PHOTOS: Respondek

Craig Anderson just wrapped up filming for his new film Slow Dance, which is being produced by Craig and the Marine Layer Production team, which includes Dane Reynolds and filmmaker Dustin Miller.

The other day Craig officially wrapped filming in some small waves at home with Chippa. They had a beer and called it. Now it's off to the editing bay. We caught up with Craig briefly as he thought back to the months of filming.

The full interview with Craig and more photos are after the jump. [...]

PHOTO: Respondek

"Those boys have some epic tales..." said Craig of his recent trip to the South Coast of Australia with Occy and Matt Hoy. Later this week we'll dig into some of those tales and begin chronicaling the final few months before Craig releases his new film, Slow Dance, which will be released this summer.

Craig has literally criss-crossed the globe like six times making this flick, sometimes darting for a swell, sometimes hunkering down for weeks until there is a swell. Sometimes never getting a swell. During our recent trip to Australia I remember standing next to Craig at a bar and chatting. I then saw him again at the same bar three days later. "What have you been up to?" I asked.

"Well, I went to Tahiti for two days...just got back," he chuckled. Sneaky two days in Tahiti and right back.

This most recent trip in Australia is one of the final installments and from the looks and sounds of it, there was no shortage of story time. Occy was filming Craig on a Handy Cam. Matt Hoy was sinking beers with Mick Lowe and the old boys were having a hell time reminiscing.

We'll have more behind the scenes of Craig's film later this week. [...]

PHOTOS: Chenoweth

Craig Anderson recently left a bunch of his surfboards here at our place: three fresh Hayden Shapes and then a bunch of the boards he rode during filming for Dear Suburbia. The boards all had an interesting look and feel (no comment on whether we rode them) but we thought it might be cool to find out a bit more from Craig's shaper Hayden as to how they developed the models that Craig rides. Someone as steezy and in tune as Craig was bound to have some interesting theories on board design right? Well, not really. (After the jump) are the mocks Craig sent Hayden for the boards we had here at the office . [...]

Photos: Nate Lawrence and Blake Myers

So you might have heard us talking about What Youth Issue 3 lately and how it's out and rad and all that...well, please pardon our excitement, but we're fucking psyched on it. Anywho, it features some photos of Dane Reynolds and Craig Anderson in Mexico recently. The trip was last minute and Dane was only able to attend for two days, but when he was there, he managed to go pretty looney at this very secret (not going to name it) spot in Mexico. It's a right. It's as fun as waves get. After the jump you'll find an endless brick road of images from the trip that will allow you to live a better, more fulfilling existence. Click now and start scrolling for enlightenment to commence. And by all means, dance.  [...]

Here's a photo teaser of images — all of which happen to be shot on film — that won't be making the cut for Issue 3.

We're on the final stretch before sending our third book to the printer and noticed how much interesting imagery we've been getting that's shot on actual film. It's rad to slow the consumption and the shooting process down, and film gives you no other option. Less opportunities to shoot forces you to focus on what you're shooting and usually creates a much more interesting photograph. It sounds pretentious to talk about shooting film. we get that, but the fact of the matter is that it reminds you exactly what it is your'e doing when you take a photo, as opposed to just snapping away and opening Photoshop after. It forces you to pay attention. It feels like a step in the direction of slowing down our double click lifestyle so that we can't actually enjoy something, whether it be an image, a book, a movie or an album. Go buy a disposable camera today and try it for yourself. [...]

PHOTO: Beren Hall

Craig Anderson got here yesterday. He strolled into our place bright eyed and bushy tailed, toting coffee and post-flight chit-chat buzz. We talked skateboarding and surfing, holiday breaks, and how his film (the reason he's here) is coming together. He’s got a pretty booked couple of weeks here in California going through footage for the film, which is being overseen and creative directed by Dane Reynolds, Dustin Miller and Beren Hall. They'll be assessing, stressing and piecing together all the footage compiled throughout last year, trying to make sense of the hours and hours of footage.

Having traveled over to the states with zero boards, Craig’s first stop was our office, where we had about eight of his trusty Hayden Shapes — four  untouched freshies and four old faithfuls. When I inform Craig of his quiver here, he doesn't seem too surprised.

“I seriously have shit everywhere right now,” he says, feeling a bit scattered from the 13-hour flight, followed by a rush hour sit in LA traffic. Three of his boards are up against the wall, covered in paint that our art director Scott Chenoweth has begun spraying for Craig. We'll be unveiling those later this month. After Craig left our office, the jet lag caught up with him on his way up north. He fell asleep at 3 in the afternoon. Stay tuned for updates throughout the editing process from the Reynolds compound as they make the film.  [...]

This is a bit different. It's not normal to rank your own videos, we realize that, but we're going to do it anyway. Mostly because it's been just as much fun making this stuff as we hope it is to watch. And we'd like to spend the last few days of 2012 highlighting a few videos we had a particular good time making. We'll count them down from five and hit play on our favorite New Year's day. And after that, we'll officially be kicking off 2013 and a whole host of new projects, films, videos, photos, trips, parties, events, and fun. But now, a look back.

Coming in at number 5 is Prequel IV from Dear Suburbia. This launched the first 100 percent, official surf trip for What Youth. Dane, Craig, Dion and Conner hit the road and were promptly skunked for two weeks, which led to a wild night on the beers in the local college town ("It's Uni night tonight!") in an effort to turn the luck. And as we've learned from experience, it did. The boys promptly stumbled upon ramps and pits pushed up against a medieval backdrop and the rest is Dear Suburbia and What Youth history.  [...]

A while back Brendon Gibbens came through What Youth and sat on our couch. He was tagging along with Dion Agius and Craig Anderson. He was very polite and friendly. Everyone was skating around the warehouse talking shit and hanging out. We had no idea Brendon even surfed.

Cut to a few months later in France: Passing through on his way to Iceland Brendon came and hung out with us for a few days and we got a chance to sit down and officially meet the real man. Turns out he can surf. Really damn well. He has a charming South African accent, unassuming demeanor and one of the wildest alley-oop stomps we've seen. And underground appeal that we love. Remember that spelling.  [...]

"Humanity is fascinating. The more landlocked you get, the more bizarre things seem to get. Jean is a point-and-shoot style film documenting things and people that were interesting to me while on the road for the Dear Suburbia tour. I would have a few beers and watch people through the lens as we traveled across America." [...]

PHOTO: Neville

When we spoke to Craig he was just home from Europe before coming to California, then New York and New England.

Europe didn't end well. Craig is a kind soul and to move against him is an awful sin, and a Frenchman had sinned. It happens everywhere.

 

CRAIG ANDERSON: I’ve been home since last Friday, so almost a week.

WHAT YOUTH: Coming from France?

I was in France, yeah. I was going to [...]