I began my surf photography career in the mid 70′s after buying a Nikonos 2 waterproof camera and began swimming out at Cronulla Point and Shark Island to capture all the action. Chaz Mc Call was the first bodyboarder I ever saw charging the twisting mutant barrels at Surge taking all the waves that the Surfers didnt want.I was a freelance surf photographerr throughout the 80′s shooting for Tracks, Surfing Life, Waves and Surfing Magazine. It was around the early to mid 80′s I had my first bodyboard shot published in Tracks and then from that day on the pics kept getting printed. Luckily for me my local break and favourite wave to shoot was The Island. Before long I was introduced to Doug Robson, Brett Young and the rest of the young Cronulla kids and we started shooting out at Suckrock as well.I also got to hang out and shoot the American pros like Mike Stewart, Ben Severson, Jay Reale and Keith Sasaki, it gave me a whole new perspective to the sport which was blowing up at the time. When the first issue of Riptide came out my picture of Dave Ballard was on the cover. For the next decade or two I focussed in on bodyboarding even becoming the editor of Rush Magazine and producing the Underground Tapes video series. Today I still shoot the Island whenever it is pumping, its still my favourite wave.
The reason for making this site is to try and preserve a bit of bodyboarding history and reflect back on the glory days of the sport, classic moments, influential people and the riders who made it happen throughout the decades. Hope you enjoy it.
Chris Stroh