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Buzzy Kerbox at Haleiwa 1976 In many ways, this picture marks the end of my time as a ‘surf photographer’ (had I ever seen myself as one). I would’ve been holding the Nikonos out in my right hand as far away as possible to avoid being run over. I love the weird composition. No editor has ever seen what I do in this picture – not that I’m still bearing a grudge about that 38 years later. Photo: John Witzig
These are fifteen pictures over fifteen years – pretty much my entire “career” from start to finish.
I was losing interest towards the end, and not even a wonderful water housing to take my Nikon F2 motor drive and a 105 mm lens could rekindle it. I’d also begun to feel the imperative to actually earn some money.
In lots of ways, the pictures I took over this decade-and-a-half are simply a documentation of my own life – with all the characters, the various missteps and interesting detours. Most of the people in them were my friends, and most remain so. Forty-and-more years later, that seems pretty significant to me.
Check out John’s book, A Golden Age: Surfing’s Revolutionary 1960s and ’70s here and a gallery of his amazing work here.