Photo/Stoner: The Rise, Fall, and Mysterious Disappearance of Surfing's Greatest Photographer
by Matt Warshaw
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Book Summary Information
Author: Matt WarshawForeword: Jeff Divine
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2006-11-09
ISBN: 0811855333
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Chronicle Books
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Book Reviews of Photo/Stoner: The Rise, Fall, and Mysterious Disappearance of Surfing's Greatest Photographer
Book Review: Wave After Wave (In The Ocean of Emotion)
Summary: 5 Stars
There are people in this world...maybe you know a few of them...maybe you are one of them...who don't really seem to fit in with things of this world. They are driven by maddness or inspiration or both and bring forth things to this world that can never be replicated.
Such is the art of Ron Stoner.
I call his photography art because that is exactly what it is. It captures more than a sport that is, for the most part, widely misunderstood by the majority and goes straight into the salty depths of its soul and lets you in on the secret that most surfers understand; that the ocean is just a symbol of something even greater and riding the waves is simply done out of appreciation and respect for that something greater.
And just like you can look at a Van Gogh or a Matisse and feel something within bursting forth, you can look at a Ron Stoner photograph and feel yourself melting into a world that is very, very Real but not too many of us actually frequent. It is the middle-ground...the veil between the seen and the unseen...the bridge between heaven and earth and even if you but receive the tiniest glimpses of its Reality, you will never ever be the same
...and why would you want to be?
Surfers exude a raw kind of spirituality. They seem to have a "knowing" that there is a magic to life...that "walking" on the water is the most normal thing there is...that all limitation comes from a shallow sense of self and begs release. Maybe it's because this group of people literally soak themselves in the primal soup where God Itself stirred the waters with Its Firey Imagination and created Life Itself.
And like the Living Spirit, everything beneath the surface is Forever, Eternal, Infinite, Beautiful. Even now you are breathing in and out bits and pieces of original life. Even now you are aligned with the Mind of Creation who without hesitation spews forth the invincible invisible.
I like to believe Ron Stoner remembered this and took photos as though he was trying to capture not just the sport and the art of surfing, but something that transcends time and space and rises to meet with the Eternal Grace that is forever making all things new, whole, and holy. He saw through a Divine Lense and captured things on film that leave you shaking your head and giggling silently to yourself out of sheer joy. It's too bad that Stoner could not fully grasp the Truth of his art/his life.
Why did Ron Stoner dissappear into the shadows of maddness?
Why did Van Gogh?
Why do any of us?
Why do some people burst forth with so much creativity in a relatively short period of time and then dissappear into the stillness of the night?
I don't know and I don't pretend to know.
Maybe they give the rest of us something to strive for. Not in the outer world, but in the realms of the hidden heart. Maybe they weren't mad or crazy but just frustrated that the world could not understand true passion and authentic love and original innocence which is deep within us all and for the most part, completely forgotten.
The sun goes down on us all- but like the waves of the sea- we all come out of something bigger than ourselves and even though we like to pretend we're separate from this Infinite Source of Power and Beauty, True Art, like the art Ron Stoner left us with, gets us to remember very, very quickly that we aren't.
I love this book.
Peace & Blessings,
john, "the Light Coach"
Summary of Photo/Stoner: The Rise, Fall, and Mysterious Disappearance of Surfing's Greatest Photographer
In 1965, Ron Stoner was the best surf photographer in the business. Every month, he shot the balmy beaches, bikini-clad girls, and achingly beautiful waves of Southern California for Surfer Magazine. Then, at the height of his fame, Ron Stoner walked off this sunny stage and disappeared forever. In Photo/Stoner, Stoner's strange story is recounted by surfing historian Matt Warshaw alongside Stoner's best photos, reproduced as never before. In these rare images, Stoner recorded more than just a beautiful wave or a perfect moment, he captured the effortless and innocent grace of coastal California pre-condominium. In word and in image, Photo/Stoner is a poignant ode to a lost era, and a lost man.Biographies & Memoirs Books
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