In the ’50s and ’60s, surf filmmakers like Bud Browne, Bruce Brown, and Greg Noll captured the surf stars of their day on affordably priced 8mm motion picture cameras. They’d share them via projector and screen at local school auditoriums and small theaters. With the small profits from their first films, these guys soon upgraded to the higher quality picture of 16mm Bolex cameras. (Bruce Brown needed even more help for his ambitious Endless Summer project, and talked surfboard builder Dale Velzy into buying the expensive gear for his trip around the world.)
By the ’80s, nearly all surf moviemakers abandoned film cameras for the substantially lower cost of video capture. Over the ensuing decades, a video arms race of sorts began, which brings us to today’s state of the art RED digital cameras at a cost of up to $50,000 (plus all the other dough for the computer equipment to store and process it).
Japan native Tatsuo Takei likes the film medium more than any of the disco digi options available today. And those that know him aren’t surprised. Tatsuo spends nine months of the year living in California—in his van—documenting surfing with an old manual Nikon attached to a manual focus Century 650mm. He simply prefers the emotion that 8mm grain offers, and says that when matched with a stylish surf style it creates a timeless feel that is fun to watch.
Earlier this year, Tatsuo shot and edited an 8mm surf porn style film on the brilliant surfing and surfboards by Tyler Warren called Wet Dream. The playful summer vibe edit I included here is of underground logger Tommy Witt who met up with Tyler and Tatsuo briefly during some of the Wet Dream shoots in Central America.
Tommy recently finished runner-up in Joel Tudor’s 2015 Duct Tape Invitational at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. So I suspect you will start seeing a lot more of both Tommy and Tatsuo in the coming years.
