Single Fin Serendipity
SINGLE FIN SERENDIPITY
HALE'IWA, HAWAII
MIKE ITO
I often swim out to Ala Moana Bowls when it’s about 1–3 feet to photograph the longboarders. Although it’s known as a bigger, barreling spot — made famous by Gerry Lopez, Larry Bertlemann, and Buttons Kaluhiokalani in the ’70s and ’80s — I consider it, at this size, a world-class logging wave.
On one of those days, a friend was telling me how he found a log under someone’s house in California and brought it home. I thought it was a pretty cool story. He paddled out and caught a wave in front of me, and as I dove under, I randomly snapped a shot while he passed overhead. It ended up becoming the hero image at the WSL Longboard Finals in Malibu, where Joel Tudor won his third world title.
Printed and framed in the USA
Frame Specs
Black Frame
- Matte Black
- Painted, Gesso finish, Matte
- Width 1"
- Rabbet Depth 1 5/8"
- Poplar
Oak Frame
- Nordic Oak
- Veneer, Matte
- Width 1 1/8"
- Rabbet Depth 1 1/8"
- Finger-Joined Pine
Mike Ito
Aloha, my name is Mike Ito, a self-taught litestyle and water photographer and art director based on O'ahu, Hawaii. My work explores the intersection of people, place, and alternative surf culture - focusing less on performance, and more on feeling, identity, and the quiet moments that define a life in and around the ocean. Through both photography and creative direction, I aim to document what often goes unnoticed: the in-between, the imperfections, and the subtle beauty that elevates surf imagery into fine art.
My photography has taken me to Australia, Hawaii, Indonesia, Mexico, and New Zealand, shaping a perspective grounded in movement, subculture, and connection.
I am the co-founder, Art Director, as well as photographer, of Lost Not Found Magazine (@lostnotfoundmagazine), an O'ahu-based publication dedicated to alternative surf craft, culture, and the people who live it.
Mike Ito select prints are available exclusively at Saylor's Haleiwa.
FRAMES
Black matte
nordic oak
walnut