Way back in 2007, Todd Glaser was swimming with his camera in hand at Rincon. He was in school at the time, studying photography, and Kelly Slater happened to paddle by him. Glaser was, of course, aware of who Kelly Slater was, but they’d never met in person before. So Glaser introduced himself, asked to snap a few photos from the last remaining shots on the roll of film in his camera. Kelly agreed, and the two unknowingly began walking down a path that would span much of both of their careers. Now, 17 years later, with countless projects under their belts, Glaser and Slater have authored a book together, fittingly titled Kelly Slater: A Life of Waves.
Following that first encounter, Glaser and Slater ran into each other relatively often. They had a few mutual friends and were both heavily involved in the surf industry, but their friendship didn’t really blossom until 2010, when Glaser landed a job with Quiksilver. Glaser was sent on a surf trip with Slater, and right away the two made magic.
“The first trip I did, like the day after I got hired, Kelly and I went and chased a swell and ended up getting really good waves,” Glaser told me over the phone. “The very first day that we shot together, we ended up shooting the image that was used to celebrate his 10th world title campaign. From that point on, he was like, ‘well, you really like to swim,’ and I was like, ‘well, you really like to surf.’ We developed a good friendship and started chasing a lot of really good waves together. We’ve been doing that ever since.”
Kelly Slater: A Life of Waves is a stunningly beautiful book, full of images spanning much of Slater’s career. Most of the photos are unseen until now, pulled from the vast archives occupying Glaser’s hard drives. It’s not just surf shots, either — there are images of Kelly behind the scenes, living his life, unadorned from the trappings that come with being the world’s most famous surfer and a magnet for photographers lining up on the sand every time he paddles out.
Slater and Glaser are fast friends, and formed a partnership forged on years of traveling the world together chasing waves, enduring hardships and experiencing some of the greatest moments of their lives. The candid photos in Kelly Slater: A Life of Waves could only be taken by a friend. Flipping through the pages, Slater’s trust in Glaser, to let him into his life, is evident.
The book covers 15 years of Kelly’s career, from 2008 to 2023 so there’s a whole slew of Slater’s iconic moments – like his first-ever wave at the Surf Ranch. Or more simple times, like making pancakes, playing guitar, or just watching the waves.
It was a massive undertaking that took root during the pandemic. The idea was in their heads before that, but it was just a vague glimmer.
“Around 2020, kind of when the world shut down, I had some time, I just started digging through all the hard drives and all the rolls of film and started organizing the photos,” Glaser remembered. “It was a lot of work. I just started sending photos of Kelly that have never been published, or photos that we’d kind of forgotten about.”
As they sent photos back and forth and whittled down the many thousands, Slater and Glaser wrote about their memories from each image. “We really wanted Kelly’s voice to be heard in the book,” Glaser explained. “So Kelly wrote an intro as well as an intro for every one of the chapters. Then we went over all the photos in the book and captioned all of them, as well.”
It occurred to me in our conversation that it must have been an interesting experience, looking back at all the adventures they’d been on together — a closing of a chapter, of sorts. And while Glaser did agree, he looked at it a little differently.
“We’re still constantly looking forward to the next swell,” Glaser said. “What the next board or next camera or next lens we’re going to use is going to be. As easy as it would be to just look back and pat ourselves on the back, it’s really more important to us to continue to look forward and wonder what the next thing will be; the next wave, the next sandbar, what’s around the next corner. I think that wanderlust of surfing is what keeps both of us so inspired.”
That’s not to say that they’re both not grateful for the opportunities they’ve been afforded by chasing a lifestyle that most aren’t brave enough to chase.
“I mean, we’re certainly appreciative of the opportunities that this life has provided,” Glaser said. “I’m eternally grateful to Kelly because he really took me under his wing and opened the world up to me. We’ve filled up a lot of passports together and seen a lot of places. Funnily enough, this collection of photos really is very small compared to everything we’ve actually done together.”
Aside from Glaser’s gorgeous images and the quotes that bring the reader into the photos, the book also includes one of the most touching forewords I’ve ever read. It comes from Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, who is a long-time friend of Kelly’s and a fan of surfing. The way it came about, much like the book itself, was organic. And the way it is presented in the book is perfectly in sync with the personal feeling Glaser’s photos convey. It’s handwritten in Vedder’s scrawling penmanship, 10 pages long, and complete with a simple painting of Kelly.
“We were on a surf trip together and we were telling Eddie about the project,” Glaser said. “Kelly and I were like, ‘man, it would be so cool to ask Eddie to write the forward for the book.’ So we just asked him, like, ‘Hey Eddie, we would be so honored if you would write the foreword to this book project.’ We were working on it while we were on the surf trip, and Eddie was like, ‘oh man, I would be so stoked. Like, ‘thank you, that’s so cool.’ He was really genuinely excited to participate.”
Over the next few weeks, they chatted idly about it during down times. Vedder would call Todd and pick his brain about small things involving Kelly. Then one day, Glaser picked up the phone and Vedder was on the other end, asking for Glaser’s address. The very next morning, a package arrived on Glaser’s doorstep.
“It was 10 hand-written pages from Eddie,” Glaser remembered, the smile on his face evident in his voice. “It was so sweet. I cried. I called Kelly and I was like, ‘You’re not going to believe what just happened!’ It was so cool. Eddie had done a painting of a memory he had of Kelly surfing in the Eddie [Aikau]. In the foreword he’d included it. I immediately ran down to my lab and we scanned it and put it into the book.”
Although Kelly is known as the best competitive surfer of all time, Kelly Slater: A Life of Waves isn’t about his competitive dominance. It’s a look into the real life of someone who’s devoted his life to the ocean, and will continue to do so until Father Time tells him to stop. It’s a book about friendship and the adventures that come with it.
“Kelly is the most frothy surfer you’ve ever met,” Glaser said. “He loves surfing more than anyone who I’ve ever met, and I really stand by those words. He loves it so much. He’ll win a contest, come in, do the press, and then paddle back out because the waves are good and he has a new board he wants to try. He really, really loves surfing. I hope that these images show that.”
