Iconic images by Gannis: Mike Doyle surfing Waimea in 1967 and “Midget” Farrelly surfing Shore Break, Makaha 1968. Gannis was a master of using light to convey emotion.
LeRoy Grannis, who along with “Doc” Ball helped revolutionize the field of surf photography, has died. He also co-founded what’s now Surfing Magazine. A lifelong surfer himself, Grannis didn’t take up photography until 1959, when he was 42. That was the year surfing hit mainstream consciousness through the film Gidget.
Grannis’ amazing black and white photos really give a sense of surf’s rapid shift from subculture to mainstream as Gidget and Beach Boys mania took hold. If you love beautiful photo books, the retrospective Leroy Grannis: Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s
