Well to start with, this wasn’t really meant as a bushcraft expedition. I was on vacation with my girlfriend’s family along the Jersey Shore. It was two days before the 4th of July and I wanted to do something that just screamed early american pioneer. My old college buddy happens to live in the same town we were staying in. We both went to photoschool together.
He gets a beach buggy pass every year which allows him to cruise his truck right along the shoreline. The park doesn’t really allow camping out, but if you’re fishing between 12am-4am, you’re allowed to sleep there. So my friend was in charge of what we would need for the fishing end of the trip. I was in charge of cooking, fire prep, etc.

Meet Chris:
Photographer by day, beach bum at night.



I found it strange to have this style pack on the beach. It reminds me of louis and clark finally making it to the coast on the other side.

Camping on a beach has been one of my life goals. It’s not really allowed anywhere anymore which is a shame. It’s so beautiful at night smelling the campfire and hearing the waves reshaping the coastline all night. This would also mark my first campout with my new camera. It was also a full moon… which made for some amazing images that night.


The moon shot up quick over the Atlantic. 

I decided I’d setup the tarp like I’ve seen people with overturned canoes. I didn’t worry about getting it super tight since there was clear skies in the forecast. By the way… if you haven’t tried building a shelter on sand… and think that it’ll be a snap… forget it! It took me 4 times the amount of time to set this up than it does on dirt. I ended up tying my lines to logs and burying them. The wind did still loosen the tarp, but oh well. We’re sleeping on sand, it can’t get any comfier than that! 




Chris dug out the fire pit. I really loved the idea of having a wind break, and if you wanted to.. you could build a fire reflector with sand. Sand is such a great insulator. We quickly had a hot cook fire thanks to the flint and steel.




Sun sinking fast.

I also have to note that this is the first trip I ever had Red Foxes come up within 5 feet of me. They were after our bait clams. We had at least 6 come up to us. We could see them coming from a mile away because the moon lit the sand up which almost reminded me of the Apollo 11 mission photographs. It was strange being out there all night with no worries of seeing other humans. The coast was ours. Unfortunately we didn’t catch a single thing. I was more worried about hooking a fox. Imagine the carnage of trying to free a frightened fox attached to a fishing pole?!??! 








My favorite picture of the night.

I couldn’t help but think of the first scene in Jaws the entire night. The cliche beach party scene… check it out on youtube and compare. It looked very similar. (Except that was filmed during the day to look like night)


This new camera is great. I can now take photos all night with no worries. Screw flashes!



I did learn how to shuck clams, which was a neat experience. I also learned how to cast a heavy line into the water. Chris is a really cool guy and he wants me to get him his first axe… he really enjoyed seeing my Gransfors Wildlife hatchet splitting red oak like it was nothing. I think he enjoyed it when I used a log to bash thru most of it. 






Self Portrait.

Other than those things, nothing really bushcrafty happened. It was more of a “I haven’t seen you in two years, lets have some drinks and catch up” kinda nights..


Untangling my line… mussels would stick to our line, and end up in a huge ball of string. That totally ruined fishing. But in a survival situation… we caught something.







That ugly light pollution is the boardwalk 30 miles away. Gross.

I for some reason pull an all-nighter camping. Some things don’t look the same or reveal themselves under the normal light of day. Everything at night changes by the hour, especially during a fullmoon. 


This was our “… do you ****** see that?! Is that what I think it is???” moments. We couldn’t see that secondary horizon line way out there so that huge ship looked like something in the sky for a moment. 

Chris hit the hay and I kept fishing and shooting. 




For some reason the moon always looks blood red when it’s riding the horizon.


I’m not typically a fan of compositing images together. I feel it’s cheating, and it’s cheap but sometimes you can’t physically obtain an image without it. This was the moon from earlier layered ontop of the overexposed moon in the landscape shot here. Kinda neat… kinda fake..


Some fishermen drove up before sunup. 


There is also a lighthouse out there. Just above the tarp.








This has to be the best way I’ve ever celebrated being an American. Sleeping under the stars on a beach Henry Hudson wrote about in 1609.. lots of animal flesh to consume over the fire, and lots of stories to tell. Happy Independence Day! 


[This photo also marks when I went to bed.]




Oh and don’t worry folks.. his pass is for year around access.. I plan on going next month. This time full on coastal bushcraftin’

I also have more photos from that week of testing my new camera which I shall post more when I have em.

Here’s one during a thunderstorm.

I love the moon.

I was truely lucky to “safely” film outside during a thunderstorm. It was 20-30 miles away according to the radar and just as a cherry on top, the moon was roaring above the storm. It almost looked like daytime. It was a strange night indeed. The next morning all over the news reported that the country had heat waves, and even a “land hurricane” this same day. Which some people are still without power. It was one of the most intense electrical storms I’ve ever caught on tape. In fact my first photos of lightning were from this night. The end footage of the lightning wasn’t sped up, there was that much action going on in the skies. It looked like galactic war.



I also started filming my adventures. These were just some test shots. I think I’m just going to mute the nonsense chit chat and just play music to it. I’m going to mix in some lightning footage from the previous night as well. Just to keep it interesting. None of this was filmed with the intention of editing it all together as one piece.. so it’s sort of back and fourth…

I’m also continuing tradition and using my own recordings for music. I spent the entire week obsessing over some very early John Lee Hooker recordings.. so this is me bastardizing all that I heard that week. The song at the end is something from a long time ago. (I just recorded these today for the video so mind the unmixed gobble-tee-gook that you hear.