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SALT Awards Insight: Tom Servais – Timeless Moments

Tracks talks to the gentleman behind the lens.

Gentleman Tom Servais is one of surf photography’s most respected and liked figures. Like many of his peers he started out as a surfer and discovered pretty soon after leaving school that taking photos was a good way to perpetuate the lifestyle he loved. Since the late 70s Servais has developed a reputation for capturing rapturous action shots in conjunction with candid portraits and lifestyle moments that cut straight to the essence of their subjects.

Servais’ is responsible for what is arguably surfing’s most timeless moment­ – Tom Curren’s elegant, furrowed rail cutback on a sticker-less board at Backdoor in 1991. You know the one.

If technical ability has served Servais well when it comes to taking action shots that make you stop and stare, he owes his extensive portrait archive to his ability to win favour with the surfers and seize the moment. Ultimately Servais’ ongoing body of work is testament to his ability to find a smooth middle road through a volatile surfing industry for nearly three decades.

Below he discusses what he misses about film, ‘that’ Tom Curren shot, and why some surf photos still give him a jaw-drop reaction.

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The man behind the lens. Mr Tom Servais.

How did you start out in the world of surf photography? I also vaguely remember a story about a shot of a broken down car. 

My interest in surf photography started with my interest in fishing, then surfing, then photos.  As a kid I used to go fishing off the piers on Miami Beach, and in the early 60’s started seeing surfers around the pier surfing the small mush burgers.  That got me into longboarding and a few years later, boards started shortening up and my friends and I started driving up the coast to surf Sebastian Inlet, and we belonged to a semi-famous club called South Florida Surf Club.  We organized mostly parties, so we could make money and have extravagant private parties for ourselves.  The broken down car photo, was actually a wreck of a car off the Kam Higway. I took that picture on my first trip to the North Shore in ’81,and was the only photo I got published that year from Hawaii …a small black and white!  My first photo I had published that I was proud of was a line-up shot of Trestles that ran as a 1/2 page B&W spread in the late 70s. The thing I remember most, is that the other shot above mine was an ART BREWER photo!

Is there anything about the film days you miss from a photographic point of view? That moment when you got a roll back and discovered there was a gem in the mix?

Lot’s of things I liked about film, and lots to like about digital. I wish digital was never invented, but change is one thing you can count on. I miss the surprise you got when you first looked at your photos days or weeks later, not knowing what you may or may not have got. Your best photo could have been out of focus, not exposed correctly, or the lab could lose your film and/or mess up processing, no guarantee anywhere through the process. It was fun using different film types to mix up your look. One of the best things about digital for surf photogs, is not swimming out and only having 36 shots. With film, 144 water shots at Pipe required swimming in and out 4 times. Now you go out with thousands of frames to shoot.

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It’s no surprise Tom was on the spot when Dorian free-fell into one of the greatest drops in memory this year at Jaws.

Is it a bit like hand-shaping amongst the photogs? If you knew how to manual focus do you have a little more respect or even an advantage over the digital button blazers? 

Hand shaping versus new school shapers? I don’t think too many people get respect for the past, why should you; you’re only as good as your last photo! Just kidding a bit, I guess if you’re lucky enough to have some memorable photos, then your photos are remembered, in some cases the photog, too.  But an interesting thing about a book of my photos, was that many people remembered a lot of the photos, but didn’t realize they were my photos. I guess some people really remember the photographers, but a lot of people just look at the photos, more so today. We are bombarded with so many photos that it’s hard to give any photo too much time to really appreciate them. One of the interesting things about when there was no internet, surfers would only get a magazine every month, and would have to look at those same photos until the next one arrived, which made the photos more memorable. Plus they would cut them up and make collages on their bedroom walls. I’d say that the magazines still do that today, but not at the same level as in the past.

How challenging was it knowing you only had a roll of film with a max of 36 shots to work with? What was a big day of shots in film days? What’s a big day of shots number wise today? 

I think the most rolls of film I ever shot in one day was like 36, out of a boat at No Kanduis in the Mentawais, when they had the OP Challenge in about 2000. Four of the top girls were there, along with Occy, CJ, Andy, Bruce, Dorian and Timmy Curran. With digital, you could easily shoot 2-4 thousand photos in a day

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One of Tom’s favourite contemporary subjects, Kai Lenny.

Who has been your favourite subject over the years? Who was really animated in and out of the water and rewarding to shoot?

Gosh, I always quickly say that Tommy Carroll was my favorite surfer, and probably to shoot as well, for a number of reasons. He’s a really cool and sincere person, super funny and animated, and I love that as a World Champion, he was also one the very best surfers in Hawaii, surfing all the spots confidently and with plenty of power, one of the best rail surfer’s ever. I always felt that doing well in the Triple Crown was a sign of the best surfer, doing their best surfing on the Formula One racetrack, not the GoKart track. There are so many others surfers that are favorites, too. Like Kelly, Andy, Bruce, Dorian, Occy, Parko, Rasta, Curren and on and on. And some of the girls, too. My newest favorites would be John John and Kai Lenny.

Are there any locations with which you became particularly enchanted?

Enchanted? In the beginning, it was Bali, like stepping into a NAT GEO magazine. I always liked the Indo boat trips, J-Bay, Tavarua, Tahiti, Hawaii. Australia is a favorite place, too. I always thought the best way to get memorable photos was to shoot with the very best surfers, then the best place you can get them to. Usually ends up being spots you’ve seen a lot, but most of the memorable photos come from memorable spots that you’ve seen thousands of photos of. If you can get the best surfers to a secret spot, that’s a double whammy. Going to some of the contests can be a good score, like Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii.

Your shot of Tom Curren’s cutback is considered amongst the most iconic surf images ever taken. That was still in the film era. Did you have an inkling that you’d captured a special moment. What’s your connection to that shot?   

It was apparent pretty quickly that the Curren cutback photo was special, but how special only became obvious with the passage of time. Time is the real test of a photo. Not sure I can say I have any real connection to that photo, except that it reminds me of a very fun time on the North Shore and all the special surfing we got to witness, which many of us are still doing today. Always great to see guys like Brian Bielmann, Joli, Ted Grambeau still on the beach shooting. And Merkel, Sylvain Cazenave, Bernie Baker – the stories!

I was very lucky to get the Curren photo. Late afternoon light, high speed Kodachrome and manual focus. Art Brewer always taught me that if you set yourself up so the surfer was moving sideways instead of coming straight at you, the focus wouldn’t change much and it would be easier to hold focus.  Of course, that angle can be limiting. Nice to have auto focus and the surfers coming straight at you and get razor sharp results.

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Once more can’t hurt … just beautiful!

What about Tom Curren has he talked to you about it?   

Talking to Tom Curren about the cutback photo? That’s a tough one. He doesn’t like to talk much, especially about something like that. We did an interview together last year about it. He was always tough to find surfing, MystoMan. Paddles out just before dark when it’s too dark to shoot. But he is a great guy, just a bit elusive, maybe, a bit shy, as many know. Part of the reason he’s so sought after. As he’s aged, he’s become more open and talkative. Funny thing about going on a trip with him, you never know if he’s going for sure until you actually see him at the airport, another part of his allure.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done just to get the shot?

Not sure if I’ve done anything that crazy? Swimming with Ted Grambeau near Santa Cruz in some really sharky waters to shoot TC? Traveling to the Aleutian Islands and camping on a remote island away from everything? Maybe, ‘I’m’ just plain crazy to do this all these years!

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One of Tom’s Tracks covers – May 2014

How can you carve a niche or create a point of difference with your surf photography when it’s such a competitive arena?

In such a competitive arena like we have today, my archives and just to continue to do what I’m passionate about is my advantage. And relationships are important. I guess I might have an unusual perspective after seeing so many years of great surfing by so many special surfers and knowing them well. It’s tough to stand out, you just hope to get a special photo or two every year. Look for satisfaction from within yourself. A nod here or there is nice to hear, too.

Do you still see surf images that stop you in your tracks and make you believe in the art form all over again?    

There are so many heart-stopping photos that I see now, more than ever.  Just stop into The Surfer’s Journal and ask Jeff Divine to show you some new photos that have come in! The more people that do something, which is the case with photography in general, the more the bar gets raised. Photography is going through the roof.

Has it been fun to watch and document surfing’s evolution?  

It’s been insane to witness so much great surfing. A lot of us have been so lucky. And to have photographed it when there wasn’t quite so many photographers was a plus, too.

CHECK OUT THE SALT SURF PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS HEREsaltawards.tracksmag.com

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