A Golden Age by John Witzig
The following review was written by blindboy.
When a book of surf photos is produced by a leading New York art publisher it raises the stakes. It is a statement of intent. It clearly aspires to a market beyond surfing, to those with broader cultural and artistic interests. And that is the standard by which it must ultimately be judged. The question then becomes not "Are these great surf photos?" but "Are these great photos?"
Before considering that question it is worth remembering just how important John Witzig was to the development of surfing from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. From Surfing World to Surf International to the triumph that was Tracks in its early days, he played a pivotal role. His involvement guaranteed a photographic and journalistic standard others struggled to match. His close friendships with those who drove the late sixties short board revolution, particularly Greenough, Young, McTavish and Lynch, gave him access to the heart of a developing culture that was shaped, as much as it was documented, by his work.
Surfers of that generation then will be interested to see his photos collected here. If you ever camped at the Blue Pools and woke up to a couple of hours of perfect empty Angourie, or walked around to Ti-tree in the late afternoon to find it four feet, peeling and utterly deserted, or even if you just remember the magazines of the era, this book is likely to induce an acute attack of nostalgia. If, as many will since surfing was a much smaller community then, you see old friends amongst the images, the effect will be even stronger. But nostalgia is easily induced; a cake did it for Proust. So Witzig did not need to go to New York and have these images printed to the highest standard on excellent stock by a leading publisher of quality art books, to achieve nostalgia. A reissue of an early edition of Tracks, printed as it was on some lowly class of newsprint, would probably have worked more effectively.
So we come back to the original question, one, it should be said, that is really best answered by professional art critics and time itself. We can be certain of the quality of the images Edward Curtis created of the indigenous peoples of North America because they have been acclaimed for over one hundred years. The widespread critical acclaim for the work Sebastiao Salgado continues to do suggests that his images will also possess enduring appeal. We have few similar reference points for Witzig's work. He has exhibited at private galleries, sells quality prints of his work on line and has worked as a professional photographic editor on the work of several Australian photographers including Max Dupain. But these point more to the direction of his ambition than its achievement.
Despite that there are some comments that can be made. It goes without saying, in this context, that the images are technically excellent. Whatever else he may claim, from the very beginning this was the work of someone who had studied photography closely. He may choose to describe one image as a "snapshot" but the truth is that there is nothing naive here. As he says himself in the Introduction, speaking of the early sixties: " I was influenced by the dramatic use of photographs in the quality general-interest European magazines of the time......." So he came to surfing with an eye that had already been educated by exposure to the best working photographers of that age. What he added to that was an instinct for the absolute moment. Most people who surf can acquire this in the limited field of surf action photography, but the mastery Witzig displays of it in portraits of both groups and individuals is stunning.
Another strength is his ability to curate his own work. When we think of photographic skill the temptation is to concentrate on that critical instant in which the image is first created but, as important as that is, it counts for little if its quality is not picked, published and preserved. Part of an artist's role then is to value and advocate for their work. This book is a demonstration of his commitment to those processes. He has given his work the best possible chance of having its artistic merits recognised.
Witzig quotes himself in his Introduction, to the effect that he was lucky that his friends became famous. More accurately, we are all lucky that those famous friends knew him. He was the absolutely right person in the right place at the right time. Regardless of his artistic achievements, without him a significant part of Australia's surfing history would have been unrecorded. His work in documenting Nat's famous Honolua Bay session alone should earn him our gratitude. Yet in the end, despite the power of those images, it is the candid shots of surfers going about their daily lives that are the most powerful and perhaps the most revealing of the man himself for they radiate a warmth, originating surely as much from the character behind the camera as from those in front of it.
Finally, if it hasn't already happened, this book presents a convincing case that his best works should be in public collections. Surfing culture is part of the broader Australian culture and has had a dynamic photographic component for over fifty years. Witzig's work has long been acclaimed by his peers as the best that has been produced. It deserves a place in one of our major cultural repositories. //blindboy
Comments
Excellent review. I've seen this book and it is absolutely first class. I can't say the same for a lot of what gets published to target the 'surf' market. After viewing this work, I would put Witzig up there with Ron Stoner as a photographic visionary.
"His work in documenting Nat's famous Honolua Bay session alone should earn him our gratitude."
Warshaw called it 'Surfing's Zapruder film.'
It was definitely a game changer for us grommets and combined with some of the stuff McTavish was writing at the time it made us start to see what was possible. The rate of change in those days was so much greater than anything since. It was like one day we were hanging five on a 9'6" and the next we were getting barrelled on a 5'8". In reality I suppose it was more like four years.
As I remember it the first changes were to slightly more modern fin design, then a drop to about 9'0" and stringerless, then the stage of the Honolua shots, down to 7'6" to 8'0" with Greenough fins and the deep tail vee. I seem to remember that despite the Honolua session they couldn't really get them to work on the North Shore. Then it was to boards with narrower tails around the same length, then bang, bang, bang down below 6'0 some with tiny fins for side slipping.
I totally frothed on this when i was a grom, really opened my eyes to what was possible
'nother nice snip BB.
The documentation of surfing across the ages is something to be treasured, it's why I am idealogically opposed to the No Cameras movement, as much as I both recognise & appreciate that angle for it's reasons.
Great to see the documantation being executed in a quality form.
and your right BB, this was a fast moving and dynamic period of the evolution. Design and the expanding aquatic paradigm was at a velocity probably never to be equaled.
I think an often overlooked link in the lineage of Aussie surfing in that era was the part played by Bob Cooper. Sorry PeterB, your avatar has finally been outed...
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/sCooper.htm
I only knew Bob briefly in the mid-seventies which is probably after his greatest period of influence. He came across as a very warm and generous character. I remember him laughing at the dummy spit I did when the train I had travelled up to Coffs on managed to mislay my board, which was utterly trivial since I was travelling not only with Bob but with Mike Davis who was making my boards at that time and had a fair selection in the back of the Kombi.
great days, he'd come stay up the goldie with, exactly as you say BB, with a quiver of identical coloured boards, of various lengths. He'd ride his and let you pick n choose between the others.
Perfectly precision glass job, and/or, shaped, by Ritchie West mastercraftsman/king of trapdoors.
A good mate from adelaide lived in a house with Nat Young for a while, and had less than glowing reports. He Thought the Cooneys were the real talent, not so good at promotion though. He brought me back a sick board shaped by Wayne Williams that had the best rails. It was a semi keel. Everyone that rode it wanted it. Wish I'd kept it.
I never really knew Butch but I surfed with Stephen many times over the years and he was a huge talent, way ahead of his time. I haven't seen him for a while but I suspect he still gets out there. I saw him surf once when he, quite literally hadn't surfed for several years, paddled out first session and it was like he had been surfing every day.
"he'd come stay up the goldie with, exactly as you say BB, with a quiver of identical coloured boards"
In an old TSJ he explained the reasoning behind his identically coloured boards: that way his wife wouldn't know he was always shaping new ones for himself. She thought they were all the same board.
In the same article was a pic of Bob wearing the height of beatnik fashion - Caesar haircut, goatee, embroidered shirt with tassels, and skin tight, black strides. Never could equate that look with the sluggo-wearing boof in PeterB's avatar.
Why don't you do some interviews/articles about those type of guys blindboy, your experiences with them, that stuff is pure surfing. Guys like John Batchelador, Magoo Delarosa, hardcore chargers. I'm sure the swellnet guys will payroll it. Before they are all lost, like Al Byrne.
Yeh I keep meaning toook people up but it's a time and opportunity thing so it will happen but when and who I wouldn't be sure but I am interested in a lot of those lesser known characters who made real contributions.
I think "the sluggo-wearing boof in PeterB's avatar" shot was taken back in an era when it didn't matter what you wore in the surf, boardies or sluggos. Either way, it displays great physical poise and would have been a fine line for the day. That was the day of hay for the likes of Da Cat.
Noosa was much the destination for emigrating Americans because it suited the surf vehicles of the time and reminded them of the waves back home, Malibu, Rincon etc, as did Byron and Crescent. Guess they still do.
Agree with uppo, there is so much surfing heritage to be drawn on these days to make interesting reading. Many of these guys have aged gracefully and would be happy to offer a quick mp3 chat with no strings attached. They have few industry liens allowing them to speak openly and freely.
Side fish, it always mattered what you wore - Cooper used to wear a bowler hat as well. But who's the goose in stunet's avatar?
Says the imposter. Identity theft is a crime PeteB.
That's Stu.
I shouldn't have thought about that Wayne Williams board. I had a Klemm Bell at the same time that was deluxe too. This is what we used to constantly have in our heads, and surfing.
My best mate's brother was in a bluegrass band, awesome musos, some of them ended up with the likes of the Dingoes, Spectrum. They used to take us all over the place. Some guy's Mark Ashby, and Mark Rivett were surfing caves before it was caves.
What the fuck happened to surfing? Coke and ice and needles on the rocks. The big boys.
Uppo, so there was a time, back in the day, way back, when you did have some mates ?
Good one fishy, I've never been any different. My mates don't mind. How's those chinups goin?
Uppo, I always got my chin up. How those uppo cuts on yasef goin ?
good you got mates somewhere, sometime, cos you got fuck all 'round here. It's lonely when you're so far uppo your own uppo tree.
keep pumping. try harder now. harder.
Couldn't tell ya fishy, not a mark on me. Internet world is your realm for sure.
By the way fishy, are you keeping all 3 chins up, (there's 60 of those gater an a log wrasslin' 100kg done)' or just one of em?
Ok BB, I'm going to.call bullshit on the whole Witzig thing. There's not one of us who would have given up one wave at Anga to be behind a camera. The Witzigs etc surfed for sure but their priority was not to go surfing at all costs like those they took photos and movies of. Their priority was to do something else and they did so. They took hold of a fledgling surfing media and as they gained strength through the growth of their media, began to manipulate it to achieve outcomes suitable to themselves and those they were promoting.
Historically surfing has some great photos to represent only their veiw of a totality that is being rewritten by the likes of John , Bob Mc, and co to suit themselves it seems.
Remember that it was John who wrote the most scathing article claiming Midget was over the hill at just something like 21 to give a lift to the profile of his buddy Nat in Australia.
And to put that in context, check Midgets contest record up against Nat through those times up to the '70s world title at bells, were Midget came a close second to Rolf Arness.
Eg. Ask the Witzigs how much money over the years they have made out of taking photos and movies of say Baddy Trealore and how much they have given back to Baddy.
I bet Elle wouldn't work for those wages.
Those in the water were naive, those on the land were not.
So in those glossy pages is a lot of pain.
MM, I've just stared down uppo, now you've gone n got all serious, let us finish our fun fight...
Uppo, logs don't wiegh 100kg, you wouldn't know ya haven't wrestled one, besides the twig between ya legs.
What else ya got BiG NuTS ??
'What else ya got BiG NuTS ??'
Firstly, you haven't addressed those other 2 chins?
And, there are many who have different backgrounds and who have mixed in less serious circles, who won't fathom this level of hardcore... hardcore... well, put bluntly, hard core heaviness, but fishy, you asked for it.
'Now, I'm getting really, really, really mad, and I will never, ever ever, I repeat really, really ever, never, never ever, even ever lower myself to speak to or even ever look in the direction (herewith to be referred to as direction A) of cretin, lesser gene pooled units like you. I will move on to much, much, much, in fact even much, much more intelligent pass times, having now really, really, really dealt ferociously with the likes of you... and, whaaaaaaaaaaaaats more, any one that even knows you, or even says hello to you, or in fact even ####ing well ####'n even ####ing breathes the same fuck'n air as you can all go and get ####ed ya ####'n bunch of gene pool-less, bunch of ####'n smart arse, loser ####'n cocked headed upfucked UPSHITS!!!!!!!!
And, if you don't watch it, I'll go to even more extreme levels of heavy arsed tactics, and ring ####'n wordy, who will then climb on the roof of his fourby, and scream it to the world, while he's frantically trying to get a signal to dial triple zero and beg for a police guard!
Cop that you ####'n ####ed up ####'n. ###############!!!!!!!!!! UPNUTTED ####'n ######!!!!!!
Did I say never?
Or ever, sort of never, really ever, never, ever, ever?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhaahahhaahhahahahahahahahahahaahh.
the eggs are outa control .
Or ever, really golden never, ever... just keeping on topic.
Uppo, what was your most favourite surf era ? Please ellaborate, I'm sure you will....
all yours.
you never asked but mine was when you blokes were too young to be babies ... Now it's all yours.
Fishy, lots, the era when BK was in his prime. If you look at his best waves, and the contemporary guys best attempts in the same surf, they haven't gone far, in fact they have almost regressed. Look, I turned, I didn't have to go straight! It wasn't a crime then to figure out what design/equipment suited a particular, unique idea and direction of surfing, and to explore that. Diversity was everywhere. Ala Booby Jones. Look at the latest paddle ins at huge surf, hardly anyone is doing anything as extreme. Carrol's snap still stands out as the measure. Mick Tomlinson discovered that MR twinnies worked insane for him at the biggest blacks, and visitors would think he was doomed going over the cliff with one of those under his arm. But he got in perfectly, and squared of the bottom, sat in the barrel with ease. And Simon Anderson blew it in a way. His invention which was supposedly to help him match the little guys in the dribble that was the pro surfing norm back then, inadvertantly gave every little guy the advantage in dribble. So, somehow, some one who even surfed as insane as him started riding the same toothpick boards as everyone else... who weighed 60kg. It used to be a buzz seing all the different boards, and guys like Ben Aipa squaring off the bottom. And now, that's it 60 - 65kg. Racks, and racks, and racks and racks of them.
Its fathers day, so I have to shout my grommets tea, the units!
so what was/is yours PeteB ? and did you know doug jackson, and if so, how ?
"so what was/is yours PeteB ? "
Oh fuck, here we go...
and Brutus, what was yours, or is it NOW ?
c'mon ya'll, spill your heart and don't be so tough.
BC
the book launch.....witzig not interested in paying for a cheap ballina -syd return $200 max air ticket for baddy treloar to attend.
.......is that info from Baddy himself?
.... dig deeper BB, you now have the forum to reveal some truths that will dispell the myths.
Hi Mouse. I'm not sure that there is much to complain about in terms of Witzig's role. I tend to think he was very genuine in his approach. In the book he specifically states that it is far from comprehensive. The fact that many others at that time lacked someone of his ability and contacts to document their achievements is not something that can be held against him. The whole country soul thing was a massive distortion of Australian surfing at that time , but it was a pretty accurate representation of the narrow section that interested him. Overly romantic? Absolutely, but that doesn't devalue the photographs. When it comes to considering artistic achievement you really have to let go of other values and look at the art itself and, for me, his work is an absolute cultural high point.
BB, that last post wasn't so much about Witzig as it was about stu giving you a forum and what you can do with it.
You could write a follow up to, "Why Ride A Mal", or you could do some interesting historical stuff of merit that could sit along side Witzig's glossy book and be worthy of surfing's heritage.
I can't be the only one having a look at these sites hoping for substance.
Hey Rick you out there.... Introduce yourself to BB. Now Rick's a story teller supreme. You could fill the site with stuff that would interest both young and old.
I'm going to put this out there and I expect to get charged at for it, but fuck this site is boring.
Me, I came here because I was told you were on it. I figured there would be stories of surfing interest knowing your back ground. But I find I'm still waiting and while waiting getting bored.
Now if I'm like that then there's a real probability there's many others with the same view as myself who come here for a look.
So instead of getting the hit ratio up with stuff like Why Ride A Mal, why not get it up with good journalism.
Cheers BB
Hey BB, remember what it was like to lay back and read some of those old articles, the people, the surfing, the waves, the stories, the dreams, the facts. Remember how inspired to go surfing, how charged up you would feel when you woke up the next day..... That's the type of story telling I'm talking about.
If you don't have it in you, tell me now and without any ado I will press the delete button.
Right now everything comes to Sid and Uppy sparring and my phone rings with guys asking me "what the fuck" and I got nothing to do with swell net.
Really, there is a whole bunch of guys out there tuning out. And I'm not talking about guys at work sneaking a reply on the work computer.... I'm talking substance.
Cheers again BB
MM.
Sorry to disappoint Mouse. As for what is coming down the track, I'm not too sure. A lot of it, as I said before, comes down to time and opportunity. I have been doing this for about a year now and the external circumstances have been fairly demanding for much of that time so I have mainly been working on opinion pieces rather than anything that required time and travel. That may change over the next few months. The historical stuff is a possibility too. There are definitely a few people I want to track down for a chat. So hang in there. Thanks for the feedback, it is always welcome.
Disappoint? Na, you saved me reading what sounds like a shity book and even if I personally haven't been over the top on the subject matter, fact is your a bloody talented writer.... And I guess because of that I have been expecting more from your pen.... in fact not just me but others as well.
There's never a story told that gives a complete picture. Stories, or photos like John's, are always tainted with the perspective of the story teller hey. So that's a good enough why as many stories as possible should be told, I'm thinking. And wow, look what stu has handed to you on a gold platter ...... a place to start Tracks all over again ..... minus John. Ha.
Go for it I say!