Shot on iPhone

Everyone has a story to tell. Equipped with an iPhone for shooting in one hand and a lobster roll in another, we set out to uncover them all for The Usual Conversations, a new ongoing video series. An extension of our print editions, we started “Conversations” in our own backyard, Montauk, speaking to the individuals that make this “drinking village with a fishing problem” so special.

MEET JONI — In an age of photographic advancements, Joni Sternbach keeps it old school, using one of portraiture’s earliest processes to capture surfers in their natural element. On a bluff in Montauk one late afternoon, Sternbach watched the clouds part, light flood the horizon, and low sun bounce off the ocean surface. It was the shot of a lifetime—until surfers entered her frame, enjoying a majestic moment of their own. The happy accident gave life to her tintype portrait series, “Surfland.” After begging Joni to take our photo, we turned our lens on her to learn more.

MEET JIMMY “Is My Board Done Yet” GOLDBERG — the best, and only, surfboard ding repaiman in Montauk. Given our stellar surfing skills, we’re at Jimmy’s more often than we’re actually in the water. It was no surprise then that in the hours we spent watching our boards get bandaged back to health he became our default therapist. Here, we dig into Jimmy’s life experiences – ship scuttling, commercial vs. sport fishing, boozing, and his passion for surfing.