Surfing Photographs from the Eighties

On the heels of 2006's hugely popular Surfing Photographs from the Seventies, T. Adler Books now releases the companion volume, Surfing Photographs from the Eighties Taken by Jeff Divine. The 1980s were a tumultuous period in surf history, as the "everything's groovy" communalism of the previous decade was blown apart into splinter groups. Professionals, rebels, punks and world travelers all banged the drum for their personal vision of surfing. The result was loud and vivid and drenched in fluorescence and neon. Photographer Jeff Divine was on the case, documenting the changes from surfing's twin power poles: southern California and the north shore of Oahu. Divine's access to these scenes, earned from 15 years on the sand and in the water, infuse this volume with authenticity, as an insider look into the period's most definitive moments. Christian Fletcher's strident aerial sorties; the first high-dollar sponsored contests; the west coast cool of Tom Curren; the back alley attitude of Sunny Garcia: Divine brought it all home on Kodachrome 64. And while Wall Street and Madison Avenue were doing their damnedest to monetize the style and freedom of surfing, the sublimity of the ride itself remained unsullied.

Jeff Divine has been photographing surfing for 44 years, and has been the subject of three surf photography monographs. Among his previous books are Surfing Photographs from the Seventies (T. Adler, 2006).