Longboard Magazine - August 1999
This showcase of Doc Ball's early innovations and memorable footage only helps to cement his rightful place in surfing's Hall of Fame.
Product Description
2000 Telly Award Winner ! Doc Ball shot more photographic exposures of surfing during the pre-war period than anyone. This earned Doc the status of being the first surf photographer. He shot over 900 pictures in and out of the water in the 1930's and early 1940's. Doc shot stills of such a high quality that future photographers including Don James and Leroy Grannis tried to emulate him. Doc's photography was published worldwide in The Encyclopedia Britannica, National Geographic Magazine, Life Magazine and the London Dailey Mirror to name a few. This helped to spread the sport of surfing worldwide.
Doc also documented this era by shooting 16mm movie film which includes shots of the top surfers of that period such as Hoppy Swarts, Jim Bailey and Tule Clark.
This film also covers Doc's book California Surfriders. He explains what it was like to be one of the first surfers on the mainland. Get an inside look at the original Palos Verdes Surfing Club and see the female members surf including Marie Ann Hawkins and movie actress Martha Chapin. Check out Doc's once in a billion film of " Oscar The Surfing Snake ".
Doc Ball Surfing's Legendary Lensman covers Doc's relationship with the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku. Doc explains in detail the evolution of the surfboard and also all of the great inventions by Tom Blake which include the Skeg, Hawaiian Hollow Board, Lifepreserver and the Windsurfer.
Producer/Director Carl Ackerman has been working on this project for a number of years and the film includes a breathtaking sequence of Doc skateboarding down a a steep hill at 92 years old. This program will be enjoyed by anyone who surfs.
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