Passages

R.I.P. Photographer LeRoy Grannis dies at age 93

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 February, 2011 : - - Surfing has lost one of it's icons. LeRoy Grannis has passed away at the age of 93. He died of natural causes Thursday afternoon at a nursing home in Torrance, according to his son John. He will be remembered in June during a memorial paddle-out at Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes Estates.

He was a pivotal figure in the rise of surf photography in the 1960s, with the New York Times once calling Grannis the “godfather of surf photography.” Later in his life, Grannis would go on to co-found International Surfing Magazine, which would later become Surfing Magazine, but he stepped away from the industry in the early 1970s.

The images that he produced during the early years of surfing have proven to be some of the era’s most enduring. Inducted into both the Surfing Walk of Fame and the International Surfing Hall of Fame, Grannis’ contribution to the sport will live on forever.  

Grannis was born on a kitchen table in his parents' home on Fourth Street in Hermosa Beach on Aug. 12, 1917. He grew up in the surf town, and friends started calling him Granny in grade school. He started surfing near the city pier when he was 14 on a pine longboard, and he was among the first members of the Palos Verdes Surf Club, founded in 1935.

For 31 years, Grannis balanced a career with General Telephone Co. - surfing, photography and his family. He met his wife of 69 years, Katie, on the beach near 12th Street in Hermosa. The couple have four children together: John of Hermosa Beach; and Nancy, Frank and Kit. Katie Grannis died in 2008.

A visit to a local doctor changed Grannis' life - and the history of surfing. Grannis had been suffering from stress at work and developed an ulcer. His doctor recommended taking up a hobby and he picked up a camera. After some guidance by a friend, Grannis took to the craft. It was 1959.

Greg Noll's shop, Hermosa Beach © Leroy Grannis Collection

Eddie Aikau © Leroy Grannis Collection

Grannis sold his first photograph to Reef Magazine for $7, and it was published in 1960. In 1964, he would go on to co-found International Surfing, now known as Surfing Magazine, and work would continue to appear regularly in surfing publications during his life.

Grannis used Pentax cameras throughout his career. Although Grannis first got his shots using a tripod while taking still frames from the beach or perched on a longboard on the shoulder of waves, he would be among the first to develop water housing equipment for cameras.

He built a box made of plywood and fiberglass, put in a camera, and attached it to the nose of his longboard. With the new technology, he set out across the globe to document the sport's finest athletes.

Rest In Peace LeRoy, thank you.

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