Don James
The snap shot intimacy of the early photographic work
of Don James is the definitive view of the indepenece and freedom of
early surfer lifestyle. Life by the ocean's edge is captured as that
of the last frontier. A reef could still be refered to as a "garden"
where lobster and abalone were plentiful and the waves were at the
end of a long day's drive on unfrequented dirt roads.
These images, selected from Don James San Onofre to Point Dume: 1936 to
1942, are digital reconstructions from the
fragile and aging originals; treasured views of a lifestyle gone but
not forgotten. At the time these photographs were taken, it is
estimated that there were about five hundred people who practised the
sport of surfing along the coast of California. The sport was almost
entirely adult male dominated because of the one hundred and twenty
pound weight of the boards. Craig Stecyks' introduction to the James'
book refers to the subjects of these portraits of male physical grace
and hedonism as, "Golden boys in a land where good looks were a form
of currency."
Presented courtesy of Graham Peake, Tom Adler Books, Nash Editions
and Rufus Barkley III.
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