LeBoogie Issue #7 - Bodyboarding Photographic Journal
Every Issue of LeBoogie holds a different experience for the reader. Fresh pics , fresh interviews, fresh stories, fresh design – everything is so fresh. Like a new soul , which we like to call a ‘baby’, it is filled with energy and life, just waiting to unfold and be unfolded. In the same way, each time I go to produce the review for each issue, there is some new way I get to experience this piece of creative art we call LeBoogie.
This time it was through the experience of going into my local newsagency, which is extraordinarily tiny and seeing this the fledgling newsstand issue of LeBoogie sitting quietly in the shelves. Proud I was in that moment. I don’t know why. I just was. The place is tiny and I always feel like Alice In Wonderland (in her large phase) there. The lovely lady who is also there is also very tiny and has this way of speaking where she leaves the trailing consonant off most words, unless it is an ‘n’. I place the magazine on the appropriately narrow counter, which almost half fits on, just wide enough so it doesn’t slip off and go to hand over the bones. The little lady busts out a grin as large as Mitch Rawlins’ backy on the cover:
“Ooooh this goo’ magazine I thin’! Firs’ time I ge’ I’! I ge’ i’ cos it look so gooooo’. (translation: Ooooh this good magazine I think! First time I get it! I get it cos it look so gooooood.” )
Now this large grinning little lady has never said much to me over the years apart from general delightful politenesses, which are ingrained in the far land she is from. I was astonished. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say this lady is not a bodyboarder, yet she saw the quality in LeBoogie to the point of choosing to have it in her tiny, select stands and expounding its virtues when the sale was already made. Says something.
Sitting down to relish the pages, I noticed the logo has been subtly added to: “Bodyboarding Photographic Journal”.
This gives LeBoogie a total focus and also, importantly, gives newcomers total clarity on what Leboogie is about: A journal based on shit-hot, cutting edge photos.
Importantly, there is an extra nomer to go in the understanding of this. Macquarie Dictionary defines a journal as:
“any periodical or magazine,
especially one published by a learned society.”
What an apt description of Phil, Shad, Mike and the Brethren of the lens who come together to bring us this amazing work. Not just any magazine. Welcome to the start of the 2011 revamp. The rebirth of LeBoogie.
Births are interesting things – whether human or otherwise. Phil always opens his heart in the intro – it’s always my favourite part of the mag emotionally. It sets the tone for how I experience the flowing pages, as it is where its creator has come from in directing its composure. In some way every picture, every article has a touch of what is written in the opening phrases in it and helps me better understand where the creation has come from and so adds to the appreciation. Read the intro slowly and with an open heart and you’ll see what I mean.
Gran Canaria, Brazil, California, Hawaii, Samoa, Sumatra, Portugal… these are some of the surf breaks, riders and boogie people Issue 7 takes us to. Are we seeing Australia freshen up from previous egocentricity and openly realise there are incredible riders, breaks and boogie-types around the globe? Perhaps were are not the centre of the bodyboarding universe, but an integral part of a global phenomena, which happens to be our passion and begs to explored.
Master of his universe – That is Mr Mitch Rawlins. Spectacular and enigmatic in his level of riding, Mitch tells in the article dedicated to him in a flowing interview style that he always tries to show people
“How good bodyboarding is and could be with the right people pushing it”. Truer words were never spoken. For more of Mitch’s Masterful words (and a taste of super hero graphics) be sure to unfold the pages of your newfound copy vigorously until you see large letters coming from the sky, bow to a higher force and read on….
Prophecy, cancer, pain, elation, boredom, tension, creativity, sadness, delight, inspiration, anger, frustration, onshores, offshores, hoaxes, swells, horror, turbulence, desire, attitude, humility, praise, desire, bulls, homosexuals, women, hookers, negativity, pumping, pyrotechnics, breasts. LeBoogie is not just a magazine, it is a roller coaster of emotions leaving you simultaneously spent and elated. Be warned of this before you open the morsels called pages. Enchantment, like the Lorelei of mythical times awaits – perhaps it will take you to your death as the myth entails, however it will be a death to mediocrity. Welcome this.
Chris Gurney has always impressed me. From years ago when I was struggling to get some very underground West Oz riders exposed and Chris would not only know who they were, but bang me through some shots (which made massive steps to getting them known) to now when I see his works in many a glossy page. The man deserves the recognition and it is slowly happening as he is taken under LB’s golden win. Enjoy his wave and free-riding shots, but especially his candid portraitures. The man has the gift of shadows. Look and you will see.
(Gurney’s section is called “Smoke and Mirrors”. I always listen to music when I write this, even so, I did raise an eyebrow when the online dubstep station I was listening to spun NZ band Sick Cycle’s EP “Smoke and Mirrors”. Synchronicity is a curious beast.)
Some people expressed concern to me that with the advent of a barcode and newsstand presence, advertising would begin to take over the visual delight we call LeBoogie. No. As with all things LeBoogie, what ads that are there are well chosen in their artwork and fit in amazingly well with the flow of the pages. From Unite’s crisp shot of Nick Ormerod to Aquatech’s double page smoking green keg to Mitch’s B&W Found silhouette shot on the back page, all is in keeping with the seamless beauty that is our LeBoogie. Do not expect this to change. (Phil may think it is his, but I hear too many boogers claim it as ‘our’ mag).
Kingy, Soloman (we wish you well in your battles Eddie, both inner and outer that come with the territory in slaying your beastmaster), Stone, Singer, Toby P, PLC, Taylor, Finnegan, Sharp, Hubb, Romero, Campos, Jackson, Perry, GT, McArthur, Hardy, Day, Robinson, Stewart … and more… just some of the articles photos and mentions you will come across in issue 7. Get this beauty in your local store supporting bodyboarding, at your newsagent (tiny or otherwise) or purchase a subby online at
http://www.leboogie.com/Home/Shop (back copies on special).
Issue 8 will go on sale June 2011.
Doc
PS. Phil’s son entered the world in a way that defines this young being as destined for great things. Often such ones dream premonitions of things to come, their way of thinking is more open than most.
The details are personal, but if you know Toinzy and his beautiful wife, be assured they have been blessed with a child appropriate to them and who has come to the perfect home filled with love, nurture and understanding. A happier ending and beginning one could not ask for.
by doclach » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:20 pm 
