i saw wavves play in perth so i ended up taking some photos and writing a review for oyster magazine.

thanks cali!

I have friends. Some people still cant believe this but I do. Most them have way more important/exciting things going on than me so I thought it might be a great way to increase my traffic if I started exploiting their lives along with my own. Jordan is in Pakistan.

Just back from a wild 120 hour humanitarian mission in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is suffering through one of the largest humanitarian crisis’s in human history and barely anyone knows about it. I was there with Christian Troy, on behalf of NGO’s Waves For Water and JP HRO CEO, to assess the damage and identify ways aid in the relief effort. 20 million people have been affected by the severe flooding in Pakistan – a number greater than the total affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 northern Pakistan earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, COMBINED. These families have lost everything. Entire bloodlines are on the precipice of extinction while men, women and children unnecessarily die from waterborne diseases, hunger and severe malnutrition. The people here are smart. They are kind, family orientated, loving and despite the seemingly never-ending struggle the Pakistani people have endured, they seem to maintain a deep-rooted sense of strength and benevolence and so its not surprising that we have been treated with respect and gracious hospitality despite the fact that our country is fighting a war in their backyard. As our invaluable Pakistani fixer Umer told us last night, “you may be infidels, but you’re OUR infidels.” More to come, Jordan Tappis

Children at the IDN camp in Northwest Peshawar.  There was a conjunctivitis outbreak the day we arrived so we had to keep our hands to ourselves.

Saudi King Faisal donated this mosque to the people of Pakistan in the 80′s. To this day its the largest house of warship in South Asia.

Jordan is making friends. Find out more about waves for water here.

Back in April I was in Australia shooting Ksubi’s 10 Year Anniversary for Nylon Magazine. Here are some of my favorites and few of the interviews that accompanied a few of the photos.

DAMION KENNETH WILLEM DOWNEY

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Ksubi Heavy Metal tracksuit.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO KSUBI?

I have my own art studio and I also put on exhibitions to help other artists sell their work.  I dont do anything on Mondays.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH KSUBI?

We have been friends since their jeans were baggy- really baggy.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE KSUBI MOMENT?

The 2005 show full of our friends dressed as faux celebrities.  And the first big warehouse sale where we all got drunk in Lycra monkey suites and the rats, the rats, the rats.  I will never forget how these guys just went for it.

KSUBI IS 10! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

Fuck, thats a lot of weekends.

WHAT MAKES KSUBI SPECIAL?

I put it down to the baggy jeans.

OZZIE WRONG

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Ksubi vintage eagle jacket, Ksubi Modular Unfair Funfair tee and Volcom jeans.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Sit around all day with my ukelele.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO KSUBI?

I put the ‘T’ in Tsubi, but since it turned into a ‘K’ my connections are fading.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH KSUBI?

Eating magic mushrooms chocolates in my garage, stapling each other to the walls.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE KSUBI MOMENT?

Stealing and awesome eagle studded jacket worth a million dollars.

KSUBI IS 10! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

Juvenile delinquents never grow up.

WHAT MAKES KSUBI SPECIAL?

Free love grows on trees these days.

VAUGHAN DEAD

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Ksubi patch jeans.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO KSUBI?

Way back in the day George Garrow, Steve Garrow, Cowboy, and I shared a house together on the golden sands of Souh Narrabeen. We ate a lot of chocolate-coated mushrooms and surfed a lot of the outer reefs in monstrous 50-year storm swells. We drank chilled rosé and engaged in a lot of philosophical debate. I subscribed to Jungian belief that “the creative mind plays with the object it loves.”  George was a fan of Frued’s: “We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.” As far as I can tell, both theories were foundation stones in the eventual birth of Ksubi.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE KSUBI MOMENT?

We were in a yellow shed with broken windows in Ozzie’s backyard and George and Dan and Ozzie were creating the first collection. On the door was a painting of a palm tree with the words ITS A STRANGER IN PARADISE scrawled underneath. Inside, a Czech girl with pigtails was dancing to some song that I cant remember in her underpants.  You could smell the burning weed.  It felt innocent and dangerous, like a bunch of kids playing with matches and flammable shit, like it could all explode at any second.  And it did, about a week later, when the line launched. It was a sick night.

KSUBI IS 10! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

Like most 10-year-olds, Ksubi is sporting grazed knees and black eyes– and loving it. It’s got a sick new bike and it can do a hell skids and monos.  It’s tried its first cigarette and coughed all over the place, but can’t wait to try it again.  It’s got dirty feet and doesn’t want to shower or bath. It kissed a girl at the bus stop and it dreamed about it every night for two weeks afterwards.  It’s thinking about shaving its head. It’s a fucking little badass.

DION ANTHONY:

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Ksubi boardies, a gray cotton tunic hippie shirt and a Ksubi archive Victorian Highlands Shiraz jacket.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO KSUBI?

Ten fun years of blood, sweat, and tears.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH KSUBI?

I met Dan Single in the late -’99.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE KSUBI MOMENT?

If you know the boys well enough, you know that all the memorable moments are pretty hard to remember once the birds start chirping.

KSUBI IS 10! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

Its only just begun…

WHAT MAKES KSUBI SPECIAL?

Their ability to connect like-minded people from all over the world and build strong relationships with creative, influential people of all ages.  They are loyal, loving, and committed to believing in themselves and their art.

HOLLYWOOD

COWBOY

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

Ksubi archive Oscar blazer, Crack white jeans and Ksubi charcoal T-shirt.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Play rock ‘n’ roll in the Goons and Doom, and build crafty pieces of furniture.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO KSUBI?

I grew up with the boys round the beaches surfing and eating BBQ King.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH KSUBI?

A booth at fashion week with loads of straight vodka… that’s all i remember.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE KSUBI MOMENT?

The Goons played at the Bentley Bar back in the day. It was one of our first ever gigs.

KSUBI IS 10! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT?

Almost vintage.

WHAT MAKES KSUBI SPECIAL?

Don’t cry, but friends and family… Did everyone say that?

Paul Wilson

Kiku Ohe

i shot some ads with the “the worlds fastest woman” a couple weeks ago in central park and a vacant appartment in the trump towers.

crazy that we were using the space as a studio to shoot portraits on white and not for the view.

after spending the day uptown it was time to go back downtown where people sit next to dead people in the park for hours without taking notice.

the next day I helped dill move to brooklyn. the end of an era.

goodbye 58 kenmare.

off to boulder.

Jordan found this photo of us from our first business venture as the executioners of our 6th grade medieval fair. 20 years later we made a movie that should be coming out soon…

this is blake mills. i’ve known him since he was 16. most days we get coffee together and talk about linen suits or how our jobs are similar. he has a record coming out soon and its fucking awesome, its a great feeling to have one of your favorite records be made by a friend. here are a few photos we shot at his house the other day. you can hear some of his music here.

this is going to be rad.

SS FRIENDSHIP member (reseda chapter) sage vaughn did all the art for the record, each song has its own collage. this one is for the song “hey lover”

i have rad friends.

I spent the last month in Sydney and Bali. Its taken me 15 years but I think I’ve perfected my work/fun ratio to a consistency that keeps me just busy enough to not end up feeling guilty on the ride home. I shot some great photos that will be coming out over the next few months, witnessed one of my best friends get married, signed up with DLM to look after me in Australia, learned how amazing it is to wake up to a French girls voice, started a cover band with an Indonesian Reggae group, found my long lost Italian brother on a scooter in seminyak, skinny dipped with a Russian girl at Bondi, was pretty certain I was going to die in a Bali clinic, surfed perfect waves with only friends in the line up, drank my first pickle back (and my 20th…) at Flinders, ran soft sand laps without puking most days, spent 24 hours in the Gili islands, and few more things that should be left off the internet because my dad reads this…

not a bad view from george and cisco’s house… thanks for putting me up.

the view from bed.

just a fraction of the 10 years of Ksubi we had for the shoot.

waiting for the flight to bali i introduced george and benny to the wonders of chat roulette in the quantas lounge.

this guy taught me that cash can fix most things in indonesia, especially waiting in line at customs for a visa.

straight off the plane i met this guy… Claudio! brothers from different mothers. this photo was taken only 2 hours after we met.

riding a scooter on the sidewalk.

did not know that it was a 2 lane sidewalk till this dude tried to kill us.

everything came from somewhere.

later dudes.

party time.

morning one.

ghost dog.

my room at the villa.

the living room.

pretty much the best place ever…

dan invented a new game at the beach in front of the villa, wave chicken. by the time the wave hits you its completely dry sand. really fun but kind of painful. 2 weeks after i’m still finding black sand in my holes.

dan won every heat.

back in seminyak with my new brother claudio trying out the linen suit on the locals…

last pair of shoes i thought i would ever see on a stranger in a random bar in bali…

it rains a lot in bali.

all the rain ends up at the beach which is a bummer.

with rain comes the trash from the streets… surfed this secret barrel factory everyday. code name “dead dog”.

straight after the wedding the newlyweds jumped in the pool which led to everyone following suit.

the wedding singer… my first show in bali. opening up for the wedding band.

waiting for the boat to take us to the gili islands.

the harbor.

en route.

bambi is on the cover of harper’s this month!

so this is the main street on the island. motorized veheicles are not allowed on the island so you’re either on foot, bike or horse and carriage.

soon after this photo was taken i became sicker than i have been in a long time. i pretty much spent the rest of my time in indonesia sweating with a 102 fever, puking, getting shot up with stuff by doctors that didn’t speak english and sleeping. best trip ever.

rene, dill and myself spent some time at the gun club not too long ago.

my favorite target.

rene has impeccable aim which i found somewhat surprising being that when i met him he was known as the chief and did not have the steadiest of hands. when i told him that i had referred to him as my “life coach” to my agent, his response was “did you tell her that i’ve mugged old ladies and smoked crack from an antenna”… who says people cant change?

the opening act of  fire arms. not nearly as satisfying as the big gun but fun none the less.

my timing was getting pretty good by the end.

the muse and the angels face that was in his eye.

Happy New Year people. 2010 is already feeling better than 2009 and I’m only 8 days in. Here’s the last 30 days as seen from my phone.

Shot Nick Jonas.

My installation at the POP group show.

POP gallery.

Kronos Quartet practice at Disney Hall

Terry Riley and his big organ.

Thank you Dan Monick.

Toyota’s take on a hot rod.

Speed Racer Scion.

$350,000 Lexus.

The rough cut is looking good on the big screen…

Finding my inner man.

The finished product.

My new favorite room.