[caption id="attachment_1222" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="(Photo: The surfer as a grom; John John Florence checking out the surf at Backdoor.) "][/caption] To say that I've had an association with John John since he was a wee bitty grom would be a gross understatement. Not only have we established a bond as surfers, but our friendship has always been tight and crossed-over into a kinship only known between my family, the Fletchers, and John John with his little brothers Nathan and Ivan, and mom Alex; Mom John. I wanted to share some of the photos I've taken of John John throughout the years. This here is just a miniscule piece of my much larger archive. Like my boards, paintings, and sculptures, photography is another artistic endeavor that I've involved my life with. [caption ...

[caption id="attachment_864" align="alignnone" width="401" caption="Herbie Fletcher. Photo by Art Brewer"][/caption] Herbie went on a boat trip to the Mentawai Islands this past fall. It was all-time. With a crew that consisted of Nathan Fletcher, Bruce Irons, John John Florence and Danny Fuller, how could it not be? And when Herbie came back to San Clemente, he came back in typical form: with lots of great tales of near-perfect surf and good times. He also took a bunch of photos for definitive proof of all of this. So stoked, so amped. Here Herbie takes us back to last October and how it all went down. Read it through and check out the pics while you're at it. To say the least, Herbie and the guys were going mental at the Mentawai Islands! This is Part ...