chris bickford – After The storm …A life of Surf on the Outer Banks
Impressive photos and accompanying essay over at Burn Magazine, an online photography journal curated by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey:
The local crew on the Outer Banks is a diverse lot, from burnt-out punks to born-again Christians; from pre-teen gremlins to guys in their sixties and seventies. A number of strong women surfers represent the fairer sex, but the crew is predominantly male. There are summer surfers, Sunday surfers; guys who won’t surf if it’s too cold to trunk it; guys who will ALWAYS paddle out, even on the iciest days….there are brat packs and lone wolves, world-famous globetrotting professionals, and mellow stoners who just want to get wet and catch a ride. In the summer, there are tourists–loads of them–trying to figure it out on rented styrofoam boards, or clogging some spot with a surf school…and whenever the surf is really good, the Va Beach crew rolls in like a band of Turks, charging it at the best spots, pulling crazy aerial maneuvers, and generally acting like they own the place.
I love it when text and image come together to create something more.
One Comment
Hey Ed!
I know Chris, I finally got to meet him in January. He is a fellow photographer in the Outer Banks where I live and work in the summer. He has always been one of my favorites here. So strange that you posted some of his work! I think you would like Jay Reilly as well. He is an awesome photag and a surfer as well!