Leroy Grannis, iconic photographer of California's surf culture
Leroy Grannis became an iconic photographer of California's thriving surf culture in the 60s and 70s. According to his pictures, you can literally follow how surfing turned from a fashionable hobby into a popular culture.
He got on the board at the age of fourteen, in the early 1930s. And at forty-two, having succumbed to the persuasions of doctors to abandon a hobby that was harmful to his health, he exchanged catching waves for catching moments in the camera's viewfinder.
For a true Californian, the inscription "Photo: Grannis" on a beach photo card means a lot. A lot of things. The photos that the legendary photographer took in the early years of his career turned out to be among the most important for that era.
1. 1969. Leroy Grannis and his Calypso camera
He was a key figure in the development of surf photography in the 1960s. The New York Times once called Grannis "the godfather of surf photography."
2. 1965, Greg Noll Factory, Hermosa Beach. Two Australian surfers drove this car across Europe.
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5. 1967, Aikau Family, Sunset Beach. The family watches the participation of their son Eddie in competitions. Eddie will become the winner 10 years later, in 1977
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7. The beach on the Pipeline. 1965
Grannis had a hand in the creation of the International Surfing Magazine, which later became Surfing Magazine. But in the early 1970s, he stopped working at the magazine.
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9. 1964. The guys are watching the competition, climbing on the roof of their 1933 Ford.
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12. 1968. One of the iconic pictures. Pictured: Bernard Shorty Farrelly
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14. 1969, Sunset Beach, finalists of the Duke Classic competition
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19. 1965, the pier on Huntington Beach.
20. 1968, Margot Oberg, who was the first female professional in the world, Makaha
21. 1975, Makaha
22. 1964, Mike Hinson, Hermosa Beach
23. 1965, Hermosa Beach, California, Donald Takayama and Bettina Brenna
Leroy Grannis died in 2011 at the age of 93 in the Torrance Nursing Home.
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