A Golden Age: Surfing's Revolutionary 1960s and '70s
"John Witzig’s collection of images from the most dramatic transitional era in modern surfing is certainly one of the finest. Grainy, mystical, surf-stoked, attitudinally revealing, delivering a variety of intimate views into all aspects of what was happening then, a movement that freed waveriding to be more sensory than it had been before. Simply stated, well reproduced, with accompanying swatches of relevant text from Drew Kampion, Nick Carroll, and Dave Parmenter, with an intro by Aussie pop culture scribe Mark Cherry. For collectors or historians of surfing, this one is an important addition to your library." ~Surfer's Journal"If you’re a surf head, this is going to definitely be a book to pick up." ~DoobyBrain.com“..the book documents a turning point in the history of the sport, both in and out of the water. The photos feel dusty. Lazy. Refreshingly simple. And the more you linger over the images, the more history becomes a feeling –a sea change caught on film.”~the Wall Street Journal"Witzig captured the seminal images of a tumultuous era because he knew then that the men and moments that he photographed were the archetypes of a true revolution....a treasure trove of rare and poignant imagery in and around the Surfboard Revolution...figuratively straddling the line between Then and Now. Without Witzig's images, the most important epoch in surfing might well have been lost in whimsical narratives...A Golden Agefeels nothing like a coffee table garnish, but instead required reading."~Surfline.com“Witzig helped plant the seeds for today’s surf culture. His writing and photography provided firsthand documentation of the single most important development in the history of the sport: a shift from unwieldy long boards to lightweight and highly maneuverable short boards. At times, pro surfing seems to resemble motocross more than anything in Witzig’s book. ButA Golden Ageis intended as more than another congratulatory trawl through sixties nostalgia.”~The New Yorker"Seriously,A Golden Age: Surfing’s Revolutionary 1960s and ’70sis one wonderful collection of photography, by a serious shutterbug who was also one of the alpha-dog surfers back when surfing was a sun-soaked, rag-tag radical counterculture on the cusp of the sport’s commercial revolution, chasing waves on coastlines all around the world." ~American Profile"Innocence prevails within the imagery, a romantic time in surfing's history where the unknown held so much potential for creative growth and the possibility in discovering what may lie ahead at each bend...Through John's lens we get a candid view of life during the '60s and '70s that only a fellow surfer could've captured." ~Michele Lockwood, CoastalWatch"With access to the top surfers of that era, Witzig captured some of the most defining and poignant moments of ’60s and ’70s and his photographs document that time when surfing was still counterculture. Witzig was not just photographing the scene, but was part of it, and his images reflect both that access and that intimacy." ~StyleofSport.com"..It’s the kind of thing you’ll want to keep around a beach house solely for the fact that it looks damn cool. Every image, every essay, all shot and written by surfers who were active in the sport during these formative years." ~UrbanDaddy.com"During surfing’s rapid evolution in the late 60s & into the 70s, Australian photographer John Witzig was right in there. On the beach and in the water. Documenting the rise of Australia’s first generation of innovative surfers and shapers as well as capturing the culture as it emerged, Witzig’s images are now certified classics. This new book collects hundreds of his best pics from the period."~Werd.com