Justin Jay and Art Brewer talking shop. Click on the image to be redirected to The Plug.
If you’ve ever opened a surf magazine, you’ve probably gazed upon one of Art Brewer’s images. Largely self-taught, Brewer grew up in California shooting at Laguna Beach as a teen and freelancing for SURFER Magazine. Eventually, he earned the position of staff photographer. From there, he began his ascension to his place as one of the most prominent photographers in surfing and assumed a pivotal role in the changing culture of the sport.
Brewer has had a long and storied career. His photo archive has countless iconic images spanning decades, and he had one of the heaviest brush strokes in all of surf photography. His work defined what surf photography is today, and recently, another iconic photographer, Justin Jay, sat down with him on The Plug. It’s a podcast that you should be tuned into.
Podcasts are pretty much everywhere these days. It’s hard to go a full day without someone recommending one. Podcasts that are basically two people talking to each other require two things and two things alone: a great interviewee, of course — which Art Brewer certainly is — but perhaps more importantly, a good podcast requires a great interviewer. Justin Jay is that.
Jay got to his place as a photographer of some of the world’s most famous people (Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jay Z, Outkast, and the Foo Fighters, to name a few) because has a way about him. It that allows him to slide into high-intensity situations unnoticed. Inside those insulated cultures, Jay is able to document them without disturbing. He has a book about the North Shore called HI 1K – 10 Years / 1000 Moments on Hawaii’s North Shore. In the process of making that book, he’s gotten to know just about everyone there is to know.
So spend a few minutes of your day listening to two people who know photography — and in this case, surf photography in particular — very, very well.
Find other episodes of The Plug here. Follow on Instagram, and listen to The Inertia’s podcast here.
