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| locals only 2015 © henningnockel.com |
to me its often the story behind the pic that makes the picture
i ment to call that picture "locals only" but i did not. instead i decided to call it "father and son". let me tell you why:
when
i was 18 years old and i got my drivers license, the very first trip i
took with my moms car was to denmark, our neighbour country! to me it
was a dream come true i was able to go where i wanted to go, and since i
loved windurfing so much i went to klitmøller, a small fishing town in
the northwest of denmark in a region called thy.
my father died when i was young and my mom was the one who always got us what we needed! or rather say what we wanted! ;))
when
i was 19, i decided to stop with everything that i "needed" to do and i
went straight to denmark and stayed as long as i could!! i guess, at
least for 10 years, i slept more nights in the car then at home.
most
of the times i have been a foreigner where ever i was going. more
coincidentally, i was never a local, cause where i come from there are
no waves! i spend a few years on hawaii during the wintertime. on maui
you did not have much other chance then to respect the locals if you did
not want to get into fights and stuff, hawaii can be a tuff paradise
for some!
even when i have never been a true local, there
where always people who made me feel at home where ever i have been! no
matter if on hawaii, france, southafrica, canary islands or denmark,
those people who became friends were my second family, thats the only
way to survive when away from home as a youngster!! u need to find
yourself a second family, something we call home away from home!
in denmark i knew a lot of good people. stine and lana were two of my closest friends at that time.
anyway,
where ever i was going there were people who didnt make you feel
welcome! people who were trying to give you shit and a hard time! i
remember one guy in klitmøller who was not really a local, but he was
danish and he moved to the small town a few years later. most of the
times, it was him, who was acting like he owns the place and the waves!
he
used to be a good windsurfer, lets say "a racer". while windsurfing in
the waves he was not too talented, but what the heck, it doesnt matter,
right!? he was often screaming and shouting on the wave, even when there
was almost nobody in the ocean and it was not his turn to ride! he made
sure to look grumpy all the time, and since he was a bit older, buffy,
he got the respect he needed or he was asking for.
to be honest,
we were young and did not always behave like angels! sometimes we were
acting unstopable and unbeatable in that small little fishing village,
even when we were a joke. while on the water i respected the locals and
everyone who was trying to ride waves.
other then the bad vibes i
did not get many problems with guys like him while travelling the
world! a hard look or some shouting as i took waves, but you learn to
deal with that, dont you!?
actually, on hawaii, france or south africa i never got into fights with the so called "locals".
to
make a long story short, guess we got all older. most of the tension is
gone we got more quite now. also the small fishing town in denmark has
changed! it lost quite a bit of its original spark and rough charme, but
dont tell anybody ;))! its still great thou!
when i am in
klitmøller, i see that guy ones in a while, he also started surfing a
few years ago! sometimes when i see him on the water, i feel like, he is
still giving people that bad-ass look, at least to some of the younger
ones, but who cares, could also just be me!? or maybe he cant really
change his attitude for good!?
just now, one of the last days, i took that picture of him!
its
acually the guy i am talking about together with his son. most of the
times i take pictures and frames spontaneously, i did not think much
about it, they were further down the beach in a little distance as i turned around and took it. just when i got home later that day, the shot caught my
attention – the bodylanguage of him with his little boy, climbing out
the ocean tired with that fragileness. i took one or two more frames but
they dont have it, the vibe, that this one does!
in a way it made
me love that guy, if i never had loved or respected him anyway!! at
least, love him for the passion of the ocean and the fact of riding
waves! so it happens, so many years later, while i was taking pictures
of some empty waves at some random danish beach, he appeared! he took
his son surfing, what a champ!! he protected him at the shorebreak as
the waves broke over them and he pushed him on his little surfboard into
some small runners! when his son lost the board, dad was swimming like a
hellman to get it back!
but you know, only when they both got
back to shore, and only later when i saw the shot on my screen at home
that night, i realised how much i really love the fact when people
protect their childs!
it made me think in a strange way of the
refugees and the pictures i have seen lately all over the news. most of
the times its the pictures when they hold their childs that makes me cry
and not understand what kind of a bad and fucked up world we are living
in right now!
as grown ups we often have to be strong,
sometimes selfish and we trying to act worryless. but maybe we can only
really see the problems when we think of our children, since they are the only
true value for us!
in other words i have seen a dad....and a son!
and i am glad the guy that used too give others a hard time, for fun,
made me believe he is not just a dick anymore!
and by the way if i am not mistaken....we all have a dad and that makes us someones daughter or son!
ahoi henning
