Don James: Prewar Surfing Photographs
by Don James, Matt Warshaw
Our Price: $191.44
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $47.95 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Don James, Matt WarshawEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-15
ISBN: 1890481157
Number of pages: 46
Publisher: T. Adler Books
Book Reviews of Don James: Prewar Surfing Photographs
Book Review: The surfing dentist from Culver City as documentarian for an entire culture
Summary: 5 Stars
I was first drawn to Dr. Don James' photography and his passion for surfing when he became my first dentist. I was only three years old or so but, as the years passed, I began to fall in love with his sport of surfing thanks to his photographs that adorned his office walls. Around 1960 or so, he talked me into taking up surfing. After I took up the sport, he urged me to continue my interest in photography as well. Whenever I had an appointment at his dental office, he would show me more photos and regale me with stories of the old days, just as they are chronicled in this book.
He always looked tan and younger than his years owing to his amazing fitness. No doubt, surfing played a big role in his physical well-bring. He was also one of the kindest gentlemen on the planet, a true diplomat for the sport of surfing and for mankind.
So, Don, we miss you and your stories. Keep smiling down upon the rest of us.
Summary of Don James: Prewar Surfing Photographs
A strong sense of nostalgia and a yearning for a simpler life are the accompaniments to the images in Don James' Pre-War Surfing Photographs. At the end of the Depression and before the beginning of WWII, James and a small group of friends lived a charmed life in Southern California. When school was out, they roamed the undeveloped Eden-like coast from Malibu to San Onofre, scraping together gas money for their worn jalopies, lugging 90-pound wooden boards to the ocean, sleeping in lifeguard huts and makeshift tent camps in the sand. They lived hand-to-mouth, plucking an endless supply of abalone and lobster from the ocean and raiding nearby orange and avocado orchards at night. What spending money they had came from guiding rumrunners to secluded coves, selling fresh fish to local restaurants, life guarding in posh beach clubs in Santa Monica, or acting as stuntmen and extras for Hollywood films. At that time, there were fewer than 200 surfers in the entire state, and James and his friends were inventing a beach/surf culture that would endure for decades. In 1936, at 16 years old, James began chronicling those days with his father's folding Brownie camera. For water shots, he would place the camera in a homemade semi-waterproof pine box, rest the box atop his board, and paddle out to the calm water adjacent to the surf. Focal range of the Brownie was limited, and James preferred to keep his frame uncluttered, so many of the photographs have a similar weight and balance. The images in Pre-War Surfing Photographs are the result of his preliminary endeavors, the works that mark the beginning of James' career. Throughout his life, James continued to perfect his skills going on to take a multitude of elegant surfing photographs, for which he became famous, until his death in the 1990s.Artists, A-Z Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Artists, A-Z Books
Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintingsby Gary Schwartz
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1991-11-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.50
Life with Lowryby Tilly Marshall
Hutchinson; Published: 1981-02-16; Hardcover; Book
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Lifeby Richard Meryman
Harper; Published: 1996-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.97
Price in other shops:
Georg Baselitz: Paintings 1964-67 [exhibition: May 1-31, 1985]by Georg Baselitz
Anthony d'Offay Gallery; Paperback; Book
Florence and Its Beauty: A Practical Guidebook to the Town and Its Monuments with 350 Illustrations and a Plan of the Principal Places of Interestby Sandra Orienti
G. Ramella - Florence, Italy; Published: 1956; Unknown Binding; Book
Lord of the Rings Sketchbookby Alan Lee
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2008-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Picassoby Patrick O'Brian
Harvill; Published: 1994; Paperback; Book
The Art of Adventureby Galen Rowell
Collins Pub San Francisco; Published: 1989-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.92
Price in other shops:
Calder JewelryOther Distribution; Published: 2007-12-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $359.99
POPism: The Warhol Sixtiesby Andy Warhol, Pat Hackett
Mariner Books; Published: 2006-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.29
Price in other shops: