2022 Surf Art Calendar
November
“Ocean Beach Pier”
By: Andy Yamashiro
STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE
From the Artist: I set out to get a shot of the OB Pier and quickly realized that it was going to be harder than I had anticipated. I wanted a colorful sunset, low tide for reflections on the sand and hopefully not too many people in the shot. It took a while, but on January 14, 2013 I finally got something that I was happy with. It was a cold evening and surprisingly no one was on the beach. I took some test shots while I waited for the pier lights to turn on. The photo was taken with a Canon 7D, 10-22mm wide angle lens and exposed for 20 secs.
PERSONAL CONNECTION
Andy has been my good friend since childhood, growing up seven houses away from each other and co-conspirator in adolescent hijinks. We used rule Marseilles Street… bombing down hills on our skateboards, surfing the local reef breaks around Sunset Cliffs and building skateboard ramps in my back yard. Along with our SCT crew of Gabe, Mark, Joel, Ryan and Antonio… we were best friends all the way through High School. We played in a band together, played JV football and I can’t say enough good things about the guy… He’s solid as they come.
Some of my earliest surfing memories are of when his dad used to take us to the OB Pier to surf as kids at age 8. His dad, aka “Coach Carl”, is a Hawaiian surfer who was an OB Pier local, taught us the ways of the Aloha spirit and how to navigate the local surf scene. The Pier has always been one of my favorite spots between jumping off of it as a Jr. Lifeguard, taking surfing lunch breaks while working at Breakers Surf Shop on Newport Ave, to recently seeing how it has come full circle with the kids of my friends surfing it in the local Grom Fest contest.
Andy has always been a great photographer, technically sound with the camera and so when it came time to put together the 2022 Surf Art Calendar, I knew Yama had some cool shots to pick from and happy that he’s shared this incredible image of the pier with us. What stands out for me is the reflection of the sunset off of the water at low tide and how he used the longer exposure to create this dynamic view of the beach and pier.
ARTIST BIO
Andy enjoys surfing, playing guitar, cooking and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
