Editor’s note: For the better part of a half-century Ted Grambeau has left his stamp on surf, some calling him the Godfather of The Search. So when he reached out about a new book project that’s rich with imagery spanning his career we knew it’d be good. The book is called Adventures in Light and it features all of the pretty pictures above to beautify your coffee table. Learn more here.
For over forty years I’ve been consumed by this thing they call “photography,” capturing moments in time.
My life’s journey has taken me to nearly 100 countries, exhausted over a dozen passports and enriched my life beyond my wildest dreams.
Aligning my philosophy of life, surf adventure and exploration with like-minded companies saw relationships built with brands as the surf industry grew. Rip Curl’s ‘The Search’, Billabong’s ‘The Odyssey’ and Quiksilver’s ‘The Crossing’ campaigns afforded me the opportunity to take my travels to the ends of the earth. These epic adventures all held the unspoken rule ‘discretion of location’ which to this day is paramount in my philosophy on surf exploration.
Like a wave, life has a beginning, middle, and end, a destined path in perpetual motion, so too is the journey of photography. The journey of learning, applying, mastering and sharing, but none of which will flow without a dream and vision fuelled by passion and integrity. Influenced by the Masters Henri Cartier-Bresson and Sebastião Salgado early in my photographic journey, it’s now a privilege to be an inspiration to the aspiring – there are lessons to be learned and time to be done.
I feel my contribution is best expressed via my photography. Having many projects on the go at one time, my most recent personal project has been created as a result of my photographic journey.
Driven by the rising sun of possibilities, I’m at the waters edge before dawn, at sea level wherever I am on the planet. Through my lens, I’ve captured magical moments, dancing light and glimpses of the sea – a personality so expressive that each image is beyond unique in tone and form.
