Surf Art And Classic Surfing Posters By Leroy Grannis

Growing up beachfront was the start of LeRoy Grannis's affair with the ocean. From a young boy of 5, he was body surfing with his father. He even made himself his own bellyboard to use on vacation at his mother's house in Florida.

He moved onto a kneeboard in 1931, it was a 6' x 2' made from a piece of pine. After growing accustomed to the kneeboard, Grannis started borrowing stand up surfboards from friends in Hermosa. Once he started surfing he was hooked, joining the Palos Verdes Surf Club.

As Grannis grew older, it became a challenge from him to balance surfing, working and family life. He was a student at UCLA for a short period, but had to drop out during the depression because he lacked the money for tuition. After quitting school, Grannis took random jobs such as a carpenter, junkyward worker and a brief period at Standard Oil.

Eventually Grannis found himself a job with Pacific Bell, through some surf club member friends of his that worked there. A steady job and income allowed Grannis to develop his photography skills which proved to be the beginnings of a second career.

Grannis's photos were first published in Doc Ball's book California Surfriders. After that, he started getting more involved in the surfing community by surfing in contests and assisting Hoppy Swarts with the United States Surfing Association.

Grannis's time was quickly filled up with work, family and surfing, resulting in an ulcer. LeRoy's doctor recommended he take some time off, which lead Grannis to getting more serious with his photography. His photos started appearing in various surfing publications such as Surfer, Reef, and Surfing Illustrated.

Grannis is credited with being one of the most important photographers of his time period because of the vast amount of photographs he took documenting the surf culture. He also stood out from the crowd because he invented a contraption that would allow him to change film in his camera while staying out in the water.

Grannis spent 10 years photographing the world's best surfers in Hawaii and California. He later became the photo editor of Surfing Illustrated and International Surfing which he help start.

LeRoy was elected to the International Surfing Hall of Fame and the best photographer in 1966. He was also awarded a lifetime achievement award in 2002. He was also the the subject of a Surfer's Journal article ode to master photographers.

In recent years, Grannis's work has been seen in the surf film Riding Giants and in a Limited Edition book entitled Birth of Culture.

Title: A Visit to the Shaper Artist: Leroy Grannis [I:3:J]

Title: Surfing in the 60's Artist: Leroy Grannis [I:5:J]