Sheez. This year´s Billabong PRO came and went so quick, we don´t know what hit us? I have just downloaded the last pics from the Billabong PRO 2010 onto my external hard drive. During the comp, I was covering the event for Wavescape.co.za and I just made a quick selection of photos and left the rest on the memory cards because we were running daily updates.It was fun going though them now and discovering some of the best Billabong PRO Photos I have ever taken.

I entered three of my photos into the Supertubes one shot thing, and still wanted to upload a couple more action shots because those three were only wide shots, but life got so busy that I did not manage to upload the other ones that I thought would work for that 2011 poster. Bummer though. Could do with the extra cash. I guess every person who entered thought they could win. All the usual supspects and wannabe guys entered who´s names and photos appear all over the show on a tropical variety of websites. There is definately a couple of great photos in the mix and I really wonder what the Billabong marketing team is going to do with their campaign.

At the moment I am on standby for a O´Ńeill crew that´s in town who arranged for me to do some shoots and I am also appoaching the beginning of the end of the migration to the new super duper Wavescape Mark III website. Spike is keeping me pretty busy these days.

I am also in the process of buying an SPL waterhousing and would have probably bought it before the Billabong PRO if it was not for the fact that my D3´s shutter broke and scratched the image sensor. Nikon Pro Service was pretty much on it and the repair cost me over R 10 000. With the transportation and repairs that was completed and delivered to my doorstep the afternoon before the Billabong started and no cameras availible for loan because they were already booked, drama was eminent. For some weird reason, after the repair was done, the hotshoe came back bent. I had to work with it for the comp and when it was done and dusted, I  called Nikon again who apologised profusedly and immediately arranged a courier. It did take a week to get it back, but now I have a practically new camera.  I am pretty impressed with their service, but also realise I need to get a backup camera body. I am frothing for a D3s, but maybe consider getting a D700 instead.

Speaking of Nikon, Craig Koleski is shooting Nikon these days. I remember when he was shooting in J-Bay, just before his laptop got stolen, he complained about how slow the focussing system is on his Canon 1D Mk3 was and he was so stoked with my D3. I was delighted to see photos of Jordy suddenly labeled Koleski/Nikon and then saw the man himself with a D3s rig and 600mm glass very similar to mine at the Billabong.

Speaking of great photographers... I met Lance Slabbert in Capetown during the Wavescapes Film Festival, and he was also going on about my camera. At the time, he had sold all his gear and had been tending rice paddies in Bali. (With a fair amount of surfing inbetween I suppose.) We hooked up on Facebook the other day and he said he´s shooting again. He posted some water stuff he did and it looked goos and as his other stuff very different and artistic.

Here is the curve ball: I asked him what rig he has, and was expecting to hear he got a D3 or something, but instead he said he got a Canon EOS 40D, two lenses and a Aquatec housing?! His photos has already been featured in a mag or two, but he is humble as always.

Which comes to show you that the gear is important, but it´s the photographer with his finger on the the trigger. And the light, and the subject and...click click click click...

You get my point.
See you in the water, and hopefully very soon with a SPL housing pointing at you as you exit the barrel.