Drew Kampion

Drew Kampion is well known one of the best, if not the best surf journalist from the history of surf. He’s a super nice guy, and a awesome photographer that had the chance to see it and record in film the nicest years of our beloved surf. As you can see in the picture above, Drew’s photos rock! It's the master shaper Mike Diffenderfer before he passed. Drew was part of the first Santos Surfart, and it's been so kind to be part of the second one. Wish we can have the plesaure of his company here in Brasil in January. Aloha Drew…

What´s you name and where are you from?
Drew Kampion, born in Buffalo, New York ... near one of the Great Lakes.

When did you find out that you would be an artist?
My favorite art forms are drawing, writing & photography. I started drawing when I was young (of course) and should still be doing it. I started writing 'seriously' when I was 16, wrote a book of short stories and a novel before I was 18. I wrote and edited many articles and stories as editor of surf magazines, beginning in 1967. I started taking pictures of surfers in 1968. Now I take pictures of most everything and everyone I encounter. Not because I'm an artist but because this entire world is art when seen as art.

What do you want to show to people when you do you art?
My goal in taking photographs is to capture a moment of communication ... between the subject (really the object, if I want to be objective) and me ... to capture the essential perfection contained in any moment.

What’s surf for you?
Not sure what you are asking here. Surfing is ancient and futuristic magic.

Can you tell us some highlights in your career?
Drew Kampion is a former editor of SURFER (1968-72), SURFING (1973-82), WIND SURF (1982-89), and WIND TRACKS (1996-99) magazines. He was Editorial Director for the Patagonia clothing company (1990-91) and Associate Editor for NEW AGE JOURNAL (1992). He founded, published, and edited the ISLAND INDEPENDENT (1993-96), an award-winning “bioregional magazine in newsprint,” serving the “maritime rain shadow” islands of Washington State. For his work with the INDEPENDENT, he received first prize for editing a periodical with a circulation under 50,000. Kampion is the author of THE BOOK OF WAVES (1989), THE ART OF CHRISTIAN RIESE LASSEN (1991), STOKED: A HISTORY OF SURF CULTURE (1997, revised 2003), THE WAY OF THE SURFER (2003), THE LOST COAST (2004), WAVES: FROM SURFING TO TSUNAMI (2005), DORA LIVES: THE AUTHORIZED STORY OF MIKI DORA (2005), and GREG NOLL: THE ART OF THE SURFBOARD (2007). He was also editor of THE STORMRIDER GUIDE: NORTH AMERICA (2002). Drew is currently the American Editor of the international periodical, THE SURFER'S PATH, world’s first “green” surf magazine. His episodic parody, THE TEACHINGS OF DON REDONDO: A SURFER’S WAY OF KNOWLEDGE (as illustrated by artist Tom Threinen) is a regular feature of magazine. Married with two children, he lives on an island in Washington State.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word Brasil?
Hot sand, bikinis, warm water, and the friends I hope to see there some day.

How do you feel to be part of an art show over here in Santos city?
I am grateful if someone finds pleasure or 'fuel energy' in any of my photos ... if they appreciate the genius inherent in the subject, not the photographer.

Some words to the people that will see your work in Brasil...
Most of the more 'interesting' photographs I've taken are of surfers. Surfers accumulate a lot of powerful, beautiful, rewarding, difficult, and enlightening moments in their surfing lives, and this is reflected in the essential charisma that these individuals radiate. If surfers won't save the world, who will?

http://www.drewkampion.com/