Kassia Meador

Kas­sia Meador is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer who is one of the most rec­og­niz­able women long­board­ers. She is well known for her smooth, styl­ish rid­ing and high energy per­son­al­ity. We caught up with Kas­sia to talk about her surf­ing and her new inter­est in fine-art photography.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
It was pretty rad. I grew up in the Val­ley so I didn’t really grow up by the beach. I didn’t start surf­ing until I was 14 or 15. I guess it was a lit­tle dif­fer­ent back when I started, espe­cially with kids these days now being spon­sored and trav­el­ing around the world. I did skate­board­ing and snow­board­ing – just doing what kids do liv­ing in the Val­ley. And once I started surf­ing, I did every­thing I could just to get down to the beach.

Where did you go when you first started?
I started going to C Street in Ven­tura, County Line, Mal­ibu, and Leo Car­illo. It was at Mal­ibu the first time any­one took a photo of me surf­ing. My first photo ended up being pub­lished in Long­board Mag­a­zine. It was crazy – I was rid­ing this old board with a single-fin, wear­ing a ripped up wet­suit (which was from my boyfriend at the time). I was just pumped with surf­ing. I never real­ized that photo would lead me to where I am today.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I remem­ber my first green wave, when I stood up on a real wave and not just white­wa­ter. I can remem­ber see­ing the sand through the clear water and it was like I was fly­ing! Even think­ing of it now, I still get that flut­ter­ing feel­ing in my heart about it.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young girl?
From surf­ing Mal­ibu I was influ­enced by Brit­tany Leonard, who I really looked up to. Also, there was Carla Row­land, who was one of the older girls at Mal­ibu when I was a grom. They both just surfed it so well.

What is your approach to surf­ing?
I try to surf in a way that feels right. I’m not the kind of per­son that likes to force things. Some might think that’s bor­ing, but I just really like smooth surf­ing. Of course, if you’re try­ing to learn some­thing new and you fall a cou­ple of times it might look a lit­tle silly, but there is a time and a place to do a nose ride or a hang ten, or heels. I just try to read every wave and try to do things as they are called for, instead of forc­ing some­thing in a weird way.

How impor­tant is style?
Grow­ing up at Mal­ibu and surf­ing there, I was able to see some of the best surfers in the world. I am a very visual per­son. That’s why I am into pho­tog­ra­phy and I really enjoy films. So aes­thet­i­cally, I will just like the way some­one surfs, espe­cially if they are smooth. That’s why I like how Joel (Tudor) surfs or some­one like Dane Peter­son. A smooth style is some­thing that I appre­ci­ate and I want to emu­late with my surf­ing. I really have a dif­fi­cult time watch­ing peo­ple surf when they are just “all over the place,” I just can’t visu­ally accept it. (laughs)

Let’s talk about your pho­tog­ra­phy.
I am really into pho­tos and photo-based things. I have always trav­eled through surf­ing and I have always looked at surf­ing as a very visual thing and some­thing I really like. I’m very lucky to travel to many visu­ally stim­u­lat­ing places and to be around a lot of cre­ative peo­ple. Through my trav­els, I have always been shoot­ing images and through this I guess I’ve devel­oped my own unique way of seeing.

I was show­ing Thomas Camp­bell some of my images a few years ago and he said, “These are pretty cool and you should show these.” It was Thomas who helped edit my work and show my pho­tog­ra­phy at my first ever show in Japan. As a film­maker, pho­tog­ra­pher and surfer, Thomas is such an inspi­ra­tion to me. I’m lucky to have peo­ple like him that men­tor me and can be some­one I can look up to.

What do you look for when you shoot images?
I am look­ing for some­thing that pleases me. It’s kind of like you know it when you see it. It could be the way that dif­fer­ent things might come together or the way that they are placed. If some­thing appeals to me aes­thet­i­cally, I’ll take a shot of it. I might have a scene in mind and I will do what it takes to make it hap­pen. There’s just a cer­tain feel­ing that I get when shoot­ing images – just like the feel­ing I have when get­ting a wave. Like know­ing when to do a turn or a nose ride. It’s just pay­ing atten­tion to every­thing that is around.

I was recently in the Bahamas with Scotty Stop­nik and Mikey DeTem­ple. We were surf­ing this place and there was a crazy moment when I saw some­thing but I just wasn’t quick enough to cap­ture it. I told Scotty to stand there and have Mikey go by again on the wave so that I could cap­ture the moment the way I saw it in my mind.

I don’t want to take pho­tos of waves. I am more inter­ested in the surf­ing lifestyle. I just want to take pho­tos of my friends and the vibe I get when I am surfing.

Tell us about your rela­tion­ship with Roxy.
I have been with Roxy since I was 17. It’s been ten years now. They picked me up two years after I started surf­ing and have been such a bless­ing in the way they’ve always sup­ported me. There was a time when not too many peo­ple were long­board­ing and every­body was rid­ing crazy tri-fins and doing airs. Roxy has really sup­ported every­thing I’ve done. They started doing women’s long­board con­tests just to sup­port the move­ment. They’ve sup­ported me with my surf­ing, my pho­tog­ra­phy, and my art. They’ve given me a sig­na­ture wet­suit and even a cloth­ing line that is about to launch soon.

Are you still rid­ing Don­ald Takayama’s boards?
Jeff Hak­man and Don­ald saw me surf­ing out at Tea Tree in Aus­tralia, and Don­ald turned to Jeff and said “You put her on Roxy – can you put her on my boards?” I’m totally still rid­ing his boards. Right now, I am really into my 9’4” [Takayama] Model T. We have been work­ing on a refined Model T for a bit now and finally got it right. I love that board and how it glides.

Just like Roxy, Donald’s been so sup­port­ive of me. He’s been a huge men­tor for me. With my surf­ing and with my life – he’s like my grandpa. It’s been a com­bi­na­tion of Roxy and Don­ald that have taken me to where my life is right now.

Raen Optics is another spon­sor I am proud to be a part of. They’re amaz­ing. Thomas is work­ing with them along with peo­ple like Alex Knost and Mitch Abshere. A bunch of really cool, cre­ative, peo­ple. I’m really excited because they are really pro­mot­ing my pho­tog­ra­phy as well as my surf­ing. It’s a whole new move­ment we are try­ing to push – kind of like the “ride-it-all” gang. And to surf because you love it and not because you want to be a jock. There are two sides of surf­ing – the lifestyle part of it and the jock sport aspect. Raen is push­ing the lifestyle part of it. And that’s the part of surf­ing I really love.

What’s your favorite meal?
Fresh sushi from the fish joint in Oceanside.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Joy Divi­sion, Elec­tre­lane, Cam­era Obscura, Pas­sion Pit, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

What causes/organizations do you sup­port?
Keep-A-Breast.

What are you most grate­ful for?
My health, and my fam­ily and friends

What are you most proud of?
That I have always stuck true to my roots and did my own thing. I started out rid­ing a sin­gle fin and still ride one pri­mar­ily. There were a cou­ple of years when I moved to Ocean­side when Don­ald wanted to make me a tri-fin and I was surf­ing beach breaks when I used to only surf points. I kind of went down that trip for a while, but now I’m back to rid­ing sin­gle fins. I will also ride fishes and other kinds of boards that I love. I’m just for­tu­nate that I don’t have to do con­tests that might keep me rid­ing stuff that I am not that into. I’ve kept true to what I love about surf­ing and how fun it is.

To learn more about Kas­sia Meador click here. All pho­tog­ra­phy by Nick LaVec­chia.