Short History of Surfing’s Origin
Surfing can be traced as far back as the 12th century, where a cave painting was discovered that depicts surfers catching waves off the Polynesian islands. Hawaiians are known to be the predecessors for the sport, considering it as more of a religion than just a pastime. The whole act of choosing the bark to shaping the board was a ceremonial practice- viewed as a blessing for protection and goodwill to their gods. It is here that Duke Kahanamoku (‘The Duke’), an Olympic swimmer and one of surfing’s greatest icons, was born. In 1914, Duke Kahanamoku set foot in Australia, forever changing the country’s relationship with surfing.
Australian’s Introduction to Surfing
Before ‘The Duke’ arrived, there were rumors of early pioneers of the sport. According to John Ogdon’s book, Saltwater People of the Broken Bays, Indigenous coastal communities were watermen- who fished, swam and body surfed. Though due to European influence, the lifestyles and cultures of these communities were greatly changed and/or decimated leaving no solid evidence to indicate that they were the original surfers in Australia. In Albie Thoms’ book, Surfmovies: The History of the Surf Film in Australia (2000), Charles Paterson, the president of the Surf Bathing Association in 1909, brought a surfboard back from Hawaii but decided no one was allowed to ride it. Eventually it became an ironing board. Then there is Tommy Walker, a man from Sydney who is depicted in the oldest known photo of anyone surfing in Australia. The photo portrays Walker doing a headstand on his board in 1912. There is also the rumor of an Australian servicemen who left for Cape Town to fight in WWI, seen shaping a surfboard at Surfers Beach in 1914. That same year, Duke Kahanamoku is credited with inspiring the sport in Australia as he arrived and showed thousands how to shape a board and catch waves off Freshwater Beach in Sydney. The following year he was seen surfing tandem with young Isabel Letham, known to be the first woman to surf in Australia. A monumental moment in Australia’s surf history as women were not accepted in the surf community for another 60-70 years.
However, in these early years of the 20th century, many European migrants in Australia did not know how to swim, let alone surf. As a continent surrounded by the Pacific, Southern, and Indian oceans, and the Arafura, Coral, Tasman, and Timor seas, it was inevitable that the citizens of this country would soon be defined by their 30,000+ km coastline.
In 1901, when Australia first became a federation of states there was a ban on swimming during daylight hours to prioritize shipping and maritime activities. The rebellious nature of Australians won again as this ban was lifted two years later due to public uproar with the hot summer heat. This freedom also led to a high number of drownings. Young volunteers came together to protect swimmers, creating the first surf lifesaving movement. The organization changed Australia’s culture and gender roles within the country, while saving hundreds of lives in the process. Soon the modest look for beachgoers lessened, and the concept of the ideal male went from bushmen to bronze beach babe. In 1907 the official Surf Bathing Association (today known as Surf Life Saving Association) was founded and highly regarded as a male dominant organization. During WWII women patrolled the beaches, but after the war women were not allowed to join these associations until the 80’s. These clubs helped create some of Australia’s first surfers.
The 60’s and 70’s were a monumental time for surf culture in Australia. During this vicennial, surf music unfolded in Australia, leading tension and fights between surfers and rockers (fans of rock‘n’roll) at stomp dances in 1963. Surfboards were transitioning from hollow boards of timber to solid builds of foam, and wetsuits were invented in the U.S. drastically changing the number of surfers joining the sport. In the small town of Torquay, on Australia’s Great Ocean Road, the surf culture was taking a huge leap forward.
Surfing in the state of Victoria, especially in the winter when the waves were the biggest and most reliable, was no small feat. As wetsuits had not yet made their way to the southern hemisphere in the early 60’s, surfers would wear footy jumpers to keep warm and take breaks between sets to quickly rejuvenate by a campfire. The ocean would remain around 12 degrees Celsius- cold enough to give you hypothermia if you stayed around in too long. There were no roads or footpaths at this time to take you to Bells or its popular neighbor Winki Pop, so surfers would have to paddle from Torquay in the bitter cold water, avoiding the rip tides along the cliff walls. There were still only a handful of fortitudinous souls enduring this sport at this time, but with enough traction underway the Bells Beach Easter Classic Competition emerged in 1962. Two years later and Australia hosted the first-ever world surf competition. It brought in over 65,000 spectators and ten of the world’s best surfers from eight nations. Australian surfers Midget Farrelly and Phyllis O'Donnell won the title that year. This attention sparked the country’s first surf magazine, called "Surfing World.”
Five years later and the top surf brands Rip Curl and Quicksilver surfaced in Torquay. Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer, Rip Curl’s founders, were the catalysts turning the Bells Beach Easter Classic into Australia’s first professional surfing competition in 1973. Today this competition is known as the "Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach." This competition marks the sports transition from recreational to professionalism. The contest makes or breaks athletes’ careers in the World Surf League Championship Tour- with statics showing that the list of winners at Bells closely corresponds to the list of those that become all-time great. It is a place where the best surfers, shapers, and designers from around the world come together. Bells is also a significant place for the indigenous people. “In some ways, Bells Beach and the Rip Curl Pro pioneered the involvement of Indigenous cultures in sporting events,” said Surf Victoria’s Jordie Campbell, one of the organizers of Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles. Today Bells is a protected surfing reserve and one of the first of its kind.
Australia’s Surf Culture Identity
Today surfing is a mainstream sport and a respected professional career in Australia. Numerous of the world's premier surf competitions are held around Australia. Australia is also a key player in the evolution of the surfboard. It is the birthplace of the V- surfboard and shortboard by Bob McTavish, the redesign of the longboard in the 60’s, and the twin-finned models and the three-fin-system on the shortboards in the 70’s. This development produced a board that was agile enough to handle the explosive and aggressive waves found in Victoria, Australia with speed and control. Today, Torquay is known as “Australia’s Surf Capital,” as the home base for much of the progress the sport has made in this country. Since the 70’s there has been an influx of young Australians leaving the city life of Melbourne for the surf coast of Torquay. Surfers gain a sense of liberation from the sport. There are positive health benefits, both mentally and physically, from surfing as it is a great form of exercise, and releases dopamine and serotonin throughout your body.
Australia is roughly the same size as the United States, yet nearly 87% of the population lives within 50km of the coast. This means over 22 million people call the coast their home, and of those millions, roughly 3.5 million are active surfers. In Torquay one can find the beaches along the Great Ocean Road packed from dawn to dusk as surfers awake at the break of light to beat the crowd to the best wave. Though the temperatures are the coldest in winter, the season brings in the best and most reliable waves and consequently the most locals to the beach. The offshore winds in the early morning encourage many surfers to leave the comfort of their warm bed and slip on their neoprene wetsuits. Along with surf, these coastlines offer transportation for trade, recreational opportunities for tourism and bring life to the world’s largest marine ecosystem. The popularity of these coastlines consequently creates a myriad of pressures like urban development, overpopulation, climate change, environmental exploitation, and more. Australia’s relationship with the ocean impacts their identity. Surfing along the coastline has led Australia to connect with other nations, strengthen their community and a build a legacy for generations to come.
Two Views on Surfing: Meditative vs Competition
The sport has evolved from its spiritual roots in Hawaii to one that is mainstream, commercial, and professional. This transition has left a bad taste in the mouth for some purists. When reflecting on the history of the sport around the world, there have not always been positive remarks. For example, as a sport that began in Polynesia among non-white people, it has become a predominantly white sport. In the book, The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing, it discusses how a lot of this is due to the mistreatment of races. In the United States, during the height of surfing taking off, segregation laws led black people to lower socioeconomics, red-lining, and restricted access to beaches and pools. It was a white privilege to have the time, money, and access to join the sport. Today, the sport is more diverse than it has ever been. The competitive nature the sport has derived has also led to a change in character. A surf term known as localism has emerged- those who self-identify as locals that are territorial over a surf spot and will get aggressive if invaders intrude. Though many call Australians as the “aggro” or competitive surfers, in comparison to those in California- it is the surf in the U.S. that has some of the worst violence. Australia may have the more relentless, punchy waves in comparison to California’s laid-back, longboard style but the surfers themselves are more inviting, as long as surf etiquette is maintained.
Photobook Inspiration
Craig. - Respondek
Respondek is an Australian surfer and photographer. He gained success with his work for Waves Magazine photographing seven of the world's top surfers. His work has been associated with other magazines like Tracks, Stab, Surfing Life, Surfing World, Surfer Magazine and brands like Billabong, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Rusty & Globe. He has done extensive work with renown surfers like Dion Agius, Taj Burrow, Craig Anderson, and Chippa Wilson to tell their story as professionals in the sport. His work contains both black and white images and those in color. Though he's published a lot of his work for both editorial and advertising purposes, he primarily works on his own print projects and publishes books independently. The photobooks he's created on each individual surfer is crafted through his vision, while visually presenting a deeper look into the personalities of these athletes.
Inspired by the variety in his layout and image sizing, the addition of text to tell the story, the bold pairing of color and black and white images, and the strong contrast in his shots- I plan to incorporate these same elements into my own book.
Respondek (n.d.) Craig <www.respondekphoto.com>
Craig. By Respondek - Second Edition - A 120 page coffee table book featuring images of Craig Anderson - $30 AUD - (Approx $22 USD) (no date) Respondek Photo. Available at: https://www.respondekphoto.com/products/craig-by-respondek-second-edition-a-120-page-coffee-table-book-featuring-images-of-craig-anderson-30-aud-approx-20-usd (Accessed: 8 October 2023).
High Tide: A Surf Odyssey - Chris Burkard
Burkard began his career in his early 20's as a photographer for TransWorld Surf magazine. He was self taught in photography due to his curiosity for the world. He has found travel, adventure, surf and the great outdoors to be his true passion and subjects of interest. Throughout his career Burkard has worked with big names such as Toyota, American Airlines, Apple and Sony campaigns. Today Chris Burkard has his own clothing collection with Billabong.
Burkard's book, High Tide: A Surf Odyssey, captures surfers braving the cold Arctic waters, along with scenes of warm, tropical surf. His goal was to tell the story of surfing in all corners of the world- from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His images are only touched up with minor adjustments to the image's temperature, tone and sharpness. He has a knack for composition and composure- creating a timeless, breathtaking scene. There is a story in each image as it moves your eye around the frame. I like that his images feel light and graceful, despite what he must have felt taking some of those photographs in the bitter cold climate of Norway.
Chris Burkard (2015) High Tide: A Surf Odyssey - Chris Burkard <https://chrisburkardshop.com/products/hightide>
High tide: a surf odyssey (no date) Chris Burkard Studio. Available at: https://chrisburkardshop.com/products/hightide (Accessed: 8 October 2023).
Waves of the Sea - Jon Frank
Jon Frank is an Australian surf photographer and videographer. He studied photography in Sydney at Ultimo TAFE, where his work centered around surfing and the ocean, just as it does today. Frank has worked with a variety of clients, including as a co-owner, co-publisher & photo editor of Surfing World magazine- Australia's first surf magazine (1962) and the longest running surf magazine to this day.
His work is close-up, abstract, colorful, evolving and beautiful. In an interview with The Weekly Times he states, “I love the surf but some surfers can be one dimensional, putting all their energy into the water,” he says. “I’ve never limited myself to just surfing. I enjoy being stimulated by art, literature, music and the world as a whole.” His inspiration is derived from these various forms of work and is evident in his images as they flow together like a verse.
His ability to get close and capture strong, unique, sharp images of the sea and creating disparate moments in each shot that come together harmoniously is something I strive to achieve.
Jon Frank (1999) Waves of the Sea
Another book of Frank's is Broken, telling the tales through abstract documentation of visuals and writing about the ocean and its waves. Broken led Frank to become a finalist in "Best Independent Book Design category at 68th Australian Book Design Awards."
Jon Frank (2017) Broken <www.jonfrank.org/broken>
Images from his website portraying the subjects of sea and surfer. His surf photography shows the variety of perspectives one has with the sport- as they scout the scene before heading out, paddle past the break and catch the perfect wave.
Photographer Inspiration
Who better than photographer and filmmaker, Morgan Maassen can capture the essence of both the zen and competitive nature of surf. He is the founder of the long exposure surf shots that developed his style and separated his images at a young age from the rest. Maassen is another California born photographer, like Chris Burkards, whose work also focuses on travel, adventure, surf and the great outdoors. His other passions include fashion and architecture. Most of Maassen's work portrays the oceanic lifestyle. Unlike Burkard, Maassen's work is more abstract, using light and textures to tell his tale. In an interview with Club of the Waves, he states "the human element and the infinite variables of emotion keep me on my toes when working with people." His style inspires me to create a series that involves rich, colorful images and strong contrasting black and white shot with both long exposure and high continuous shooting.
Morgan Maassen (n.d.) Surf <www.morganmaassen.com/surf>
Chris Burkard (n.d.) Surf <www.chrisburkard.com/Shop/Surf/>