Filipe Toledo winning the US Open of Surfing at HB is pretty much a given after last year. Ain't nobody able to connect the languorous dots of that beach like the world number four. So when he lost his semi-final against Maui's Tanner Hendrickson he, to quote the photographer, "Killed his board. Dead. This shot reminds me of The Clash's London Calling cover shot by Pennie Smith," says Sherm. "In that shot, Paul Simenon smashed his prize Fender bass when he wasn't getting the sound he wanted." | Photo: Steve Sherman/IG @TSherms
Gallery: Backstage at the US Open of Surfing
By Derek Rielly
…with the one, the only, the incredible Steve Sherman…
It’s abundantly clear that without the photographer Steve Sherman backstage at a surfing event, the results will be vulgar, anarchic, hopeless. We might sentimentalise the low-fi photo but the results, on close inspection, are often clumsy and ignorant.
What could be more depressing than having such a tight collection of surfing greats and none of those wonderful behind-the-scenes moments are stolen?
At the recent Vans US Open of Surfing, the San Diego photographer Steve Sherman penetrated everything, and everywhere.
His photos, I believe, have a commercial, contemporary theatre.
Ain&Rsquo;T It Just Sweet How Johanne Defay Won The Us Open Of Surfing Against Super Talents Like Carissa Moore? A Lil Gal From Reunion Island (Now Overrun With Sharks Thereby Making Surfing An Act Of Faith) Swinging Her Jams In Front Of The Biggest Surf Audience On Earth.Filipe&Rsquo;S Dad, Ricardo, A Three-Time Brazil Surf Champ And King Of Instagram! Who Can Forget His Online Feud With Californian Twink Alex Gray. &Ldquo;Hei Alex Gay&Hellip;Sorry, Gray, I Think You This Wanting Suck My Dick! Sorry But Will Not Give, I Am Well Settled Sexually, And Besides, My Wife Will Kill You!!! Fuck Yourself&Hellip;&Rdquo; Beachgrit Adores The Spirit Of Ricardo For Without Ricardo, Or His Little Panther Of A Son, Surfing Would Dissolve Into A World Of Beige.Who Doesn&Rsquo;T Love Mounted Police, A World Away From Their Belligerent, Suspicious And Brutal Car-Bound Colleagues? Is It Their Love Of Horses That, Ironically, Humanises These Men?It Always Feels, In Least In My Opinion, That Proselytisers For Christianity In This Part Of Southern California Are Preaching To The Converted. Think Of All Those Beautiful Coffee-Coloured Catholic Mexicans Who See These Sorts Of Signs And Think, Yeah, Is True. And As A Base Rule, Most Californians Do Seem At Least Mildly Christian. So Why Bother Beating The Drum?Why Glorify Youth? Because Japanese Teen Hiroto Ohhara Is Representative Of The Glorious Youth Legend. Such Splendour! He Wins Contest And Says, Oh Man, Now I Buy Cars! What A Cool Wave Of Sanity He Is.Catholic Filipe Toledo With His Hyper Colour Surfboard Featuring The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Semi-Deity Who Miraculously Conceived Jesus Through The Holy Spirit And Without Her Husband&Rsquo;S Seed. Apparently, She Was At Jesus&Rsquo; Crucifixion Too. So, Quite The Historical Artefact.
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9 Comments
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HTC333
11 years ago
Filipe Toledo is the perfect fit for the hypocritical, heretical, death cult of Catholicism. He should just put a giant 666 on all his boards. Oh wait, he has a monster logo already. Go Filipe….ride that beast.
Drunken Angel
11 years ago
A day at the zoo! Beware getting into the cages though.
Jon Pyzel
11 years ago
I like how Sherm compares his silly surfboard smashing photo of the week with one of the most iconic photos in rock and roll history…
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Filipe Toledo is the perfect fit for the hypocritical, heretical, death cult of Catholicism. He should just put a giant 666 on all his boards. Oh wait, he has a monster logo already. Go Filipe….ride that beast.
A day at the zoo! Beware getting into the cages though.
I like how Sherm compares his silly surfboard smashing photo of the week with one of the most iconic photos in rock and roll history…
Not to mention a 2 inch thick Sharpe Eye is about 14,000 times easier to break than a Fender Precision.
I wonder if Kolohe is going to be able to one-up Felipe’s hissy fit at the next contest ?
Oh his apparent religiousness.
Holy fuck you didn’t just compare Toledo to Paul Simonon.
…a long bow, yes…
That made me physically cringe