Surfing pic of the day: Maderas surfing gallery to commemorate the International Surfing Day

Today is the International Surfing Day in all over the world. To commemorate such a beautiful day, I gathered a few surfing memories of my stay this winter in Nicaragua.

Surfing is sharing!

Surfing is a deep connection within ourselves, and a state of pure romance with mother nature. This is how I see it. This is what surfing taught me and I want to share this blessing with you all.

Let's celebrate surfing today and everyday being aware of the beauty that surround us, in and out of the water.

This is my most romantic surfing shots in Nicaragua. I hope your heart melt, like mine did during three months down there.. enjoy your weekend!

Felipe Avendaño, impressing the ladies in a sunset session

Felipe, black & white

Surftripping with friends is always a bless

Great light, great surfer

Norwin, local surfer

One cloudy day, surfers and a dreamy beach

Murray, the surfer dog!

Green gems

Local surfer, snapping a glassy wave 

This wave is just very "right"

Local and a vanilla sunset session

Surfing's better with buddies :)

Inspirational Wednesdays: Kayla Rocca, Maderas Village photographer

I met Kayla with a camera in hand and a big smile in her face. Since the first time she stepped in our dorm in Maderas Village, Nicaragua; I knew she was a cool lady to be around.
She improved my time in Maderas in so many ways. Oh the times we passed together! She taught me "good English", she inspired me everyday with her photography and the way she used to love fruits and vegetables down there, made me appreciate some simple things I didn't pay attention anymore like food.

I hope this interview inspires you as much as she did with me in our time together in Nicaragua. Within this interview you can see some pics I took of her, and some other she took of me.

Thanks Kayla for all the love and the nicest pictures no one ever made me!
For more Kayla check out her just launched site: http://www.kaylarocca.com

- Kayla, how did you ended up taking photographies as a way of living, and what’s your favorite style?
My favourite style of photography is environmental portraiture. I love photographing people in their natural habitat. People are so interesting and capturing the essence of someone being themselves is something so special to me.

I ended up being a professional photographer simply through passion and hard work. I photographed things that inspired me, and through that, people saw my work and hired me.

Kayla, all stoked eating one of the sweetest pineapples we ever tasted

I took this picture in our dorm in Maderas one Saturday very early in the morning, what an angel!

- What brought you to Maderas and what was the main catalyst to go there? 
What brought me to Maderas Village is a little thing called fate. I knew I wanted to do some more travelling, but I wasn't sure when and where. My friend Laura suggested I check out Maderas Village. I went online, fell in love with what I saw and wrote one of the owners (Matt Dickinson) and emailed asking if he needed any photography services. I didn't hear much until one of my clients in Toronto gave me an e-introduction to, again, Matt Dickinson. It turns out that Maderas Collective was having a pop-up shop in Toronto and needed a photographer for the weekend. I instantly said YES. I photographed the pop-up shop and ended up hitting it off with the Maderas Family. From that moment on, I knew something special was about to happen. I flew to Nicaragua in January, planning to only stay for a couple weeks, and ended up staying for several months photographing and doing social media for the brand. It was one of the best times of my life.

- Things you absolutely miss about Nicaragua and what you won’t try again?
Ha! Great question. I miss Toña beer, Victoria Frost and sipping on fresh fruit rum cocktails while watching the sunset over Playa Maderas. I miss all my friends I met travelling, they truly became family to me.

- How was the whole experience in general and what did you learn?
Living at Maderas Village was one of the most extraordinary experiences. To be surrounded by such amazing, creative, and passionate people, in such an incredible environment was something one only dreams about. I learned a lot! I learned some Spanish, some surfing, some traditional cooking and how to live in a room with 4 other people, ha!

Having fun at the beach every day at sunset time 

And we all went for a surf trip. This old jeep was a legend

- What are you doing now and what are your next plans?
I am currently in Toronto and doing some work in Brooklyn. I am photographing a lot and in the process of launching my new website (www.kaylarocca.com). Life is good!

- Next travel or destination?
My friend and I are in talks of driving from Toronto to Portland and bringing our cameras with us. We want to stay in really eclectic places on the way. If anyone knows of a yurt we can sleep in, let us know!

- Anything you want to add to the interview that you seem interesting?
As Anthony Hopkins says, “My philosophy is: I am what I am and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. ”

Me at a trip on a katamaran. © Kayla Rocca

Me and my surf buddy Nikki early in the morning just finishing a session. © Kayla Rocca

I wasn't possing, I promise. © Kayla Rocca

Me and Vincent caught in a lovely moment by Kayla. © Kayla Rocca

Surfing pic of the day: Felipe owning the rail

This is one of the uncountable pics I took of Felipe Avendaño during my stay in Maderas.
Are you wondering if he actually made it, took the rail and went down that wall? I'm pretty sure he did!. He's that rad ;)

Dale Felipe!

Felipe shredding the sunset

Eat, surf, and live the slow life in Maderas // Korduroy.tv

Have you ever wondered how is to live a slow life in a tiny community surrounded by surf and papayas?

A few months ago I wrote about this for the blog of Korduroy.tv and it's just being published on their platform. Take a look on how I spent three months of my life down there:

"Life here at Maderas beach is certainly slow; it cant be another way, you can't force nature to be different, so the natural thing is to adapt and go with the flow.

Maderas beach is a very small beach close, but far away from San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. In terms of distance, the beach is no more than 10km away, so it's very accessible. So, why do I say is far away then? Simply, because it's such a mission to get there. The dirt roads are in such bad shape, that every time you go to San Juan, it takes the entire day. Maderas beach is small; there're no groceries store or anything similar around, so you're obligated to go to town every time you need something.

Despite being small, this beach is a very proud community. If you look around, you have no more than five places to stay, but most of them are named after Maderas beach. Most of the businesses here belong to expats, so it's really interesting to see all the different personas and how each one of them has a different vibe and approach, and how they come together through a very basic principle: enjoy the simple and slow life on your own terms.

Maderas beach view

Locals just enjoying the afternoon

I originally came here to collaborate in a creative project for The Maderas Village community, and ended up staying a month more. I discovered that even though you have all the time in the world to do all the stuff you want to do, it's really funny to realize that days are very short and you end up not doing much of what you had planned. Time has passed so fast, it's really hard to believe that I've been here for almost three months documenting the slow life.

We have very few things to be worried about here in paradise. One of those things for us surfers is "the tide". Here, the surf works better with high tide, otherwise the waves are very steep and shallow. The beach break is very powerful and the wave is very fast, so for some it's very important to have enough water to fall on. Other people really enjoy the rush of adrenaline – they only go on low tide in order to get barreled and have "break-neck" waves..."

Please read the full article here, and don't forget to follow Korduroy platform with great news about art, surf, video, etc.

Surftrip with friends of the Maderas Village

Floater in a very green afternoon

Coolest Swiss chicks I met in my stay

Machete pumping some lefts in the dry season

Surfing pic of the day, Friday SUPper

What's for dinner tonight mum? - Waves son, sunset waves!

I took this pic at Maderas around December or so. I started to document the amazing surf of a group of 4-5 suppers that came to the beach for about 2 weeks.
A lot of people tend to believe that SUP is for small waves. They're wrong! These guys were surfing waves from 3ft to 8-12 ft with such an impressive style. These guys got barreled every time they could, and yes, with such a monster board. Pretty cool to watch indeed.

Sunset supper at Maderas