Surfing Photographer

“The best word to describe Tony’s photography is “MENTAL.” He visualizes a new angle and relentlessly goes after it until he gets it.”
-Larry “Flame” Moore Photo editor, SURFING magazine spanning three decades.

“He’s always there on the moment. He’s suuuuper keen. He just has this feel for the crazy little moment. He’s just always there. So sharp.”
-Tom Carroll, pro surfer

“There are very few guys in the surf realm who take an idea and actually pursue it. Tony has been one of the few.”
-Art Brewer, staff photographer SURFER magazine.

“Having the freedom and perspective of traveling, of non-conforming, I feel is really important, and I feel Tony has that.”
- Jeff Hornbaker, staff photographer Quiksilver

“Tony is a top-notch surfer…that makes his timing that much better because he knows the moves guys are going to pull”.
-Richard Schmidt, Santa Cruz big wave maestro.

“Tony was the first guy to use the ultra-wide lens to shoot surfing maneuvers from the water, and his skateboarding had a lot to do with his surf photography. When Tony made his mark surfindg was still fairly conservative. Tony came in with a generation of guys who did the airs and maneuver oriented surfing and it was his work that showed the world this new style of surfing”.
-Ron Barbish, waterhousing builder Photographic Support Systems

“To have a guy like TR and his positive energy helped us so much. We would push each other, his media and our surfing brought it to a level we’re at now.”
-Peter Mel, pro surfer

“He has helped my mind with visualizing maneuvers, with where you want to put yourself in front of the camera. He’s kinda like a good coach/photographer”.
-Barney Barron, pro surfer/ superhero

“Tony has a lot of talent, besides his photography he is a very talented surfer and skater. It is pleasing to know the guy shooting you knows what good surfing is because Tony is a good surfer himself, he rips, busts airs and everything.”
-Anthony Ruffo, pro surfer

“His skating is his surfing and visa versa. TR’s surfing is insane, really light on his feet and brings all his combos together. On a day to day basis you know he could go out there and smoke you- but he remains focused on his job, that’s what’s so cool- he cares as much about our job as he does his. He actually put Santa Cruz in the map in the surf industry.”
-Flea Virotsko, pro surfer

“Right when he became really famous he just packed up and said “Hey, I’m moving to Central America”- that’s a unique kind of person. That’s what I’ll always admire most about Tony:He’s a free spirit and unique thinker.”
-Ron Barbish, waterhousing builder.

By the time Tony Roberts was 16 he was filling auditoriums in Santa Cruz, California with his surf/skate films. Aside from being a sponsored athlete in both sports, competing in both the Big 10 skatepark circuit and the Western Surfing Association, he was a dedicated young filmmaker/photographer who spent much of his time in his bedroom- which looked more like the “cutting room floor” of an editing studio. This was before the days of video and small film strips were taped to the walls in batches that later became the first segments for many of future Santa Cruz pros.

This was also the time that a Santa Cruz surfer/skater named Kevin Reed was quietly perfecting the aerial on a surfboard. He was the last performer at the top level in both sports and his achievements have somehow slipped under the radar of surf historians. But to TR, Steve Price, and their crew of surf/skaters the influence was unmistakable and helped form not only their surfing styles, but amazingly and unimaginably surfing itself. (Aerials are now a part of judging criteria in all levels of surfing competition).

When he graduated high school TR went to Hawaii and Australia for a six month road trip and was bit hard by the travel bug. He would never stay long in his home town again, exploring the planet with his cameras, boards and skate. When he came back to Santa Cruz he would deliberately mix crews of East and Westsiders and go surf, skate and shoot in rival neighborhoods, helping break a long standing tradition of inter-city localism that Santa Cruz was famous for. The crew went on to become famous, not only for their futuristic surfing styles (at a time when surfing aerialists were looked at as unlegit “flying squirrels” by the status quo in the surf industry who had everything to lose by a movement like this taking over surfing and leaving those behind who couldn’t relate/do it) but for their nicknames as well: Ratboy, Flea, Barney, Scrawns, Skindog, The Ledge, The King, Rodent, Galley….

In the next ten years he went on to produce a dozen films and videos including (in chronological order: SURF/SKATE, NO LIMITS, O’ZONE, GOIN’ OFF, SPEED FREAKS, RISK IT, MENTAL SURFING 1&2, PROGRESSION SESSIONS, JACKED, ABOVE AND BEYOND, PLAYERS, SKILLS, THE PATH, etc… ) as well as contributing photos to Surfing Magazine (where he would later become a senior staff photographer) and later was hired as the first staff photographer of TransWorldSurf. As video itself was invented (as opposed to film), his Santa Cruz Speed Wheels skate videos marked many firsts including TR’s POV footage; he would ollie down flights of stairs and gaps behind, in front of, and next to his subjects (still to this day you see the filmer stop his follow run when he gets to the stairs.) The lack of camera shake was amazing- he used a technique where he kept his upper body still while absorbing the shock with his legs. The wipeouts were many and he would destroy many cameras in the course of each video. His surfing POV footage in “The Path” included choreographed “routines”, surfing behind, in front of, and doing figure 8 carves with around his subjects in the long Santa Cruz righthand pointbreaks.. When aerials became accepted by the mainstream surf media, TR was poised to make arguably his most significant contribution to the surfing world: blending his surfing, skating, and photography skills, he took the full-frame fisheye skate photo and brought it to the water, capturing above the lip surfing maneuvers just inches away from the subject with a fisheye lens. Before TR’s work the only consistent result of fisheye water photography was in the barrel. What TR did was make the surfer the subject of the photo, filling the frame with the surfer and his maneuver, with the wave itself being just a detail in the shot, the opposite of what surf photos had always been about.

Just as TR was reaching newfound levels of fame and accomplishments he just dropped out of the scene completely. As a result of what he calls “sliding into a very dark chapter”, losing touch with his own surfing, and thus himself, he loaded up his 79 Toyota pickup and drove to Centro America with all his belongings, leaving behind the U.S.A. forever. He had several years of pure surfing and skating (he built a cement half-pipe in the jungle) until the Quiksilver Crossing rolled into his quiet little jungle hideaway. Martin Daly found him and put him onboard as principle photographer of the project (along with Jeff Hornbaker), translator (Tony speaks fluent Spanish), as well as writing and uploading the daily Captain’s Log website (all the entries are still online at thecrossing.quiksilver.com). TR was on the boat for a better part of three years, which launched his name back to the top of the surf industry, a world he bailed on years earlier. When The Crossing ended the returned to Centro America and started CORE Magazine, a photo based surf magazine featuring the best surfers of Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua. There is an award-winning documentary based on TR’s life by sub-terra films entitled “Gusto” . Also a DVD box set with his entire film library is in the works.

Now he is 44, is raising his 3 1/2 year old daughter named “Xia”, is shooting for various companies (including exclusive staff photographer for Quiksilver Latin America), making his magazine, websites, editing videos, DJing, skating and surfing.
-Max Carver max@revistasurf.com