[MUSIC PLAYING]
TODD GLASER: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you very much.
And everyone, thank you
so much for having me.
I'm really sad that
Anna couldn't make it.
She actually connected--
we got connected
through your friend and Ben
Weiland who had spoken here
either at this campus
or a campus up north
a couple of years ago.
And when he reached
out and asked
if I wanted to come and
speak, I was honored.
I mean, it's so cool to be here.
I'm probably the least
computer-savvy human
in the room.
But I can know how to tell
a story and take pictures.
So thank you all for coming,
for sharing your time.
Please at any time, if you
guys have any questions
about the stories, the
trips, the photographs,
I'm an open book.
I love to share.
So if at any time during the
presentation, feel free to ask.
My name is Todd Glaser.
I'm a surf photographer.
I grew up in San Diego.
I grew up surfing
with my friends.
It was a passion of mine
from a really young age.
We would go to the beach
as much as we could.
Even at high school, we had
surf PE instead of regular PE.
So from a young age,
it was ingrained
where we got to go
play in the ocean.
In doing so, when I was 15, a
friend of mine had a camera.
And-- well, I guess I'll give
you a little bit of background.
When I was 15, a friend
of mine had a camera.
And there was three of
us, and we would all
take turns shooting
photos of each other.
We had one camera
between the three of us.
We had one lens and
a water housing.
And back then, it was
a little bit different,
because you kind of--
those things were hard to get.
Like, even just a
water housing, which
is the case that
you put a camera in,
you kind of had
to know a guy who
knew a guy who had a friend
who had a phone number
to get the guy.
So one friend had it, and we
would all just take turns.
And for about four years,
we used this camera,
and I ended up falling
in love with photography
more so than my friends.
So I ended up buying
it off my friends,
and just kind of started
getting this rush,
that every time the waves were
good and the light was good,
I was able to be
out in the water,
share time with my
friends, go on road trips,
go down the Baja, go travel.
I was fortunate.
I got to go to some places with
some pretty incredible waves.
And when we would come
back, we'd all get together
and we'd sit around the
slides on a light table,
and we would hang out
and share stories.
And so that's really where my
passion for photography began.
And for the first
five years, it was,
like I said, one camera,
one lens, one type of film.
And if it wasn't sunny, I
didn't know how to shoot photos.
So I only shot photos
when it was sunny.
And early in the
morning, because that's
when the light was good.
That's what the guys at
the film lab told us.
I actually got my
first rolls of film
developed right down the
street at a place called Chrome
Digital that's no longer here.
My mom worked at Qualcomm
just down the street,
so she would drop it
off on her way to work,
and then two days later,
we'd get the film back.
And that's really how
I got into photography.
So I put together
a couple images.
These are kind of a couple
of my favorite images
that I've shot over the
years to kind of give you
an idea of some of my work.
And then I'm going to go into my
most recent project, which is--
it was a book and film project
that myself and a good friend
named Taylor Steele
made named "Proximity."
So I figured because we're in
San Diego, it's our hometown,
I figured we should share a
couple images from right down
the street.
So this is Black's Beach
right down by La Jolla Shores.
For those of you that
aren't familiar with it,
it's down at the Gliderport.
What's funny about
this image is there's
five people in the frame,
and it looks like it's
a pretty empty lineup.
If you were to take
a step further back,
there's about 200 people in
the water, fighting for waves.
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: And
they're naked, right?
TODD GLASER: And they're--
no.
That's where the
volleyball courts are.
That's behind me.
[LAUGHTER]
So I thought you
looked familiar.
[LAUGHTER]
So you know, part of photography
really, it's going outside.
It's being healthy.
It's being an active lifestyle.
That's something that I
love, that I love to share,
that I love to be a part of.
So I got into it far more
about going on adventures
with friends than I did about
being able to do slideshows,
or being able to make books,
or getting images in print.
I do love print.
I do love print media.
I'm a big fan of it.
Like, I said, I'm
a little, I guess,
you'd call old
school in that since.
I have a lot of books.
So anyways, these
are a few images
that I just started out with.
This is probably from one
of my first rolls of film
when I was 16.
This is my friend Ian Harris.
This is at Torrey
Pines State Beach.
So as we get into
the slideshow, you'll
see images of multiple time
world champions, you know,
some artists, a couple--
I think there's a few
musicians in here as well.
People who I've had the great
fortune to spend time with, be
able to share, you know, very
far-off places of the world
together.
But really, it all
comes down to, like, me
and a couple of high
school buddies, taking
turns shooting
photos of each other.
So this is my
friend, Ian Harris.
This is probably one
of the first photos I
shot that really I got the bug.
I was hooked.
One of the things that's
so special about shooting
at Torrey Pines, which is
right down the street here,
is the valley.
Any time in the
fall or winter time
when we get these offshore
winds, they all get
funneled through the valley.
So they end up making the waves
stand up a little bit longer
and it makes the waves
a little bit hollower.
For anyone that surfs in the
room, you guys can relate.
For anyone that
doesn't surf, you
can also notice
that in that valley,
there's one of the very few
places in San Diego where
you actually get orange light.
In most of the other
beaches, if you look at place
like Black's Beach or
even La Jolla Shores,
the sun has to go over a
mountain to light up the waves.
You'll see these long
shadows on the beach.
But Torrey Pines is very
unique in that sense
that you get the very,
very first rays of light.
So while I am a surfer
and a photographer
and I've traveled
quite a bit, I'm
also kind of a poor
man's meteorologist.
So these are all things that
we try and look at and think
about when we're making images.
And I guess that kind of gets
me to the point a little bit
that all these images
we're going to share,
these are all collaborations.
You know, I don't think
any of these images are,
I happened to be at the
beach, and this person
happened to be there.
These are images that
we've seen a storm,
we've seen a swell develop,
we've watched the weather,
we've discussed what kind of
boards they're going to ride,
we've discussed what
kind of lens or film
we're going to use.
So these are very
much a collaboration
between myself and the subject.
This image was shot
with a wide angle lens.
So I'm probably about two and
a half feet away from him.
So it takes a lot of trust
between the subjects and myself
to be able to capture
images like this.
So they're collaborations,
all these images.
Some photographers like to
just post up at the beach.
They'll go to Lower Trestles
or they'll go to the US Open
and hang out, and
just have a long lens,
then they happen to be there.
And whoever comes across
in front of their lens,
those are the images they make.
That's not the way
I like to work.
I like to work with the guys.
You know, build a story, share
a story, and then, you know,
enjoy the whole process of it.
So this is another one.
Rob Machado is a local
San Diego surfer.
We grew up together.
His nephews that he used to
babysit grew up down the street
from me, so we'd spend
a lot of time together.
We've come to be
really good friends.
This is at Black's Beach again.
What's so unique about
Black's Beach is the light
and how it reflects off the
cliffs back onto the water.
Not a lot of places have that.
And again, this is
with a wide angle lens.
This day, Rob wasn't really
feeling like surfing.
He had some family
stuff going on.
And I called him, and I was
like, hey, you know, this
is one of those days.
It's pretty special.
The light's beautiful,
and it's one
of these real still afternoons.
I think it's worth
making the trek down.
And he trusted me just
from past experience,
and we were able to make
these images together.
This is at La Jolla,
Windansea Beach, Joel Tudor.
And you'll notice a lot
of the images I shoot,
they tend to be more backlit.
It's not so great
for advertising,
but it tends to
kind of personify
the feeling of surfing,
the emotion of surfing,
what is relatable to surfing.
There's so many images in
the action sports world
that show what color
their t-shirts are,
what color the board shorts are,
or what color the shoes are.
To me, I think when
we're making images,
it's more about
personifying the feeling
than it is about showing the
latest and greatest whatever
it is that they're wearing.
Of course, when it comes
to commercial applications,
we do that at times.
But as far as the
slideshow and the images
that we're choosing
to share, I'd
rather show images that show
the beauty and the individualism
of how the surfers surf
rather than maybe what they're
wearing.
So this is Windansea Beach
with a 700-millimeter lens.
AUDIENCE: So you're
shooting from the sand?
TODD GLASER: That was
from the sand, yes.
This is another image.
This is at [INAUDIBLE]
Hill Beach in Cardiff.
This is the other beach
in San Diego that doesn't
have cliffs to block the light.
So you'll notice, most
of the images shown
are all really early morning or
really late in the afternoon.
A big reason for that is
a couple of years ago,
I kind of had this epiphany.
I was traveling probably eight
to nine months of the year,
going all over the world,
chasing waves, chasing swells,
and I never had time to surf.
Because whenever I was home,
I was still trying to shoot
and I was still trying
to work, and I just
didn't get a chance to
ride very many waves.
So I made a rule for myself
about four or five years ago
that was if it doesn't happen
in the first hour of light
or the last hour of
light, it didn't happen.
So that gave me a whole
lot more time to surf.
[LAUGHTER]
And so call it selfish.
Call it whatever you want.
You know, I was tired of waiting
for people to show up late.
The guys know if they get
there at 8:00 in the morning,
I'm done.
And it also kind of comes back
to shooting in the film days.
You know, with digital, we have
these cameras that we can go
out and we can
shoot 1,000 photos,
and they're-- not say
that they're meaningless,
but everything kind
of blends into one.
Digital cameras are great tools.
They're here to stay.
But there was something special
about picking and choosing
when you would load
a roll of film,
when you would
choose to shoot it.
And I think there's a lot of--
there's something to
be said about kind
of slowing your whole process
down and defining your moments.
I went bow hunting with a friend
of mine a couple of years ago,
and he was telling me that.
We went out all day,
and he had six shots.
And he got a deer
in the second shot,
and we were done for the day.
So it was two shots,
and we were out all day.
It was pretty cool.
A great part-- yes?
AUDIENCE: For that last image,
is someone riding the nose
into the barrel?
TODD GLASER: Yeah, they are.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, OK.
TODD GLASER: So I went
out the day before,
and I was just shooting
empty waves really
early in the morning.
And I called a friend of mine.
This is Ryan Burch.
And I was like, hey.
The light was so
pretty this morning.
We should try and
make a photo tomorrow.
And he was like, cool.
He's like, let's come down.
I'm like, the waves are small.
Bring a longboard.
And so we shot a
lot of photos that
are backlit you could
see him hanging 10.
And this one, as I was
shooting, he was on the nose,
and a lip fell over.
So it was kind of a combination
of an empty wave looking out
the tube shot and a surfer.
So it's almost
more of a portrait
than it is, like,
an action shot.
And so I think what's so
great about photography
is focusing on the
subtleties than it is just
the peak moments.
Another thing too
is we get to meet
a lot of really interesting
people, a lot of great people,
a lot of friends.
This is Parker Coffin, a
really good friend of mine.
He was 11 years
old at this time.
I'd just flown into Hawaii.
I was walking down to the beach,
a pipeline to check the surf,
and he was walking down.
He'd just broken his step-up
board, his favorite board--
it was a 6'3"--
at Pipeline.
He was, like, 11
or 12 years old.
I've known this kid
since he was eight.
And when I lived
in Santa Barbara,
I would take him
surfing all the time.
And I'd pick him up.
He'd be starving.
We'd have to go to In-N-Out.
Two double doubles, two fries,
two milkshakes, and then
go surfing.
And then we'd do it again after.
[LAUGHTER]
So his nickname's Pork Chop.
[LAUGHTER]
Now he's all fit.
He, like, hit puberty and
he's, like, strong and stuff.
But he's always Pork Chop to me.
But it's funny, and part of
what I love about photography
is the history that happens.
And at the time, he
doesn't think like much.
So I was walking down the path.
He was walking with his mom.
And I'm like, what happened?
He's like, wave at Pipeline
broke and it broke my board.
He's like, I'm so bummed.
I'm like, yeah, but you
just surfed Pipeline.
I'm like, hold on.
Stand there.
So from a photo standpoint,
I shot two frames.
I was using a medium
format film camera.
I got low to kind of
give him a sense of power
and give it strength.
At the time, it was
literally a snapshot.
At this point, I probably would
have just shot it on my phone
and not thought twice about it.
But moments like this, now
that he's on the world tour
and he spends a lot
more time traveling,
it's kind of fun to look back.
I think this was one of
my favorite photos of him.
This is another one of
Greg Long, big wave surfer.
I've been fortunate to
meet a lot of great people,
a lot of interesting people.
Been a lot of exciting places
and a lot of situations
that aren't so great.
This is just a low
tide afternoon.
We were doing a
portrait, actually,
for a Japanese
editorial magazine,
and they asked us to shoot a
color two-page spread of him
with all his boards.
And I thought this was a
little bit more interesting,
so this is what they got.
[LAUGHTER]
When it's editorial, you
kind of have the freedom
to do what you want.
When it's a commercial or you're
doing an advertising campaign
and something that's going
to end up on a billboard
or on the side of a building,
you don't have that luxury.
But part of being an editorial
photographer at times
is you get to use your
own creative license
to do what you think is best.
He wasn't happy with me, because
I made him jump in the water.
It was, like, November and
the water was freezing.
And I was like, you know, if
you can surf 50-foot waves,
you can jump in the
water for five minutes.
[LAUGHTER]
So this image I
shot back in 2010.
This was probably one
of the first images
I made that was probably
the most widely seen image.
It's Kelly Slater.
It was the image
that was made to--
I guess to celebrate his
10th world title campaign.
Kelly and I met in 2008 through
a mutual friend of ours,
a photographer
named Steve Sherman.
He was traveling
with him at the time,
doing documentary photography.
We met.
I ended up getting hired by
Quiksilver the following year.
And since then, Kelly and I have
spent a lot of time together.
I've documented him
from his 10th world
title all the way to now.
We made a film last year, a
documentary film last year.
We're working on a new
project at the moment.
And I've been very
fortunate to kind of be side
by side for a lot of
pivotal moments in his life
over the last 10 years or so.
So this was the first one.
This was the first time we
actually shot photos together.
One of my favorite images
that we've made together.
And on this wave, he
had four different poses
that all could have
been great images.
And the funny thing
about this, and what
we were talking
about earlier, was
that this was a
secret spot wave,
and there was probably
five guys out.
And so when we got these
images, we're like, OK.
He said this was the
best session of his life.
And we're like, OK.
What do we do?
We can't tell
anyone where it is.
We can't tell anyone
that it happened.
So we made the images
black and white.
We never told anyone where
they were, because people
would come up to us.
Like, how's that photo
of Kelly at Pipeline?
We're like, awesome!
Or how's that one in Fiji?
We're like, oh,
that was so good.
What day was that?
So still to this day, we've
never revealed where it is.
Which is kind of
fun for us, and it's
kind of fun for the viewers
too to kind of guess.
And even if you can't
surf waves like this,
just going out and exploring
and having your own experience
is special.
So that's one of the great
things about surfing.
This is another one.
So again, I guess this is just
a little bit of background
information about myself.
In 2011, a good friend of
mine, Taylor Steele and I,
we got together and
decided to make a film
to kind of pay homage to
a great bodyboarder named
Mike Stewart, who in 1996
chased a swell from Tahiti all
the way to Alaska.
So fast forward 15
years, and the idea
came up where we should
make a film together.
Part of what I've been able to
do as a photographer is I've
been able to branch out
and make films and work
with amazing directors.
I've been able to work
in the virtual reality
world a little bit.
I've actually worked with
Google a little bit on some VR
cameras.
So it's really neat for
me to be able to share
these experiences, but
also be able to use
all the different tools that
are available to us now.
I mean, even when
it comes to tracking
a swell of this
magnitude, this was
the biggest swell still
to this point that's
happened since 2011.
We use online websites.
We use storm tracking.
We use weather forecasts
to be able to look and see,
is this the storm
that's really going
to be the one that's going to
make us want to drop everything
in our personal lives,
get on a plane at night,
and come home a
week or two later?
This was one of those ones.
We'd planned out a movie.
And two weeks later, the
swell of all swells came.
So this was the very first day.
We dropped everything.
We flew to Tahiti.
And this was called the
code red swell at Teahupoo.
We couldn't get on a
boat, so my friend and I
paddled out from the beach.
And I was swimming in the
water with a 70 to 200
millimeter lens.
Swam for about 10 hours from
the beach and then swam in.
That night, we came in.
We went online and actually
Googled airplane tickets,
and booked a ticket to
Mexico the next day.
So we timed it that by the
time that the swell hit Tahiti,
we had 36 hours
to get to Mexico.
So we flew from
Tahiti to Mexico,
surfed the swell in Mexico
for a day and a half.
From Mexico, we were meant
to fly to San Francisco.
Missed our flight
because of a rainstorm.
Had to divert to Los Angeles.
Ended up surfing the
same swell in Los Angeles
before taking the red
eye that night to Alaska
and getting on a boat
outside of Homer.
So in seven days, we did about
17,000 miles of traveling
and made a film about it.
This was day 1 when we were all
bright-eyed and actually awake.
By the end, we were delirious.
I remember calling my
mom I think from Seattle,
and she was like, are you OK?
And I'm like, I don't
know where I am.
[LAUGHTER]
But this was Nathan
Fletcher at Teahupoo.
Probably one of his
most iconic waves.
So for those of you guys into
surfing, fans of surfing,
I'm a big fan of surfing.
I surf every day.
Actually, I surfed yesterday.
I didn't surf this morning.
But I love it, and
I love to share it.
And it's funny, because a
lot of the photographers whom
I look up to are all--
they're rock and
roll photographers.
I love surf photography, but
so much of surf photography
is being there.
I think rock and
roll photographers
are the ones that really--
not so much shooting
the concerts,
but the ones behind the scenes.
The Danny Clinchs, the
Anton Corbijns, those guys
are my huge inspirations to
go out and do what we do.
This is from a trip that
I'd just finished school,
and I was living in Santa
Barbara for three years.
Like I was saying,
I got a degree
in commercial advertising.
And the whole time
I was interning
with fashion photographers
and commercial photographers.
I was trying to figure out what
I was going to do with my life.
And the first thing I
did after school was I
went on a surf trip
with a couple buddies,
because I just figured I'd done
a four-year program in three
years.
I need to go on a surf trip.
And I was just shooting photos
of my friends on the side.
This was one of the trips that
I did with a friend of mine.
This is Greg Long.
We came back.
I called the guys at
"SURFER" and I was like, hey.
We just went camping, and this
is a wave that hasn't really
been seen very much.
It could be kind of cool
if you guys are interested.
The next month, it was on the
cover of "SURFER" magazine
and ended up being the
2009 photo of the year.
So this was my first submission
to "SURFER" magazine.
And then from then, I got
hired and everything kind
of snowballed a little
bit quickly after that.
But it really all stemmed from
going surfing with friends
and just having a camera.
So fast forward, I guess,
a couple of years, and this
is the very first day, the
very first wave ever ridden
at Kelly's wave pool.
Kelly and I, like I
said, we met in 2008.
And about a year
or two later, we
were traveling probably six
to eight months of the year
together for probably
the last 10 years or so.
My wife always jokes that he's
kind of like my second wife.
[LAUGH]
So you know, we've become
close, and he's really
trusted me to document
the end of his career
with Quiksilver, the start
of his new companies.
We made the first
photographs of this lake.
It was originally called the
fish pond before it was even
called the Surf Ranch,
because everything
was private and secret.
Everyone was an NDA.
So we'd known about
this for a long time.
We were actually on a surf
trip in Fiji when he got a text
and was like, there's
waves breaking.
And he showed me the video,
and we changed our tickets
and flew home that night.
Drove all night.
Got to the location that was--
you know, we had no
idea where we were.
Woke up the next
morning, and this
was the session that was
the first time the wave
pool had ever been seen.
I remember shooting it for the
first time, going, all right.
Here we go.
And you know, I
was just coming off
a 10-day trip where we'd
been shooting all day,
and I hadn't slept very much.
And John Moore, who was
the creative director
of the project, comes up to
me and he's like, you nervous?
And I'm like, well,
why am I nervous?
I'm like, why should I be?
He's like, you're the
only photographer here.
And I'm like, oh, no.
[LAUGHTER]
There was a 16-man film crew.
They had six red cameras, water
units, and all this stuff.
I looked around.
I'm like, I'm only still person.
And every person
that went there had
to put their cell phone
into a basket so no one
could take iPhone photos.
So when he said
that, I was like,
well, if I wasn't
nervous enough, now I am.
So you know, I guess that's
a little bit of background
about myself and some of
the work that I've done.
But this is, I guess,
one of the images now
that I'm really proud
of, because now there's
going to be more wave
pools being built.
Especially, you know,
all over the world.
Went and talked to
Japan and Florida
and all these different places.
But you know, I've been
fortunate to be able to be
there for a couple of firsts.
And so from a
documentary standpoint,
that's always kind of neat.
And I think you
guys can all attest
to that with what you guys do.
Making something first or
being there for something
first is a special time.
AUDIENCE: So Kelly didn't
know this was being built?
This was new to him too?
TODD GLASER: Kelly knew
it was being built,
but he didn't know when
it was going to be ready.
And so when he got the text
that waves were breaking,
we dropped everything and got
on a plane and went there.
So a lot of our lives for
the last 10 years has been,
what's happening right now?
We're leaving today.
We're leaving tomorrow.
And you get on a plane.
And you know, sometimes it
leads to amazing experiences
like this, and other times
it leads to going and chasing
swells.
But you know, I guess
what I'm sharing here
is predominantly my
still photography.
Most recently, I've
been getting more
into motion photography, water
cinematography, a little bit
of TV broadcast stuff.
Which is fun, but I think
my heart and soul is always
just in capturing images and
telling the stories, which
is the fun part for me.
So this leads me into
my most recent project.
Oh, and again, if you
guys have any questions,
like, feel free to ask.
Technical questions,
story questions,
what it's like to not
sleep for a long time.
Whatever you guys-- whatever
you guys want to know,
I'm an open book.
Yeah?
Go ahead.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, there's been
a little talk about, like,
the future of
competitive surfing,
now that you have this wave
that's [INAUDIBLE],, which
is not the case in nature.
Was that part of
the original intent?
Or was it just to
create waves all day?
SPEAKER 2: Todd, can
you repeat the question?
TODD GLASER: Yes.
The question was-- that's
a really good question,
by the way.
Thank you.
The question was with the
creation of the wave pools
and man-made waves, is that--
could that be played into the
future of competitive surfing?
Was that kind of--
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
TODD GLASER: I think
it's slowly becoming
integrated into the
professional surf world.
This year was the first
time that a wave pool
was introducted
into the world tour.
They just had the very first
world tour event up in Lemoore
last month at the Surf Ranch.
I think a big part, as far as
the business side of surfing
is, how do you, as far as
broadcast on TV or as far
as getting fan
base, how do you go
to a potential sponsor,
a potential advertiser,
a potential TV
network and say, we
have 32 of the
greatest male surfers
and 18 of the greatest
female surfers,
and they're going to be in
France for the next 14 days,
and we need three
days to run that.
But we don't know when those
three days are going to be,
and they might potentially
be a couple half days,
and they might
potentially be that.
So as far as trying to market
that, or sell that, or brand
that, or even just televise
that, it's never been possible,
because TV stations
are like, look.
The Super Bowl, we know
when it's happening,
and we can plan a
whole year around this.
But as far as
competitive surfing,
it's different,
because now surfers
are going to have the
ability to create runs.
They're going to have the
ability to have a practice.
It's almost like the
driving range of surfing.
It's almost like
snowboarders where
they're able to practice
their run over and over
and over again.
I still think there's
a lot to be worked out,
but it's kind for the first
time in surfing where everyone's
had equal opportunity.
Now to play devil's
advocate, people
are going to argue that
a big part of surfing
is being able to
read the ocean, being
able to understand
the conditions,
choose the right equipment
for those conditions,
and be able to
adapt well to that.
That eliminates a lot of that.
I still think the
best surfers are
going to excel in
those situations,
because they're going
to take what they have
and be able to grow with it
rather than just be subjected
to being able to do the waves
over and over and over again.
Do I think it'll ever
replace ocean surfing?
No.
I think it just
going to enhance it
and get more people excited
about surfing and introduce it.
Does that answer your
question a little?
OK, cool.
Thank you for
asking the question.
So this image is the first
image I'm going to lead into.
I guess on my most
recent project,
it's called
"Proximity," and it's
a film and book project that--
I mentioned him earlier, Taylor
Steele, who's a film director.
We've made a couple films
together in the past,
and this is the one where
about three years ago, I
was out surfing in Cardiff,
and he was living in Australia.
I hadn't seen him in a
while, and he's like, hey.
We should do something together.
It's been a little while.
And I was like,
yeah, that'd be fun.
I've always wanted to
make a coffee table book.
And he was like, I really want
to make another surf film.
Let's do something together.
So we were surfing.
We went and we had coffee.
We wrote down some notes.
And within a couple hours, we
had this idea of, what would it
be like to get four groups,
four pairs-- so two surfers,
a total of eight surfers--
together individually
and take them
to a place they'd
never been before,
mic them, and then
take a step back
and see what it would be
like to be a fan of surfing,
to be a fly on the wall,
and how they would interact?
So what we did is we
based it off the season.
Spring, summer, fall, winter.
Each season had a
pair of surfers.
Kind of an older--
I'd say a more experienced
surfer and maybe
a less experienced surfer.
So we did partnerships
with Kelly Slater, who's
an 11-time world champion,
and John John Florence,
who at the time hadn't
won a world title.
By the time the project came
out, he'd won one world title.
He's currently won two.
This was the first trip--
this is actually the
last trip we did,
but this is a trip we
did with Dave Rastovich.
He was a free
surfer, but he's also
very competitive with
Steph Gilmore, who's
a six-time world champion,
potentially winning seven
this year.
Both super competitive.
Both phenomenal surfers.
Both considered to be dancing
on water in a lot of ways.
So we were like,
what would it be
like to take them camping
in Baja for a week?
What would they talk about?
How would they surf
with each other?
What would it be like?
And so in each part
of these projects,
we tried to think
of different things,
different give them
different scenarios for them
to hang out, feel relaxed,
and just enjoy time
away from competition, away from
all the stresses of being home.
And be able to
experience somewhere new
for the first time.
So this is the summer section.
This is Dave Rastovich
and Stephanie Gilmore.
And I'm just going
to start here.
So on each trip, we had
different conversations,
and just kind of different
scenarios for them to hang out.
For them, we thought,
you know, what would they
talked about on a dusty road?
So we went to the middle
of Baja and miced them,
and they went driving
for a couple hours,
and we just recorded it.
So in the book,
we use their audio
as a narration to tell
stories and give insight
into what it is that
they were doing,
what they were talking about.
And in the film, that carried
through in the process.
So these are just a couple
of shots of them hanging out.
We just went looking for waves.
Just had fun.
Went camping.
Unplugged.
Kind of just got
away from everything.
You know, as everyone knows
in the room, life gets busy.
Even being a professional
surfer gets busy.
They're traveling
all over the world
doing promos, surfing
competitions, making films,
making books.
It's a lot of fun, but it's also
a lot of stress on a home life
if you have a
personal life and are
trying to raise kids or
spend time with other people.
So these are just a few images.
Any time I had the opportunity
to get the two of them
together in a frame, that
was really special for us.
With the title being
"Proximity," any time
the two of them were
together, that's important.
None of these are really set up.
So what we wanted
to do is we wanted
to give them the opportunity
to hang out, and then just take
a step back so they
didn't feel like there's
a camera always in their face.
My job on this project was
to organize the surfers,
pick the locations,
pick the swell,
and help with basically all the
details, all the production.
Taylor organized a film crew.
So on all these trips, we
would have three to four film
cameras, and I was the
only still photographer.
We partnered on that project.
So from my standpoint,
if you were
to see a
behind-the-scenes photo,
I'd have a wetsuit halfway on,
a camera in a water housing,
and, like, a 500-millimeter
lens over my shoulder,
and just running
around in circles,
trying to capture
as many moments
as you can in a
short amount of time.
Because when you
work with a team,
you're able to just focus on
what it is that you're doing.
But with my background in the
water, I could only do so much.
I really had to
try and map out how
I was going to tell the
story the best that I
could with the limited
amount of time.
Most of these trips were
about seven days long.
This trip, we had
the great fortune
of being there for 10 days.
The trip with John and Kelly,
we were there for three days,
just to kind of put
it into perspective.
It took overall from first cup
of coffee to first premiere
was two years.
And we're still of
touring a little bit,
but it's a project
I'm really proud of.
So this was a swell.
And what's interesting about
this is both Dave and Steph
live an hour apart from
each other in Australia,
and they'd never
surfed together.
They'd never been on
a surf trip together.
And when we organized the trip,
we called them in Australia
and we were like, hey, guys.
There's this big swell
coming to Mexico.
Can you guys fly 14
hours to drive 14 hours?
So there was kind
of a bit of stress
as far as organizing
these trips.
But I think it all worked out.
I think she was the
standout of the swell.
She surfed better than
anyone in the water.
And it was so cool.
And it's not a
male-female thing.
It's a surfer thing.
Anyone that surfs can look
at the beauty in that surfing
and go, wow.
That's something that I
would hope to aspire to.
And the fact that she was doing
six or seven turns of that
on a wave was pretty neat.
Each guy has their
own unique style--
each surfer has their
own unique style.
When I say guy, I'm
referring to men and female.
Dave has this really
cruisey, competitive style,
but he grew up as a
competitive swimmer.
And actually, the
guy who he swam with
ended up going on to win
a gold medal in Olympics.
So he's super competitive.
He was almost so competitive
that he had to totally remove
himself from it.
Steph, on the other
hand, is so competitive.
But as soon as she
takes the jersey off,
she can totally let it go.
So that was a really interesting
topic of conversation
between the two of them.
Dave couldn't let it go.
AUDIENCE: In talking
about surfers
and how competitive
they are, like,
I know Kelly Slater's super,
super competitive, super
focused [INAUDIBLE].
But like, how are the
other professional surfers?
Like, is this their
day job, and they
just-- they're totally dedicated
to this during the day?
Do they live and breathe this?
Are they serious about it?
Do they just go out
and surf and have fun?
TODD GLASER: I
think it depends--
SPEAKER 2: [INAUDIBLE].
TODD GLASER: Yes.
The question was, are
the competitive surfers
always competitive, and
do they have fun surfing?
I think every person that you
see photos of in this slideshow
will say that they have
the best job in the world.
They grew up surfing
with their friends.
They love surfing.
They love to travel.
They love to
experience new places.
And they've all been
very, very fortunate
to be able to do what they do.
Some of them do it as
a bit of an escape.
Some of them do it as a--
they have something within them
that that really drives them.
A lot of the guys featured in
this are all multitalented.
So instead of just focusing
on surfing, they'll go golf.
They'll pick up a guitar.
They'll paint.
They'll do photography.
They'll do art.
So they're not so
singularly focused.
And I've found with competitive
athletes, the ones who
are able to totally detach and
pick up a new trait come back
to their sport better than
just being so focused.
Yes?
AUDIENCE: One thing
that I heard is--
I'm Brazilian.
And I know the way
that Brazilians
think of surfing is completely
different from, like, Americans
and Hawaiians and Australians.
So [INAUDIBLE] changed the
way the format is right now?
I feel like back in
the days, like, it
was way more laid back.
Like, maybe more kind
of not as professional.
And now, it just looks
extremely competitive sometimes
[INAUDIBLE].
[LAUGHTER]
TODD GLASER: Yeah.
The question was, has the
tour become more competitive?
Absolutely.
I actually don't follow
the tour very much.
I'm more of the guy that
when the tour is over,
I get the phone calls to go to
book projects and make films.
I choose not to go to
a lot of the events.
It's not that fun for me.
It's a lot of time away.
And usually, the waves
aren't that good.
I think with the WSL
coming in and taking over
for the ASP World
Tour, they're actually
treating it like a profession.
They're treating it like a job.
The surfers now have
health insurance.
They have retirement plans.
They have the ability to set
themselves up financially
to when they're done
with their career,
maybe not have to work as much.
I think a lot of
the Brazilians--
I think there's no
doubt in my mind,
the Brazilians are the
most passionate surfers
in the world.
And a lot of them, they
have it as a way to get out.
Not necessarily
get out of Brazil
because it's a bad place,
but it's a way for them
to see the world.
And they're competitive, and
they treat it like a sport.
And the country of Brazil
supports surfing like a sport.
In America, there's so many
other things they can do.
In America, surfing's
more of a hobby,
and some people turn
into professionals.
In Brazil, if
you're a surf star,
if you're Gabriel Medina,
if you're Filipe Toledo,
you're right there with
Neymar as a soccer player.
You're respected as a sport.
Surfing in America, it's
a little bit different.
We're still NASCAR,
football, baseball,
more traditional sports.
And that's my perception of it.
But I love the passion
that Brazil has.
And it's interesting, because
a lot of people are like,
you know, they're super
loud and they're rowdy,
but like, they need that.
Like, surfing needs that.
Surfing needs excitement.
Because if it's just
all hippie stuff--
you know, the other thing
too is with it becoming
more of a sport, they're kind of
cracking down a little bit more
on the lifestyle that made some
of the eccentrics eccentric,
if you guys know what I mean.
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
TODD GLASER: Yeah.
It's different, you know?
I think when Martin
Potter was on tour,
it was a lot different.
And when Andy was on tour,
it was a lot different.
Now they've kind of controlled
that a little bit more.
To teach their own.
It's made it more of a sport.
You know, just a couple frames.
This was a shot I'd
seen the day before.
I just love the
shapes and texture.
It's a little bit of
dappled light on Dave.
I'll probably scoot that
forward a little bit.
Just not take up too much time.
This is what it's like
to be on set with us.
This is our director, Taylor
Steele, holding a beer,
trying to explain to two of
some of the most stylish surfers
how to surf together.
So with this project, we try
to think of different ways
to enhance the experience.
One of the things we
did is we partnered
each one of the surfers
with a different artist.
So when we premiered
the project,
we rented out a
gallery in New York,
and we had all the boards
from the project on display.
We had photos from
the book on display.
We had a full virtual
reality room set up.
So anywhere you went,
we had a team that
would film virtual reality.
And we thought of different
ways that we could
enhance the viewer experience.
And we thought, well, everyone
says surfing's a dance.
Let's get these two to
dance on a wave together.
So this is our director, trying
to explain to them how to dance
together with beer in hand.
The photos are all
shiny and polished,
but really, we're having fun.
We're going camping.
We're going surfing.
We're trying not to take
ourselves too seriously.
So this is a result of that.
They went and did
it seven different--
they went and turned
seven times on this wave.
Actually, this is the
second time they did it.
The first time was better for
the film, and they came in.
And me being the photographer,
I'm like, hey, guys.
Like, that was amazing.
But I just didn't get the photo.
Can you guys wait for it
to get a little bit darker
and we'll try it again?
I really want to shoot it,
like, at tenth of a second.
I want to make it slow
everything down and kind
of give it that panning feel.
There's an old
ballet photo that I
saw that made me think
of motion and dance,
and so this was my
version of that.
AUDIENCE: So are you in
the water [INAUDIBLE]??
TODD GLASER: I was on
the land for this one.
Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Do you have
a tripod [INAUDIBLE]??
TODD GLASER: I have a tripod
and a big telephoto lens.
And you know, at
this point break,
it's a really long point
break, and you don't
get a lot of opportunities.
So a lot of the times with the
waves that surf really well,
they don't necessarily
photograph really well.
So a lot of times, you're
trying to pick and choose
what's going to photograph
better than what's
going to surf really well.
So if you go catch
a two-minute wave,
it's terrible for photography.
But if you can catch a
five-second wave 50 times,
you have a lot more
opportunity to make moments.
This is moving into the fall.
How are we doing on time?
SPEAKER 2: We've got 10 minutes.
We've got some online questions.
TODD GLASER: OK.
I'll speed up really quick.
This is the-- sorry.
I can talk a lot, and I used
the coffee machine before.
So sorry.
[LAUGHTER]
All right.
So this is the fall section.
I'll just fast forward it.
We went with Shane
Dorian, who's a big wave
surfer for a long time.
Albee Layer, who's a
big wave surfer as well
who's about 20 years younger.
The whole idea behind
getting these two guys
together was longevity.
You know, there's one
thing to go out and catch
a 50-foot wave once or twice.
It's another thing to
do it for 30 years.
Shane Dorian's done
that for 30 years.
He's proven that time, safety--
he's invented that
inflation system.
So if you're underwater,
you pull a cord,
and you have two CO2
cartridges that inflate,
so you float to the surface.
Fortunately-- well,
unfortunately, he
had a situation that
made him do that,
and it made him think
about his two kids, which
is a terrible situation that
happened up in Half Moon Bay,
but he was OK.
Ever since then, he had
a two-wave hold down.
Came up.
Could barely breathe.
And since then, he's saved a
lot of lives with his invention.
So when I say these
images are a part of us,
it's a part of our creation,
also part of what we're doing
is we're sharing these stories
to inform about safety.
Because at the end of
the day, we're traveling,
we're exploring,
but we want everyone
to be able to come home
safely to their families.
And have a good story to share,
and make you want to go travel.
This is a wave that we
found up in northern Europe.
None of us had
been there before,
and we forecasted this trip.
A friend of mine had been
there, and he wrote me
directions on a napkin.
And he called me
about a week later.
He's like, I think it's
going to be good there.
So I called.
And it's one thing to
call on a surf trip.
It's another thing
to call these guys
from their home in
their personal lives,
and then get a 14-man
film crew to go as well.
So there's kind of
a bit of pressure
when you're making those calls.
We got skunked for
the first three days.
We ended up going to a
bar, and we called Kelly.
We were like, Kelly.
Here we are.
Like, we don't know what to do.
And he's like, I've
never been there.
But like, if you can make
it to Portugal tomorrow,
it's going to be good.
And we're like, yeah, we can.
We [? can't ?] move that.
We flew to Europe and
had to drive 10 hours.
And we ended up-- the next day,
we drove around and ended up
finding this wave, and we
surfed it for two days totally
by ourselves.
So this is Shane and
Albee pushing each other
in these conditions.
When it comes to
shooting, you don't
know how long these
sessions are going to last.
So with a wide
angle, I went out.
The water's probably
about 45 degrees.
I shot three waves
from the water.
This is one, that was two.
And I figured, I
think we got it.
And then went in and
kept shooting from land.
[LAUGHTER]
So with time-- with time and
experience comes knowing when
you have it, knowing
when you don't.
You know?
A classic pub shot.
So for these guys, we had
their conversation in a pub.
Sorry, guys.
I'm going to speed
up a little bit,
because there's a section
I really want to get to.
Rob Machado and Craig Anderson.
We took them down to
[INAUDIBLE] Points.
Two super stylish surfers.
For anyone into photography,
the whole time while we're
producing and trying to make
all these projects happen,
we had a ton of camera gear.
I always kept a Leica
35-millimeter camera
around my neck.
I was trying to scramble
to get all my camera gear.
I looked up, and Rob and
Craig were checking it.
I picked it up.
I shot one photo on my Leica.
It's a black and
white film photo.
And this is a wave that we
found four days of driving
12 hours a day without surfing.
We hadn't surfed up
until this point.
And we finally jumped a fence,
and this is what we found.
A couple portraits of Craig,
giving a sense of setting.
You know, once you
have the land shot,
once you have the water shot,
you know, the portrait shots,
you try and give it kind of
an intimate look at what it's
like to take off down the line.
So these are all images that
were all shot in one day.
So when we're
shooting, you know,
I'm constantly running
a mental checklist of,
like, how can we
tell this whole story
in a short amount of time?
Because we don't know how
long this is going to last.
We'd been totally
skunked for days.
This turned into
our winter section.
And we realized, you know what?
It doesn't quite
feel like winter,
so we need to do one more trip,
which was a hard one to explain
to everyone to get done.
So we ended up chasing
a blizzard to the most
northern islands in Japan.
And I thought it
was a great idea.
I was sitting in
Hawaii at the time.
It was, like, five days before
Christmas, and we're like,
we have five days
before Christmas.
I think we can do this
trip in three days.
Fly to Japan.
We drove in a blizzard
for two days, surfed
for about 40 minutes.
Got totally skunked.
Ended up changing our tickets
to leave one day early.
Had we not changed--
one guy stayed
back and got stuck
in an airport for seven days.
So this is us in winter.
This was probably one of,
like, eight waves surfed
on the whole trip,
and we drove forever.
And we're talking, like,
organizing guys from Australia,
getting guys from
California just to go to--
and you know, they
believed in our project.
So when we say, like, you
know, this is our project,
like, everyone worked.
It's a quintessential
film crew shot.
We have a ton of
gear when we travel.
With the film crew when we made
the film, we had a great team,
but we also had a lot of gear.
So this is Davis,
one of the filmers,
passed out on all
the Pelican cases.
This is the last section.
This is Kelly Slater
and John John Florence,
arguably two of the greatest
surfers of all time.
I know we're super
short on time.
We were thinking of
different ways, what
would be interesting to get
them to converse, to have
them have a conversation.
They'd never done a
surf trip together.
I was like, why not get the two
most competitive surfers ever
and play a game of chess,
the most competitive--
one of the most
competitive sports?
We tried to take them fishing.
We didn't catch anything.
Chess, on the other hand--
and for those of
you that play chess,
you could probably
see what's happening.
This image was 100%
inspired by an image
that Walter Iooss shot,
1964 in the clubhouse
of two golfers, Arnold
Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
It's a black and white image
if you guys have ever seen it.
It's a direct
derivative of this.
So this is homage to Walter
Iooss, one of the greatest
photographers of all time.
I actually called him
and told him that.
And he was like, well,
mine was black and white.
And I was like,
uh, I don't know.
Its color.
[LAUGHTER]
You know, it's not
all about waves.
It's about exploring,
looking out the windows.
We've built this
great relationship,
and I've been able to kind
of share these stories,
have intimate access to this.
That's Kelly looking out.
We flew, we arrived.
We were meant to go
to a place for a week.
We ended up being
there for three days.
This is straight off the
plane, Kelly and John
looking at an empty lineup.
So a big part of
what we wanted to do
is photograph these guys
where no one else is.
So when this project came out,
no one knew that it existed.
So just getting these two
guys together was a task,
and making sure there
weren't other cameras
around was a big task too.
Kelly was really instrumental
in helping forecast the swell.
So you know-- and
this was in 2016.
To get two of the greatest
surfers in the world surfing
by themselves for three
days with zero cameras
is kind of a tricky thing to do.
This is them doing their thing.
Again, anytime I had the chance
to get two of them together,
I would.
Underwater is probably my
favorite way to shoot images.
I apologize if I'm rushing.
I know we're short on time.
These next two images are
probably my favorite images
from the project.
This one of Kelly is underwater.
It was shot with a
really wide angle lens,
but it was shot with a
rectilinear lens rather than
a fisheye.
Most fisheye lens are
real bulbous, like a GoPro
or even like a Canon fisheye.
I did an automotive shoot
where we were tracking
on the side of a bridge.
And I remember after the
shoot, I called Kelly.
I was like, I just did
this automotive shoot,
and there's this lens.
It's amazing.
And we built a water housing
and a port just for this lens.
And we waited two years for
the waves to get good for us
to go to this location
with this place in mind.
And when we got this
image, we were like, OK.
It was worth it.
This is one of the few
photos that hangs up
on his wall at his house.
There's also the cover
of "SURFER" magazine.
This image shows the art.
So like I said
earlier, each surfer
was partner with a
different artist.
This is the art by Richard
Phillips out in New York.
So we wanted this to be a
multilayered experience.
Not just surfing, not just
waves, not just music.
So with the project, we had an
original score, original crew,
original artwork.
And all the boards
are at my house.
So when we do these art shows,
you can go touch the boards,
feel the boards
see them firsthand.
All right.
This is the last
image and probably one
of the images we're most proud
of, we're most grateful for.
Kelly had had that wave before.
Not the above water one.
The below water one.
And earlier in the day, he
was like, I was in the water
and I ducked over, and I
watched John pass by me.
He's like, is that what you
were trying to photograph?
And I said, yeah.
I'm like, it looks so cool.
The water's so clear.
And he's like, cool.
And then he was paddling back
out after that previous wave,
and John was
already in the tube.
And he's like, I'm going to
duck dive in front of you.
And I'm like, no!
John's got to [INAUDIBLE].
We hadn't got a good photo yet.
And you know, sometimes these
swells only last half a day.
So Kelly duck dived in front of
me, and I'm thinking, oh, man.
He blocked it.
I don't know what to think.
And he comes up, and he's
like, that was the one.
[LAUGHTER]
And so I'm just
thinking, oh, man.
He totally-- this guy's so
competitive, he blocked him.
He totally blocked the shot,
because he knew he got a shot.
[LAUGHTER]
I went back to the boat.
I sat in the corner of the boat.
I undid the housing.
And I'm just-- you always
start back to front.
You never start at the front.
The front's never good
with photo shoots.
And this was the last
wave before we went back
to the boat.
And I was like, oh.
I'm like, block, block, block.
Oh, we have something here.
And he walked by.
John walked by, and he
was like, what's that?
And I'm like, I think we have
something kind of special
here if this thing's in focus.
And then Kelly walked by, and
he's like, that's the one.
I told you.
[LAUGHTER]
it ended up being
the cover of the book
and the cover of the project.
And to me, this really
summed up "Proximity."
Again, at the time, John
had not won a world title.
Kelly had won 11.
I hate to say old guard,
but the older generation
watching the newer generation.
And so there's a lot
of symbolism with that.
Thank you guys.
I apologize I rushed.
I know there's questions.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]?
TODD GLASER: I do
still shoot on film.
Not all the time,
but for this project,
I probably went through about--
I probably shot
half of it on film.
Most of the color
images are all digital,
and most of the black and
white images are all on film.
I really just try to kind
of simplify my process
by bringing less gear.
It's a lot to travel with,
especially when you're
the Sherpa carrying
all the stuff.
[LAUGHTER]
My back appreciates not
carrying as much film stuff.
But yeah.
I'm trying to build
a darkroom right now.
I love shooting it.
I miss the tangibility of it.
I miss being able to smell it,
even though it smells terrible.
But it's the process.
And everything moves super fast.
I like to slow it
down a little bit.
But yeah.
I still do shoot
quite a bit of film.
Thank you guys, again,
for coming and listening.
I hope you guys enjoyed it.
It was an honor to be
here, so thank you guys.
[APPLAUSE]
