New member Kymri Wilt recently shared this image and the inspiration behind it:
© Kymri Wilt/Mira Terra Images
"On February 6, 2008, California Coastal Commission held a 14-hour hearing and voted to deny the construction of a Toll Road through San Onofre State Beach. I attended the hearing along with thousands of others - many were surfers, many were environmentalists, and all were passionately professional about making their voices heard. There were CEO's, attorneys, moms with toddlers, commuters, activists, teachers, and all walks of business professionals, male and female, who took the day off work to give testimony or support. The definition of a stereotypical surfer was blown right out of the water. Surfers come in all ages, shapes and sizes. However, most of the signs, t-shirts, websites and promotional advertising seemed targeted to an outdated punkish youth subculture and did little to embrace today's real-life surfer - someone like myself (self-employed, vegetarian, wife, mother, homeowner, hybrid-driver, world traveller, photographer, etc.).
As a photographer, I wanted to capture the essence of today's surfer and environmentalist. I also wanted to explore a new way of conceptualizing what it means to be "green" - for an individual, for a business, and for the planet. I grabbed my surf buddy Kevin (a professional surf instructor/actor/model), and we brainstormed for all of two minutes then we were off. He had an expired laptop that he was keeping to someday artfully "smash into a gazillion pieces", but we decided that it would serve a greater purpose as a prop for our shoot (battery removed of course). We grabbed the laptop along with an old suit and some boards, and headed out into the surf, shooting all the way from the car right into the surf. It was pure, inspired, fun. The ideas just rolled out one after the next....Board Director, Green Executive, Rush Hour, Alternative Commute, 5:00, Boss's Day Off, Surfing the Web, Work Flow, Wet Suit, etc. etc. We've yet to decide upon the ultimate image to represent "Toll Road Alternative", so as not to forget the issue which inspired it all: www.surfrider.org
See more of Kymri's images in Marketplace.
When not travelling and working behind the camera, Kymri may also be found in front of it. She appears in various films, commercials, and infomercials, not to mention as a print and surf stock image model, and is no stranger to local stages. She also freelances as a Travel Director, escorting tour groups to worldwide destinations. She has crafted a lifestyle in which her work is her pleasure, and is grateful to be doing what she loves, loving what she does, and making a living doing it!
This year Kymri will be travelling to South Africa, Namibia, Japan, China, and......? She welcomes requests for specific travel and destination imagery, and may be hired for shoot assignments worldwide. At home in California, she is resourced with a talent pool of models, and surfers, in all ages, shapes, and sizes. She is available for customized shoots in which to expand on the themes and concepts presented in this series, the Green Executive. The conceptual wave is only just forming.....
