This short film came together over a few days, during a visit back to my hometown. After time away, the familiar streets felt unfamiliar, leaving me with a haunting sense of being both home and a stranger at once—a feeling that still lingers today.

Nature has always shaped who I am. In the solitude of the wild, I find a kind of inspiration found nowhere else. This short film was captured during a hike into the untamed backcountry of the Sierra Mountains.

Surfboard shaping is more than simply cutting foam with a planer—it’s an art of movement and flow, informed by every wave the shaper has ridden and every board crafted before. For master shaper Wayne Rich, it’s also an act of gratitude, a way of paying tribute to those who took a chance on him.