Pioneer Series Volume 3
Ron Church

Masters of Surf Photography

Ron Church brought a trained photographer’s eye to the sport of surfing, which in itself was unusual. With his background in sport diving and underwater research photography combined with his La Jolla, California roots, he turned his attention to surfing just as the sport was beginning to morph from a sleepy but evocative pastime into a commercialized lifestyle. From 1960 into 1965 he captured its last moments of innocence, first in California, moving to Oahu’s big-wave fields, and then back to California. Graphic designer/bookmaker Tom Adler has been producing an acclaimed series of art books featuring surf photography (ie. “Don James, San Onofre to Point Dume, 1936-1941”, “SURFING PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SEVENTIES TAKEN BY JEFF DIVINE), utilizing his own unique design sense to select offbeat images that seem to make magic by the time he arranges them on the pages. This, his second book from the files of Ron Church (The first being SURF CONTEST, published in early 2006) is a joint effort between The Journal and T. Adler Books

Published 2006, 12” X 12” 180 pages