Nick LaVecchia’s Visual Contributions

Nick LaVecchia has been an integral part of Grain Surfboards since we first started building boards. My brother, Nick, and I moved to the Maine coast together back in 2005 and from the day one, he’s been critical to the operation. Come to think of it, I remember day one.

My friend and I were standing around the garage, which eventually became the Grain shop, talking about board designs and construction techniques. Not being much of a hand’s-on tool guy, Nick slowly lost interest, drifted away and picked up a broom and started sweeping up the place. I laugh to myself every time I think of that day, and how Nick just picked up the broom and did what he could. But more recently, Nick’s truly created a place for himself around our growing company. Every image on the Grain website and in our marketing stuff is Nick’s photography. Our photo gallery is basically Nick’s photo gallery! We get more positive comments about the website and we believe it’s in large part due to the amazing images of boards, surfers and our environment that Nick provides.

Back in the day, Nick changed careers and left a great job as a graphic designer at a well-respected agency to travel and shoot photos. Since then, through a ton of hard work and dedication to the medium, Nick’s photography skills have really blossomed. Somehow he figures out a way to make every shot unique, to make the natural beauty of the environment compliment the action, or portrait or product shot. From setting up a studio shot here in the Grain shop or capturing the lifestyle out in the ocean, Nick’s got an amazing eye and the technical knowledge to make the shot happen.

Not only does Nick work as a full-time surf and lifestyle photographer but he also answers almost all of our incoming emails even while on photo shoots in places like the Dominican and Ireland! He spends a ton of time as our front line of customer service, helping customers decide which board would be best for them, getting shipping quotes, and forwarding tech questions to the builders. In addition, Nick also designs all of our print materials and advertising, maintains the website, sends out press releases, and he even acts as an informal “QC” department. While he may not be comfortable using a spokeshave, he’s got a great eye for board shapes, and is always around the shop critiquing and offering thoughts for refining our boards. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for Nick and his contributions, Grain would be just a splinter of what it is today and we’d still be bumping our heads on the ductwork in that old garage.

Check out his Nick’s site at www.nicklavecchia.com.