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Yay For May

May was fairly trying for myself. The weather…. Oh boy the weather and your moods. The rain, wind and occasional sunshine made the month of May pretty tricky. Find the monthly video wrap up below

I do discuss professional people in this so if this is you then please get in touch. I’m ready.

Vlog of the month

Pic of the month (lucky to get a nice morning)

Takatu Lodge 1 blog

Winter is now here but you’ll still see me at the beach!

-Sam

 

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Seeking Professional Help

Boat 1 blog

First and foremost this isn’t a cry for help. This is however, a fairly desperate attempt at joining up with creative professionals. This is difficult to write because the butthurt is always real when you have to pull from real life experiences. It is and has been time to start making moves for a long time now.

After a chat to someone the other day who can see my distress in going away for another long weekend, alone. Keeping in mind I am going to a friends 30th for the first couple of nights so I guess it’s not alone but it feels it. It is the same situation as the Great Barrier trip, where I have gone the last couple of years with people I hardly know (one of whom isn’t even from this country) but now regard as good friends. My more “regular” friends nowhere to be seen.

Anyway over the course of this chat we established that I need to being dealing with professionals. By professionals I mean those who get paid to do a certain thing, are committed to said thing and most of all, passionate about said thing! That criteria is a must as simply doing “things” for the claimed love of it doesn’t seem to work.

A THIS trip mentality is what I need, not a NEXT trip mentality.

I understand that we all have commitments likes jobs, debt and relationships. All of which are overly consuming. We’ve also sold ourselves on this BS that we’re all so gosh darn busy. So busy it seems that we can’t make time for the things we love, or claim to love. The number of people who say the want to but can’t is quite frankly, disturbing.

Everyone seems so bloody exhausted that the thought of getting up early and doing “things” seems to be something you have to ration out to maybe once a year. Twice if you feel daring.

So the people I’m after are those people who have a track record or doing “things”. A paper trail of receipts and a few SD cards full of files for proof. Water babies that think the cool winter waters are interesting and refreshing. Creators who create. Photographers that like to push that shutter button hundreds of times over a few days. Surfers who love to surf. Skimmers who love to skim. Sprearos who love to spear. Adventurers who love to adventure. If you have a following I would like to follow you. Hopefully not in a weird, behind the bushes kind of way.

In my opinion it’s not that hard but it is also something I’m passionate about. I love it more than most people love anything at all. It’s my chosen line of work, even though the pay sucks. It’s how I like to spend my time rather than putting a long weekend on hold because I might have to meet someone for lunch.

The next little while we see myself setting up a video podcast that will hopefully discuss a variety of topics. I just need to find professional, opinionated people who I can get on it. This requires a no, to yes men. Opinions and ideas and what I’m after. Not head nods and cancellations. I’m now really trying to expand my reach into bigger platforms, people and ideas, which is interesting to say the least.

This is all probably a bit bitter and well it probably is. I’m a bit bitter that I’m going away again with a list of awesome things to do and see, alone.

I would love to take ideas for videos and photos and put them into action. Not having to constantly think of ways to film myself would be awesome. To my creative professionals, check out my daily videos below and throw some ideas at me as to how we could make them better. I have a million ideas and I hope you do too!


To the rest of you, I’ll sure I will see you at the beach, next time.

-Sam

 

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Mt Tamahunga – Matakanas Mountain

Have you ever looked at Mt Tamahunga from the eastern side (lets use Omaha for example) and realised how much of the landscape it dominates?

Estuary blog

It’s a lot. So much so, that the sun actually sets earlier in the northern end of Omaha, than the southern end. This only applies over the colder months as the sun slides to the south in Summer.

It is the biggest peak in the immediate area, not that there’s much to challenge it. With a moderate level of fitness the walk from Omaha Valley Road only takes about a hour. It can take longer if you miss the first sign posting in the dark and wander off down the farm tracks but that’s a story for another day.

Weather ball blog

I shot most of this little clip a couple of months ago and figured I could throw something together out of the footage. Enjoy.

The walk is through dense native bush and is only spoiled by the fact you can’t actually see much when you get to the top. The aforementioned dense bush tends to block the views for most people, making a drone the perfect tool for the job.

Hella trees blog

Enjoy the walk if you choose to go. I believe you can attack it from a few sides but I’ve only taken the Omaha Valley Rd route. In case you’re wondering there’s a car park on the left side of the road for it.

See you at the beach.

-Sam

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Double The Fun

The last week has been quietly satisfying. I’m not too sure why but there has been a series of small wins.

If it weren’t for the weather, which has just been plain rubbish then it’d be pretty much 10/10 out there.

J 1 flip blog

I have dropped a couple of other blog posts this week, one regarding the first look at Tugg Winches which you need to check out if you’re keen on a bit of tugging. As well as my giveaway for a realllly beautiful looking pano of Omaha. Get along to my Facebook page and share this photo here.

Giveaway edit blog

Hours have been spent this week revisiting older photos and getting rid of some of the garbage. Quite boring but there’s plenty of gems lurking.

What lies Beneath blog

I’ve been out shooting a bit of footage (around this weather) and the last weekend was another great bit of fun! Speared another new spot which was holding some nice fish (not that we came back with any) and another big bronzie spotted off Ti Point. Came in quick and smashed my burley, I was alone at the time so was a good rush to see him chomping some fish heads. Find it here

Shark blog

Sunday we went and caught the booming West Coast swell then back to Waiwera for a very enjoyable winch session

Ripper of a weekend and a solid week. I managed to jump in the water this morning for a cheeky spear and came back in with two nice Kingfish in a hour. Smoking them up tomorrow, yeahhh boy!

C’mon weather!

Kingy blog

See you at the beach.

-Sam

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GIVEAWAY TIME!

If you’re anything like me then you like winning.

And free stuff.

What about winning free stuff?

Yes please!

Well I have a little competition running on my Facebook page & Instagram of this here canvas pano

Giveaway edit blog

Valued at $345 and measuring 100cm x 30cm it will look great hanging on your wall. I belive this was 21 photos all stitched together to make this high resolution pano!

All you have to do is like (or follow depending what platform you’re using) the page and share the picture. Easy peasy.

Winner will be drawn on Wednesday 8th of June.

Get winning 😉

See you at the beach.

-Sam

If you didn’t catch the links up top, here they are again

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OXSEnterprises/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oxs_enterprises/

 

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First Look At How I Tugg

Ahh yes tugging. Not everyone does it, not everyone wants to do it.

First look edit blog

All I know is that it is time to tell you more about Tugging. I am of course referring to part of my business, Tugg Winches.

Check the video below for a look inside

I’m unsure whether to tell you that these are a highly sophisticated piece of kit or pretty simple. You be the judge.

This is my favourite Tugging clip to date

Apllications are suited to skimboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, wakeskating, snowboarding and whatever else you may want to have a good tugg at.

Priced at $2950 including nationwide freight which is fairly standard pricing. I’m about to start a build on another one!

Not to be confused with another sort of tugging. Obviously.

As always feel free to get in touch if you would like to know more or are keen to demo one!

See you at the beach.

-Sam

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Wining & Dining

Trophy blog

I don’t really drink wine. In fact I don’t drink at all right now.

I do however like man made structures such as Golf Courses, or in this case, vineyards. They always look so out of place in “nature” yet so at home.

The money spent on the upkeep of these facilities is mind blowing when it comes to the upper end of the scale.

Ransom 1 blog

A project I’m currently working on is an aerial video for some of the local vineyards. Styled from a sunrise to sunset setting with all (most) of the rows changing colours at the moment. The biggest hurdle with this right now has been the weather. Last week was wet and grey and this week has been super windy, wet, hazy, with some sun thrown in there. Challenging to say the least.

Besides that last weekend was a fairly mellow affair. Saturday I skimmed out Pakiri and managed a dive

Sunday was a change of plans with a local shore dive and an evening shoot that I really enjoyed

Looks like this weekend is forecast to be a bit of windy mess but I’m sure there will be something to do 😉

Rock star blog

See you at the beach!

-Sam

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Mild Mid May

Yeap, the title says it all really. After a warm and incredibly wet Summer it feels like it’s still kicking on with unseasonably warm temperatures.

Now that I’ve said it you can blame me for the pending cold snap ha.

Home time blog

It’s been warm this week as mentioned and that water is still plenty warm. Warm enough to still have plenty of “Bronzies” hanging around. I had a large 7-8ft bronzie swim up and over me from behind last Saturday. So close that I felt something was there and much to my delight I saw this huge object just off the top of me (think 1-2ft) coming in from behind. He seemed calm but it certainly got the heart pumping. Check the days action here (big shark not on film sadly)

Sunday was pretty cruisy with big plans for the arvo. Those plans were pulled short as the winch managed to get itself airborne. Noted

And as of a couple of hours ago I just dropped this Minute Massacre from the barrier. This was pulled from one of the vlogs but I enjoyed the clip so much I redid it a little and uploaded it!

Pheww and now it’s time for the weekend.

Simple blog

See you at the beach.

-Sam

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April – Why It Was Rad!

April was the best month so far this year!

That’s a big call seeing this year has been pretty flipping good. Check the recap below

Work, work, work.

Favourite vlog of the month that wasn’t from The Barrier. This day ended up super fun for how bad the weather was!

Photo of the month

Cliff Top blog

See you at the beach.

-Sam

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Editing Eyes

The last week has been jammed again. A lot happening. A LOT.

Tango blog

My computer has really been working overtime producing content, both video and photo. Most of the content has been from the barrier trip but I’ve also been reopening folders and checking things out.

Boat blog

One other thing has been the addition of a water housing for my A6000. I want to get into the underwater photography game and to a level well above that of GoPros. This now means 24mp and the ability to edit RAW files.

I’m super stoked on this. I took last weekend off from vlogging but shot with this set up instead. There’s a lot of learning first to get up to speed but after one dive with it I feel I’m on the right track! The spearing was good too!

Ryan BW King blog

After dropping all the vlogs on OXS TV, I threw together this  Top 5 video about Great barrier Island

I’ve got a few really fun projects coming up that I’m shooting locally so stay tuned. I’ve even got some printed work displayed at the Omaha Club available for purchase. I’m going to run a little giveaway on my Facebook page soon so you should get along and give it a like!

Canvas blog

See you at the beach!

-Sam