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SurfHumor.com Contact/About Us |
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Contact Us Shoot us an email at btopp @ pacbell.net if you have suggestions, bad jokes or funny stories to share. When managing a website, one doesn't get a lot of feedback so it's cool to read your messages. (Delete the extra spaces in the email address.)
Subscribe Sounds important, huh? If you want us to send you an email when we post new photos, videos or stories, let us know by sending an email. Just put "Subscribe me" in the message line. Then you need to add btopp @ pacbell.net to your address book so your spam filter doesn't gobble our messages. If you get sick of emails from us, just send another with "Unsubscribe me" in the message line and we'll take care of it within 48 hours depending on the day job, dog walks, and the swell schedule.
Background SurfHumor.com started out as a hobby site; just a spot to share silly stories and bad jokes with friends. Along the way, we scanned and posted photos taken with a trusty Canon film camera. Like a lot of people, we were swept up by the digital SLR revolution and now spend more time shooting than surfing. The photography isn't perfect, but it's certainly better than our surfing.
Business Model We often joke that this is a "non-profit" site, because there's no way we will ever make a profit given the cost of hosting the site and the thousands of dollars spent on camera gear. Nevertheless, it seemed only fair to recoup some of the expenditures by selling prints and allowing users to download high resolution images for a nominal fee. It sounds cheesy, but our greatest reward remains meeting new people and sharing the stoke most surfers experience from having photos taken of themselves.
Camera Gear We get a lot of questions about the equipment so we asked our primary staff photographer, Zoomer, to comment: I don’t consider myself a technical photographer by any means, and others are better qualified to give advice. For what it’s worth, I’m currently shooting with a Canon 20D and Canon Rebel XTi. The 20D was in the hospital when I bought the Rebel as a backup. At 10 mega pixels, it’s a lot of camera for the money and takes good photos. Since there’s a new model every two years with higher resolution and more features, I’ve decided not to spend money on a high end camera body. The money is in the lenses, anyway. I use a 17-85mm f/1.4-5.6 lens for close work and the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 for longer shots when I don’t want to carry the big glass. Most of the photos on the site were taken with either my 300mm f/2.8 or my 500 f/4.0. All are Canon lenses and have auto focus and image stabilization. To shoot Mavs from the bluff or really big Ocean Beach, I sometimes use the 1.4X extender with the 500mm lens. I have the 2.0X extender but the resulting photos are not very sharp. As a general rule, buy the better stuff and you won’t be disappointed.
Policy on Local Spots We share with some dismay the explosion in surfing’s popularity. So we try not to exploit lesser known breaks by naming them even though many are visible from the Pacific Coast Highway. On the other hand, we detest mindless localism, particularly when it leads to aggressive acts. The ultimate locals? Rich developers who create gated costal communities with million dollar homes to prevent the “unwashed masses” from enjoying the beach. We have friends who have religiously driven three hours to surf their favorite spot every weekend for years. Are they any less “local” that the kid with wealthy parents who rides his bike three blocks to the break? When the only thing enjoyable about surfing is a high wave count, it’s time to stop surfing. (Sorry about the rant-and-rave.) We've been doing this for a number of years and have received a few angry emails. On the other hand, hundreds of people have thanked us so we'll keep this site up and running as long as it spreads a little positive karma in a sometimes depressing world.
Legal Beagle Stuff If you want to use a photo for publication or advertising, please contact us to make arrangements. Otherwise, by purchasing photos you agree to the following conditions. These photos are protected by copyright laws and SurfHumor.com (Topp Consulting) retains all property rights. You declare the photos you purchase are of yourself or a gift for the individual in the photo and you agree not to sell, distribute, or allow the sale or distribution of photos for commercial use or publication. Should you use these photos for unauthorized purposes you agree to pay any and all legal fees, penalties, fines, and any other costs incurred by SurfHumor.com (Topp Consulting). Fortunately, we have a lot of attorney friends who surf. If someone uses photos from this site improperly or files a bogus legal claim, we're loaded for bear. These legal disclaimers are really irritating, don't you agree? |