While bikini's remain popular today there is a new trend in swimwear that follows the trend of rising participation of women in sports.  For the younger generation the appeal of lying on the beach is decreasing while the appeal of water sports like swimming and surfing are increasing.  While these female athletes are proud of their athletic physiques (bikini's are still quite popular)  Many girls are choosing swimwear more suited to sports.

Women are making inroads into other traditional all male sports such as Capoeira.  In the new age woman can be strong, speak their minds.  Strong and self assured men find that sexy.  Insecure men who need to reduce women to their body parts need not apply.

"It really began to bother me the way they showed women," Pepin said. "I don’t have a problem with women in bikinis. But they would never show these women surfing."

And if you’re surfing at Ocean Beach, she added, you probably wouldn’t want to wear a bikini, because you’d freeze in anything less than a wetsuit. A bikini would probably work better in the warmer waters of Southern California or Hawaii.

In an effort to combat the missing and misinformed images, Pepin began traveling up and down the coast of California taking portraits of women surfers, using black and white film to counter the glossy, glamorized shots featured in most magazines. "I just wanted some sort of record," she said. Her inspirations are 1930s and 40s surf photographers like Doc Ball and Leroy Grannis.

So far, Pepin has compiled a portfolio of nearly 300 women surfers and is now moving towards action shots in the water, rather than just portraits. The women in the photos, she said, come from all ethnic backgrounds – African American, Latina, Asian American, white, gay, straight and "the whole nine yards." Their ages range from as young as 6 to 62. One woman surfer is 42 and a mother of two.

Among two of Pepin’s favorites is a shot of 6-year-old Rebecca on her first day of surfing. "She’s standing there with this baggy wetsuit, and the look on her face is very wise and calm," Pepin said. "It captured the feeling I get after surfing for a couple of hours."

The other photo is of her friend Keren Katz from the back, as she sits on her board, waiting for the perfect wave at Linda Del Mar Beach in Pacifica. "It’s a peaceful shot," she said. "The water becomes one with the sky and spins off into infinity. It’s a moment every surfer can relate to."

Pepin said the objective of her photographs is to focus more on the people who surf than on the sport itself. "My main object is to make women surfers feel better about themselves and to acknowledge them in a positive way," she said. "They’re participants in a sport and they’re active, not just passive. Very few women are thin, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and most of them don’t sit on the beach. They’re surfing. Surfers are not just men. I think it’s important to dispel that myth."