John started taking surfing photographs because he thought it’d be easy. It was. All he needed was surfing experience, a cheap SLR camera, and an equally cheap 400mm telephoto lens. In 1964 he took his first good surfing photograph.
From mid-1966 until the end of the 1970s, he edited or contributed to surfing magazines in Australia and the US. His real talent was choosing his friends, and he was very lucky when quite a few of them became famous.
Standing on the beach for hours pressing a shutter was easy, but it wasn’t all that interesting. The principal way that he kept boredom at bay was documenting the surfing world that was around him. All he had to do was to stand on the beach when there was surf, and an interesting parade of subjects would wander by.
That these photographs are now seen through a social documentary lens is something that would’ve been laughable at the time when they were taken. Apparently, if you’re still standing, you do get applause.
