PRE-WAR PHOTOGRAPHS OF WAIKIKI BY TOM BLAKE

Tom Blake was not the first person to take photos of surfing, or even the first to shoot from the water. Surfer and gallery owner A.R. Gurrey Jr. began photographing surfers in the 1900s, and his work was published as early as 1911. But Blake went further than Gurrey both in terms of equipment—in 1929 he built a 10-pound, 24-inch-tall watertight wooden box for his Graflex Speed Graphic camera—and composition, as he embedded himself deeper into the wave zone.

The following year, Blake cold-mailed a 7,000-word feature about surfing in Hawaii to National Geographic, along with 21 black-and-white prints. The magazine quickly replied with a good-news-bad-news letter from the editor: Blake's text was "over-long and hardly the type of material used in the National Geogaphic. However, I have made a selection of 11 pictures from those you submitted, and for these, the [magazine] offers you $100." It took another four years, but "Waves and Thrills in Waikiki"—seven full-page Blake watershot photo images, plus a photo of Blake himself standing in front of his surfboard collection—ran in 1935.

Blake's surfing and beach-themed photography would also be featured in Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, the Los Angeles Times, and other nationally-known publications.

Blake left Hawaii in 1953 and was semi-nomadic until settling in Wisconsin, his home state, in the 1980s. He seems to have stopped taking photos in the 1960s. Not surprisingly, his best work was done in the 1930s, in tandem with his peak years as a surfer.

Harry Fields surfing waikiki in 1932
Harry Fields, 1932
Waikiki surfing in 1930, photo by Tom Blake
Waikiki, 1930, just after Blake made a wooden waterhousing for his Graflex camera
duke kahanamoku doing a headstand, waikiki, 1932
Duke Kahanamoku, headstand at Waikiki in 1932
Tom Blake, waikiki, 1924
Tom Blake, 1924, during his first visit to Hawaii
Hula dancer Odetta Bray, photo by Tom Blake
Hula dancer Odetta Bray, with mother Lydia Bray playing gourd drum
Waikiki beachfront, 1931, photo by Tom Blake
Waikiki beachfront, 1931
Waikiki, 1931. Photo by Tom Blake
Waikiki lineup, shot from the roof of the Moana Hotel, 1931
Swimmer Virginia Severe, Waikiki, 1932
Swimmer Virginia Severe, Waikiki, 1932
uke player in Waikiki, photo by tom blake
Tommy Keakona, near the Outrigger Canoe Club, Waikiki, 1931
hollow surfboards being made at waikiki in 1936. Photo by Tom Blake
Blake students making hollow surfboards at the Outrigger Canoe Club, 1936
surfing in waikiki, 1931
Unknown surfer, 1931

[More Blake photos and information can be found in Tom Blake: the Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman, by Gary Lynch and Malcolm Gault-Williams, published by the Croul Family Foundation]