HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA STUDIO

I’ve been a photographer (still images and cinematography) since 1971 the same time I took up airbrushing and modeling...This is me at my Huntington Beach studio sometime between 1982 and 1984. (These were my pre-Photoshop days — paint, frisket paper, glue and an Iwata airgun — oh yeah, real fun.) I shared this place with Sam Hawk, one of the premier big wave riders of the world famous Bonzai Pipeline in Hawaii – pre-tow-in days, a time when you earned your waves by the strength of your arms.

During this time I was also a Los Angeles City fireman, made my mom proud by graduating at the top of my class. On my days off I would go down to the studio and work, drink date shakes, chowdown avocado sandwiches and do a little surfing with Sammy.

At night when I wasn’t putting out fires or airbrushing, my agents would get me modeling and acting jobs in Hollywood. Soon after, being a fireman took it’s toll on my body and I was forced to retire honorably from fire department in 1986, so I then had a lot of time to concentrated my energies in art — music, painting, sculpting, photography, writing, drawing...It’s been a meandering artistic journey for me but a few things have always remained constant, a love for photography and music. Instead of using 8mm film I now use a digital video camera and edit my projects non-linearly (a big term for not in a straight line). With still photography — I exclusively shoot film (to the bane of my fellow photography comrades) OK, finally in March of 2005 I bought a NIkon D70 digital camera.

Thanks for visiting my site

— victor maldonado