Photography

Café Hommage: Canggu's Best Ding Doctor

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This is Aki. He's a Ding Doctor in Canggu, Bali. With his team, they're fixing an average of 35 boards per day. Why? Because he's the best. And he's in Canggu.

I got to meet him after my girlfriend got ridden over while doing a Turtle Roll on her brand new 7' Mid-Length one morning on the famous break called Old Man's here on the coast of the busy Town of Canggu. Some guy smacked his fins into her board in the white water which left not only a small thing but quite an open crack in her board. Good thing it was only her Board, could as well be a body part.

It's something that happens on a daily basis many times a day when you have hundreds of enthusiasts, from beginner to intermediate to advanced surfers on the same perfect waves. No wonder the photographer at the beach didn’t act like it was a big thing when she showed the damage to him.

Back at the store where Daniela bought her Board a couple of days ago, the local Surfer who works there, whitout hesitation, recommended that we bring it to Aki for repair.

Located on the road that leads to the infamous Short Cut, Aki welcomed us with his bright white smile. With the garage looking quite busy, which they always are, we were sure it'll take at least a few days to get the job done. To our surprise, once he checked the Board, making sure it didn't soak up water and defining the damage, he said it'll be ready in a day.

Aki talks very openly and generous about the work they're doing. After learning the craft from an elderly Australian, he and his Brother opened a Surfboard Repair Shop in Kuta. After working on countless Surfboards there and building a reputation, Aki decided to part business with his Brother and moved to Canggu where he opened his Shop „Ding Repair By Aki“ four years ago.

Sticking out in all the competition is not easy. But Aki picked the best of the best to work with for his Shop. „Every single Surfboard that comes in goes through my hand. I personally check it, assign it to the right repair guy and it’s not leaving my Shop before I make sure it is 100% the best work that can be done.“ tells me Aki. There are three guys in rotation doing the simple Ding repairs, simple dents, cuts from fins or damages from being crashed on a stone shore in the shore break. He especially hired one skilled Man who is responsible for repairing the Boards that have been broken in two pieces. A job that can’t properly be done by everybody, as there shouldn’t be any indifferences in weight from the original, unbroken Board.

Same goes with the painting and finishing. Boards, like my Girlfriends, that have a beautiful, distinguished color leave the store almost without any visible spot of where it was repainted.

„You can learn a lot of things online nowadays.“ says Aki. „And there are a lot of people repairing Surfboards at the lowest cost possible. But it’s not as easy as it might seem on a youtube Video. To repair Surfboards without compromising a weight difference or any optical indifferences take a lot of work and a lot of finesse and requires a lot of experience. We want to make sure, you’ll love your Surfboard as much when it leaves our Shop as you loved it when you first hold it in your Hand before it was damaged.“

With that being said we left Aki’s repair Shop. My Girlfriend holding her beloved Orange glowing Channel Island Surfboard in her hands, not believing how good of a job Aki and his Team were able to do.

Canggu, 29.03.2024

New Wave Up Mag contribution & the importance of Print.

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Every once in a while I’m honored to be allowed to contribute Photographs or a Story, or both, to the Wave Up Magazine. The only remaining Surf Magazine that’s still available in Print. In times where everything seems exclusively available digitally it’s not to take for granted that a is Magazine still published in the form of print, let alone a Surf Magazine from Switzerland where all Surfer are landlocked.

Not being a fan of reading digitally myself I appreciate a printed Magazine more than ever. But as I just learned, there seems to be an upcoming trend on the horizon as more and more people want to abandon their phones in their free time and are looking to put some more time into something with a little more substance to grab, so to say.

A New York Times Article that’s been recently published states that high-end print Magazines are thriving. Same as it was the case when Vinyls made their comeback and stayed, more as a niche but still the sells picking up every year.

Here’s the whole article on how “In a digital age, high-end outdoors magazines are thriving in print” - although only in digital form… Read here.

Wave Up Magazine #38 is out now and available HERE.

Broken Artists Collective

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Over the course of two years, we talked about creating some kind of space for our little circle of creative individuals that would help us to reach more people. Turns out it's gotta be a digital space as no one can afford to rent a store or gallery (yet). So here it is: www.broken-artists.com

Starting with a tight range of photography & graphic illustration prints, custom made silver Jewellery, a local Hatmaker, and Ayurvedic Products supported by online classes, the Broken Artists Collective features the work from Momo Frei, Raphael Gurtner, Milu Hatmaker, Laura Burns and myself. Looking to be joined for other Artists in the near future we think we have something exciting going on.

Check it our here!

Morning Strolls

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Morning Walk through a Koh Phangan Neighborhood.

seeing without a sight

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As my eyes touched the surface of this world, the light was blinding me out of the beauty it has to offer. Only when shadows came I also came to realize what it has to offer. Boundlessness bounded and free to roam we are here to express ourselves from the abyss. Out of the shades to use the light and guide our inner voice to places not even visible at most times.

Vernissage & Exhibition at the Leica Store Zürich

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“In seiner Fotografie hat sich Fabian Scheidegger auf Schwarzweiss-Fotos mit Filmkameras spezialisiert. Viel zum Zug kommt dabei seine Leica M6. Am 20. Oktober eröffnet seine Ausstellung im Leica Store Zürich und Sie können sich über die analoge Art zu Fotografieren mit Fabian Scheidegger austauschen.” Leica Switzerland

Larry Choppins - Those Days

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Larry Choppins is a Lo-Fi / Trip Hip producer based in Thun, Switzerland. Through various connections he earned his Name in the Gerne and is regularly featured in Spotify Playlists all around the world. While the music industry is changing so is his approach. After releasing his newest LP in 2021, Larry Choppins want to release one Song at a time, without any deadline until he feels like there’s an Album put together. For each Song we will release a unique Photograph to accompany as the cover of the track. Each Photograph will be printed on Postcards including a Barcode where you’ll be able to listen to each piece.


“Those Days” - the first Single will be released on every platform on March 18th.

Café Hommage: THE COFFEE DRINKING CACTUS

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How a Surftrip and some Donavon Frankenreiter inspired a Coffee Brand Logo.

The creative process is influenced by countless conscious or subconscious observations and experiences. This wasn’t any different in terms of the Coffee Drinking Cactus Logo: A travel to Asia and Indonesia, countless Coffee Shop Visits, hours of good Surf music and a bunch of inspirational people was mostly responsible for the origin.

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There's usually a lot going on in Daniela Schmied's head. The creative thoughts seem to never stop or take a pause. Drawing with brushes and pencils, she recently expands her mind with a digital toy she can easily carry anywhere she goes.

The Moustache got highly inspired by Donavon Frankenreiter.

The Coffee drinking Cactus became the logo and mascot for Hermano’s Brew and can be found on several Coffee, Stickers and Shirt designs. He lately even made it on a Skateboard for a Collaboration with Approved Line Skateboards.