Jay Watson

Jay Wat­son is a surfer / pho­tog­ra­pher work­ing and liv­ing in North­ern Cal­i­for­nia. His oceanic images are decep­tively sim­ple, beau­ti­ful, and to the point. Jay talks to us about skat­ing, surf­ing, and sushi.

What was it like grow­ing up?
It wasn’t Cal­i­for­nia. Bal­ti­more is a blue col­lar base­ball and foot­ball town. So I feel lucky I grav­i­tated to skate­board­ing and rid­ing freestyle bmx bikes. There were not many other rid­ers, but my friends and I got to know most of the other guys in the area. We rode when it was –20 below in the win­ter and 100 in the sum­mer. The ramps and parks were always get­ting torn down, so I was more into rid­ing street. Bal­ti­more has good moun­tain bik­ing nearby, tasty seafood and some very cre­ative criminals.

What attracted you to go surf­ing?
Grow­ing up, I bought surf­ing mags because of the pho­tog­ra­phy. Skate­board­ing got me inter­ested in surf­ing. Out­side of sum­mer vaca­tions, I was three hours from the ocean. When I moved to Cal­i­for­nia and saw peo­ple surf­ing 70 yards away from where I was stand­ing, it was time to start. Plus I was dat­ing Pineap­ple Luv at the time; she gave me the extra push.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
Stand­ing up didn’t feel like a big deal, but drop­ping in on a small wave felt bet­ter than rid­ing down a vert ramp. I started in North­ern Cal­i­for­nia and suf­fered for two months get­ting into pad­dle shape. The glide slowly pays you back for your efforts, but the hard work is what I remem­ber the most.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young boy?
Griz­zly Adams, Evel Knievel, Muham­mad Ali, Bruce Lee, Johnny Uni­tas, Tin­ker Juarez, Eddie Fiola, Alva, Natas, Caballero, Rod­ney Mullen, Ken Brad­shaw, Andy Warhol.

What inspired you to be a pho­tog­ra­pher?
The seed was planted through my expe­ri­ences with mag­a­zines. Bob Osborn started sev­eral BMX and freestyle mag­a­zines, and he also shot for them. There were also skate photographers—Mo Fo, Bryce Kanights and Grant Brit­tain. Their work was deliv­ered to my house in mags every month. Warhol was into film­mak­ing and pho­tog­ra­phy, so the cam­era also felt like a nat­ural artis­tic choice.

What is your process for cre­at­ing a great photo?
I research and plan out ideas for my por­trait work, and my photo essays are usu­ally inspired by a theme. Action sports requires know­ing your gear well and being in the right place at the right time. You can have all the luck in the world, but it won’t mat­ter if you are not prepared.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
Harpers Ferry, West Vir­ginia is a spe­cial place due to its his­tory. I have hiked trails in that area sev­eral times and it feels like it is still occu­pied by the spir­its of Native Amer­i­can Indi­ans. The North Shore of Oahu is my favorite surf place. With all those his­toric spots stacked next to each other, it feels like Manhattan.

Who/what inspires you?
I was floored to see Duane Peters at age 48 rip at a skate con­test last year. Clyde Aikau com­peted in “The Eddie” this year at age 60. They make me want to be a bet­ter pho­tog­ra­pher because we should never stop pro­gress­ing. Cal­i­for­nia inspires me because it has been a big part of my life before I even got here and my wife, Jamie, helps make every­thing look so nat­ural and easy.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
One, you can’t pick and choose your friends. Two, a wrestling match only lasts six min­utes (you can pick any sport).

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I had a nice-looking sil­ver ‘85 VW Jetta that was always in the shop. I worked like a dog to keep it run­ning, but I regret not launch­ing that pig off a cliff instead. It owned me.

What are you most proud of?
That things I am most ashamed of are really not that big of a deal.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I am not a spir­i­tual surfer at all. I just like rid­ing waves. Surf­ing is incred­i­bly chal­leng­ing and hum­bling. Con­di­tions are always chang­ing, so it becomes obvi­ous that it par­al­lels some of the lessons in life. I appre­ci­ate the few moments dur­ing a surf ses­sion when I turn my back to a wall of water com­ing at me. When do you ever get to do this in real life? If I am stressed out in the water because I am not catch­ing waves, it usu­ally means I am not doing some­thing right in my life. We should never be stressed walk­ing away from the ocean.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Hot cof­fee. The feel­ing after skat­ing, surf­ing or rid­ing bikes. I love doing a good job on an assign­ment and see­ing it in print or mak­ing my own prints. All of these things are addictive.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Danny Hess, Tom and Jon Wegener, Cyrus Sut­ton. These guys are rais­ing the aware­ness to make surf­ing more envi­ron­men­tally friendly. I would love to pho­to­graph Chris­t­ian Wach and Alex Knost. They rip. Greg Long is on a roll and it must be for a reason.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
9′ Bob Miller, 6’4″ twin-fin fish, 9’4″ sin­gle fin shaped by Ted Gallup. The 9′ Miller is a horse that can catch waves in almost any con­di­tion, but I am try­ing to get bet­ter on the fish. My favorite surf spot is Plea­sure Point in Santa Cruz when it is not crowded. That is a rare occasion.

What’s your favorite meal?
I crush sushi like Godzilla and pasta like Vito Corleone.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Lis­ten­ing to Howlin’ Wolf, Bobby Blue Bland, Raek­won and KEXP Radio out of Seattle.

What’s next for Jay Wat­son?
Cur­rently, I am work­ing on promo posters that I might also offer for sale. My to-do list looks like cryp­tic chicken scratch. There are peo­ple I want to pho­to­graph in the North Shore, San Diego, LA and in my own back­yard. In 2010, I’ll be doing some video work and head­ing more in that direc­tion. I am look­ing at Dubai and Japan, and won­der­ing why I have not been there yet. What is up with that?

Find out more about Jay Wat­son and his work here.