KL:
What were you like as I kid?
NG: I was hyperactive man, dude I was on ritalin.
My childhood was pretty cool. I was raised by
my mom. Only child, single parent situation. I
was always outside, I was always dirty and cut
up. But I always came in when the Cosby show came
on, that and Alf. I was told to be who you are,
so I did. I read Garfield books and Calvin and
Hobbes and played in the dirt, it was great. 
KL:
Where was the best session you've had in California?
NG: Probably Rincon, I've only surfed it once
and it was epic. And on my second wave I got barreled
across the point on my backhand, which was shocking
because I didn't know I could ride the barrel
backside.
KL:
West vs. East?
NG: I've had lots of time to compare them. The
grass is always greener you know. The 5 (freeway)
is just insane, the amount of people out here
is nuts, it's a culture shock. California is so
vast, I like the endless opportunities. It's up
to you in what you can achieve. I love all the
museums out here, and all the things going on,
all the aquariums and the studies going on involving
the ocean and beaches. I like the politics out
here way better, that's for sure, I don't know
when Florida became a red state, but I'm not sure
I could move back.
KL:
Have you been adhering to your new year's resolutions?
NG: No. hahahah… no.
KL:
Straight up now? What were they?
NG: I wanted to surf more and exercise more, but
then again I don't really have the time.
KL:
Do you have any crazy desires?
NG: Yeah, I want to be a bum and travel around,
not own anything but my camera and just capture
my adventures.
KL:
How did you get into photography?
NG: Um, probably all the way back into high school,
we had a really good program at my school, had
state of the art technology. The students at my
school were really into the arts. I was surrounded
by creative, talented people. The town I grew
up in too is really esthetically pleasing - old
buildings built in the 1500's, cool setting and
scenery. That's what I was drawn to originally,
shooting my town, and it just kind of evolved
from there. I always had my camera with me, when
I was doing the tour, just a 300mm. I shot some
heats in Hossegor, France one year and it ended
up becoming a story in East
Coast Wahines. So that was really exciting
and I realized then maybe I could do more of this
kind of thing.
KL:
Where did you grown up?
NG: In St. Augustine Florida, in between Jacksonville
and Daytona Beach.
KL:
Isn't that like the oldest town in the states
or something?
NG: Yeah, it's the oldest European settlement
in the nation. So there is a lot of history, lots
of wars fought there. It was once taken over by
the French, then the British, then again by Spain.
There is a lot going on there, a lot of ghosts,
it's one of the most haunted cities in the nation.
Nicole Grodesky
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