Help breathe life into a piece of surf history…
Always a good to help a brother out, wouldn’t y’say?
Of all the cameras and phones floating around the North Shore each season, it’s only the photographic reportage of Steve Sherman and Justin Jay that, well, how do you say it…sing.
Justin is photographer from New York city’s Lower East Side, a master portraitist who works with a Nikon film camera, an ancient manual-focus 35mm prime affixed to the beak.
Jay takes his work extremely seriously. Every year when he flies to the North Shore to independently cover the contest season, he carries a box of prints in his backpack to give to surfers he’s previously shot.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” says Jay, who has previously shot Jay Z, Outkast and P Diddy. “A picture does take a little bit of your soul in a sense, it’s why famous people wear sunglasses all the time. So if you take someone’s photo, you need to give something back, you have to make sure they get a print. Everyone has a fucking iPhone and no one has any physical prints any more. When you give someone a print from a year ago, they feel amazing.”
Justin’s approach is simple enough.
“Whether I’m shooting Diddy or Jay-Z or Kelly or Joel I put myself in the eyes of a 13-year-old fan,” he says. “What would they like to see? There’s plenty of photos of Dane and Kelly ripping, but that’s not my game. I want to see the surfers before and after they surf, getting in fist fights, partying, eating breakfast.”
He calls himself the Switzerland of photographers because he has no allegiance to a magazine or company.
My favourite shot of Jay’s, maybe of all time, is this image of Dane Reynolds, excluded from a Bruce Irons make-out session at a North Shore party.
Justin says his game works ’cause he’s an outsider, because hasn’t been in the industry for so long that his eyes cloud over the minutiae of this awesome multi-generational gathering of the world’s best surfers.
After ten years, Jay is finally going to sling it all into a fine hard-cover book.
As he says, “my style of stuff lends itself to ageing. These are historical shots, rather than standard portraits. Plus, going back each year is like going to summer camp or winter camp, in this case, all the same faces, this great fraternity.”
Like a lot of hot shots, he ain’t doing it through the usual publishing route. Hence the Kickstart he’s chasing.
Jay needs 22k (Australian dollars) to make it happen.
There’s some good incentives to kick in.
Eighty five bucks and you get a book and a signed print.
Five gees US and you’ll “Receive a signed copy of HI 1K, a signed 16X20 print of their choice from the book, and a round trip plane ticket to the North Shore during the Pipe Masters event in Dec 2019. Spend an afternoon on a private tour of the North Shore as Justin Jay goes behind the scenes to visit team houses and deliver gift copies of HI 1K to some of the athletes featured in the book. Afterward, enjoy a complimentary meal at the legendary Breakers Restaurant.”
That JJF/Slater photo is incredible.
is there a limit to the taggers on option? it would be pretty funny if we pooled all available funds and had a commentariat outing to harass pro surfers to their faces. we would be the dags
if we’re being honest, steve shermans photos are crap, unless you like out of focus shots.
fuck this article
Check out Christian Fletchers Instagram.
pure gold!!
Thank Ck T for sharing your inner bonobo and Bligh’s Bane , Fletcher Christian .
Very funny !
The day BeachGrit fed one of their writers to the wolves.
https://beachgrit.com/2017/…
The youngest and in this case smallest member must be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the tribe ?
And enter the witness protection program over at Stab where no one is likely to be searching for you.
my inner bonobo! that made me laugh, thank you
too bad the new wslgrit wont touch that story
Mattie Ross , she da Boss ! Didn’t even have to jump the coffee table / desk . I learnt in France not to argue with dark haired , brown eyed girls , especially those who are studying law ….. in a jargon that was not my own .
Fuck this, what’s going on with the article on Chas’ latest fashion update?
Possibly hanging out with John John’s lost 9.5 in a parallel universe with misplaced socks ….Does Chas wear Socks ?
Probably those unobtrusive below the ankle ones.
When less is more ?
Panda is an example of when more is less
He wears mustard knits I think.
Do you think Chas wears jewellery like a toe ring and perhaps a silver anklet?
Unrelated to surfing, but i always look forward to this break in action between Margaret River and Brazil.
Why?
Isle of Man TT
https://youtu.be/LkSYg5oilL8
Will their be a race for the opposite sex on the Isle of Woman ,possibly Themyscira and work a deal with Amazon / Amazons , and will they get equal pay or ride a bike like Occy who once , miraculously , ran into a car ,then preceded to roll over it and land on his feet … ?
How this guy lives through this I don’t know. This race fascinates me. 160mph. And instead of leaning away from the stone wall mere feet away, the crazy bastards lean into it.
This guy though doesn’t seem too concerned about anyone complaining he didn’t finish the ride. He’s just stoked his kidneys are back to working.
https://youtu.be/-Nzq2GorVH4
Googled this bloke and found ;
stoic
/ˈstəʊɪk/
noun
1.
a person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.
“I’m minus a spleen now but I don’t need that anyways so I can give that to my dogs at home for something to eat.”
Legendary quote
…so TT is a motorbike or something?
Time Trial ? Teatotaller doubtful for Bike Lovers ? Tourist Trophy 🏆.
Motorbikin’ TT’s ?
It’s death on a stick out there bro.
You can’t just call time-out if you don’t like the way things are going.
Hahahaha Classic.
Well I guess Jeep isn’t a sponsor.
Jeep: I’ll surf just about anything, but I don’t surf Off The Wall.
Attending is on my very short list of important things to do before I snuff out.
Mine too. Fucking hilarious commentating coupled with the World’s Most Deadly Race. Imagine the pub scene. It’s got to be next level good times.
Yes! The TT is a marker of a different and unfortunately disappearing age. There is a documentary called “Closer to the Edge” that is worth watching if you have not seen it.
I’ll definitely check the documentary out. Thanks brotha!
I thought the WSL VIP experience was over priced……………
Happy for his approach to raise funds in the current world of print. I probably would have framed it different. In all reality he wants us to underwrite his production because either / or / and (and not limited to):
1. They don’t have the funds to do it themselves
2. Are unsure of the demand for their book
3. Can not find a publishing house to underwrite it
4. Don’t want to give all the money they could have made to someone else
5. Want to maintain their own take on design / editorial content etc and not be told what to do
I kinda like this approach in way. Just pre-sell your book and keep the majority of the proceeds for yourself. And pass on the product at a cheaper price. Self publishing has its ups. But you need to be able to hit your target market and have distribution capability.
I have no idea of the cost of production of a photo book – but its going to retail for $75 USD. In self publishing (and there are a few people on BG who would have a much better idea of these economics than myself) – apparently the author would typically get about 4 times the royalty – and would be selling the book 25% cheaper price than the price it might typically go for.
So instead of selling it for $100 and getting $10 a book. They can sell it for $75 and keep approximately $40 a book.
Makes sense as they have minimal overheads………….no shop front etc
I still value things in print so if this is the way they need to do it to get it done – good luck to them. Just improve on the tacky VIP experience as that was just cringe reading it.
John Wayne in True Grit at Beach Grit ….
How about this? It’s a niche art project that only a few people care about. Those people will pay for it gladly. It’s called patronage and has funded great art forever. It’s different from commercial marketing by design. This sells to the base and keeps 5,000 copies from being shipped around to sit on the 80% discount rack at Barnes & Noble. Art no longer needs to be mainstream or have the potential to be a hit in order to get made. And we no longer need one person to write a $22k check to make art. This is a good thing. Full stop, no extra comment needed.
As to his incentive offers, if I had the $5k handy I’d pay for that trip. Sounds actually great to see this scene and talk to an artist. Your other option is to buy a ticket and go lurk and risk slaps on your own. Regarding your cringe? He’s a photographer, not a writer. I’ll bet Rembrandt would have written shitty emails.
$5K seems like a bargain. Hell, flight to Oahu with morning arrival. Spend that afternoon with Jay being “that guy” who sits at the table with the author at a book signing with one charged duty, to open each book to appropriate page for signature. Then you get a complimentary meal followed by being swiftly shuttled to the airport. Relieved of any cash you are carrying along with your debit card and an all too pleasantly delivered request for accompanying pin #, but at least the red-eye flight will provide ample.opportunity to get.a.good nights.sleep before going to work the next day, but not before the guy who your cash somehow got your girl’s # and invited her out to the NS for a few weeks holidaying away. You only know this cause your dog hasn’t been fed in two days and your girl tucked one of his turds under your pillow.
I’m sorry that something like this 100% happened to you
You know, there’s a thin line between feeling sorry and wishful thinking.
Although I’m all for crowdfunding projects, my first thought is who would be the saddo needing to spend 5k to dribble around self-importantly like a fuckwit-cling on to ‘help’ deliver copies of the book to the ‘athletes’.
Paying for friends eh?
Even if I was a squillionaire, I wouldn’t go paying for fucking pros to come ‘hang out’ with me on a mega yacht while ‘we’ surf the Ments.
I would pay handsomely to be on a boat with Dane, Taj, Goodall, Haz Byrant and the Roxy team. In other news my dad says squillionare and it annoys the shit out of me and the missus.
I just got back from surfing with all of the above at macking HTs and Lance’s… they were all an absolute delight!
Edit: also feat. Mitch Coleborn and Andrew Doheny
Hope you had a great time @volcomads ? Just pulling your leg ( about volcom ) you lucky bugger … and imagine they were more fun and easier to look after than a baby , possibly ?
Haha yeah I mean shared a couple line ups, as opposed to a boat. But they were very accomodating with giving waves etc. and their “sister” boat full of gurfers was a sight to be seen after ten days at sea.
More Pirates of the Caribbean than the Death Star I hope ? Obviously the waves at the above mentioned spots are far better than Macaronis and having seen a QS held at Lance’s Rights won by Chris Zaffas ( Son of Bill ) , a few years ago , just wondering if in your opinion it is a good idea , or possible to hold a CT there ?
https://youtu.be/G1TsXtTlAvc
I love surfing with professionals (or anyone better than me) because (in my experiences) they are very polite/aware of the rotation and I learn a lot watching them surf in real life.
I love this comment. Haters all of a sudden turn into fanboys when faced with the reality of doing this. It’s easy to denigrate something that you’ll never afford to protect your ego. But we are patrons of these people whether we pay with ad views, board short purchases, or direct checks. If I could, I’d completely buy my way onto a boat or trip. I’d buy the drinks and spread the love and jet back to my home without losing one bit of sleep. It’s not buying friends, it’s buying an experience. I don’t want to be friends with pro surfers, good lord, there are like 3, I’d even care to talk to. But I do love to watch them surf and I’d be happy to pay to share an exotic lineup with them. And then go back to my real friends who I can actually talk about things with.
Seldom is anyone you pay for a service your friend. That waitress at the bar? That bartender? Your child’s teacher? Your doctor? Nice to you because of the transaction. Don’t hate because some people can lay $5k on the bar instead of $5.
If Chas met most of us, the disdain would be shrouded by his need for these clicks. “Hey buddy! Nice to meet ya!”
Understand incentives and understand the world.
cb is your old man? That’s no way to talk to your father Rick.
SQUILLIONAIRE!!!
I’M IN AN ANNOYING-THE-SHIT-OUTTA-PEOPLE MOOD!
Just remember Rick that your poor old dad will be a Deadman one of these days . Tell him, and perhaps he can change it to ,something less offensive like , Fcukin Rich C*nts to make your missus happy …..?
Can you lend us the 5
Cause I’d love it
I could do a BG story and Chas would probly pay you back for me
Everyone wins!
You’d be silly not to buddy
If I had a spare 5k I wouldn’t be here fucking moaning about shitty boards I’d bought like stupid fuckwit etc. etc. etc.
moan moan moan