Jay’s Spirit Shines at 12th Annual Surftech Jay Race

To read a great post-event summary from the 12th Annual Jayrace by the folks at Surftech click here. LIVE LIKE JAY!!!

Another Great Trip to Santa Cruz

Men’s podium for overall and prone paddler finishers (L-R Anthony Vela, Roch Frey, George Plsek, Don Miralle, Aaron McKinnon)

One of the highlights of my family’s last two summers has been our annual trip up to Santa Cruz, California. We not only go up to compete in the Jay Moriarty Race, but also take in all the great sites up there including the rides on the boardwalk, train rides through 100ft redwood trees, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the miles of beautiful coastline, and see old friends and make new ones. If you ever get a chance to get up to Santa Cruz, even if you don’t want to compete or watch one of the best paddleboard races in the US, you will not regret that you made it to one of the coolest cities in NorCal.

Lauren, Luke and Micah making like Wild West Settlers in Roaring Rapids and Big Trees Train Camp.

Big thanks to all the folks from the JayRace and all the sponsors for putting on the best community-driven event for a young, quickly growing sport with all proceeds going to Santa Cruz State Junior Lifeguards. Special thanks to Duke Brouwer from Surftech, Kim Moriarty, Bob Pearson, Frosty Hesson, Denise White, Chris Hollingsworth, Brian Foss, and Aaron McKinnon for their efforts in making the 12th Annual Race the best ever! LIVE LIKE JAY!!!

Aaron McKinnon and I battling out the race lead with the Santa Cruz Boardwalk as the backdrop.

Boys pick me up after we get our hardware at the JayRace Afterparty

Beautiful Steam Train ride through Redwoods at Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad.

Studio Work for Asics

Been doing work for the Asics Running Brand through Vitro Agency in San Diego, who are a pleasure to work with and has been a great experience. I shot the LA Marathon for them which was right up my alley and also a fantastic way to see the city I grew up in. In addition been doing some studio work for them, with models and product, which I really enjoy doing. Here’s a outtake from one of the shoots, enjoy!!!

Donald Miralle/2.8 Sports Photography Workshop in Torino, Italy September 14th&15th, 2013!

This September 14th & 15th in Torino, Italy 2.8 Quarterly Collection of Photography and MAJOR4LIFE are presenting my Sports Photography Workshop! This will be a two day hands-on workshop, with lectures and shooting in the field  in Torino Italy! More details to follow soon, but space is limited so signup or get more information at http://www.dueeotto.com or email info@dueeotto.com. Hope to see you there!!!

Gallery: “World Champion Sebastien Kienle” – LAVA Magazine Cover

If the phrase “World Champion” precedes your name you’re pretty much a bad-ass. Sebastien Kienle is no exception. The 2012 70.3 World Champion hailing from Germany was in the lead at his first Kona Ironman World Championships last year, en route to crush the bike course record, when not only did he manage to get one flat tire, but two. And he still finished fourth at the end of the day.

I caught up with Kienle in St. George Utah before his 70.3 race there, to shoot him for the July cover of Lava Magazine. After hanging out with him for a couple days I realized the guy’s a machine, down to earth, and he will be in the lead again in Kona. I used my Nikon D800 paired with the Pocket Wizard Flex TT with the new beta firmware, to consistently freeze action shooting over 1000th of a second synched with profoto 7b strobes! Here are some of my favorite pics from our shoot, hope you enjoy!

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Gallery: “Beauty and the Beasts” – Pacific Magazine Cover

If you don’t know who Ocean Ramsey is, fire up a google search and you’ll recognize a viral video of graceful woman swimming with a 15-foot great white shark with no cage!  She’s part ocean and shark conservationist, part free-diving bad-ass, and part model/athlete. I had the great opportunity to shoot her in Oahu, Hawaii for this month’s Pacific San Diego Magazine Cover.

I knew they were my kind of people when they pulled up in their 4X4 towing a wave runner and asked if I still felt up to free-diving with tiger sharks. Unfortunately, just like anything else in the ocean, it’s all dependent on the conditions and mother nature and the wind were not cooperating with us that week. Regardless, we dove in underwater caves, swam with dolphins, and took some great pics along the way.  It was a pleasure to meet her and her partner Juan Oliphant, whose passion for the ocean and sharks is truly inspirational. To learn more about Juan and Ocean go to waterinspired.com and read the online article of Pacific Magazine here. Here are some of the images that made it into the mag and some outtakes, hope you enjoy and as always your feedback is appreciated!!!

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