the beach. It’s fucking gnarly.

Glide with Josie Prendergast

Chill music. Just clips of her surfing. Just stunning. I could watch her surf all day.

How This Surfer Built His Dream Home on the Nova Scotia Coast | Huckberry Homes

Not a surf film, per se, but a very rad home of a cool surfer guy.

Why Morocco will be your next surf trip? | NO CONTEST OFF TOUR

Cool history. Awesome stories.

OuterSurf | How a mother turned a surf shop into a home on the Outer Banks

Real life story of a surfer, surf shop owner, & boy mamma. Just a cool story.

HERE featuring John John Florence

It’s John John. No explanation necessary.

In 2023 I started dating a real surfer. (It was not planned at all, I swear. In fact, we met in the middle of the desert.) He grew up riding his bike to the beach to surf every day, was on surf team in school, and legitimately rips. That man is a fish, I swear. I have never seen anyone so effortlessly just exist in the water. I finally had someone to film surfing without it being weird lol. I filmed him every chance I could get, and even filmed some of his friends who longboard. I shared the edits with everyone who wanted to see. I felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be.

I am kind of a wanderer in life, and I believe home is what you make it, but the ocean feels like home to me. I want to love and enjoy it as much as possible, but I also want to respect and protect it. I just feel like there is a story I can tell. Whether it’s something pretty and simply surface level, or something that has a deeper purpose. I’ve been telling my boyfriend I want to make a surf film one day since the day I met him. I feel like saying it out loud, and now sharing it on a public platform means that it will happen. I have to make it happen. I will.