In the 1960s, Jeff Divine grew up surfing at The Shores, Blacks, and Windansea. At 16, he bought his first camera, which led to a career during which he served as photo editor for SURFER magazine for 17 years and then landed at The Surfer’s Journal, where he still works today. Following the significant success of his book, Surfing Photographs from the Seventies (2006), Divine recently published Surfing Photographs from the Eighties (artbook.com). In it, Divine documents the neon-splattered decade and the evolution of professional surfing from inside the barrel.
Surfer's Journal
Middles, Trestles, 2008 “This Santa Ana wind day morphed into a late afternoon glass off. Famous surfers—Mickey Munoz, Colin McPhillips, and Herbie Fletcher—relax between sets of waves. I took this shot with a water-housed camera attached to a pole.”
Sunset Beach, Oahu, 1987 “Australian world champion Mark Occhilupo stalls through the inside section at Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.”
Pipeline, Oahu, 1979 “I used to live in a one-bedroom beach house in front of the break at Pipeline on the North Shore. One morning I saw this scene out my window; it only lasted for one minute. Out of 36 shots, all of the elements came together in this one.”
Velzyland, Oahu, 1977 “Hawaiian Buttons Kaluhiokalani offers an apology to a surfer he had dropped in on at Velzyland.”
Bank Vaults, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia, 2006 “David Rastovich, an activist involved with the documentary The Cove, pulled this aerial maneuver in the Sumatran Island chain called the Mentawais, considered the best surfing area in the world.”
Backdoor Pipeline, 1997 (Top) “Sean ‘Barney' Barron, from Santa Cruz, shocked us all when he survived this wipeout unscathed. The reef below is only about five feet deep. He had snapped this surfboard and was laughing as he retrieved another board and paddled back out, only to repeat the same wipeout minutes later.” North Shore, Oahu, 1988 “North County surfer Dave Kennedy, one of the top pro surfers in the ‘80s, takes the walk toward Pipeline.”
“In 1966, I bought my first camera with earnings from working at John Cole's bookstore in La Jolla. I knew there was going to be a great sunset, so I rode my bike just past The Marine Room. The Portuguese tuna boats were anchored overnight in La Jolla Cove. I formed up a picture with the agave tree in the foreground and tuna boats in the background and a big golden sun. A month later, San Diego Magazine publisher Ed Self chose my shot for the cover.”
San Onofre, 1988 “One of California's earliest surfing spots—the easy waves attract surfers from all over the world. I love the mix of families, ‘50s surf shacks, hot rodders, movie stars, world champion surfers, Nobel Prize winners, and construction workers.”
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